Fig and prosciutto pizza with balsamic glaze is an irresistible sweet and savory treat! Topped with fresh mozzarella, figs, prosciutto, arugula, and walnuts.
Delicious ripe figs are like eating concentrated honey bites and are perfect for pairing with salty and savory ingredients like prosciutto and cheese. Of course, honey and figs go together like milk and cookies. It’s exciting to see when these seasonal ingredients pop up in the grocery store or at a farmer’s market. It’s like a special treat because it’s not something you have every day.
I was recently dining with some of my favorite coworkers at a nearby pizzeria called Fuoco in Fullerton, CA. They had a special pie on the menu featuring – you guessed it, figs! For some reason, all of our eyes lit up around the table, and we all ordered a whole fig pizza to ourselves!
Greedy you say? No way, just indulgent. Who doesn’t like a leftover pizza the next day? I hadn’t noticed figs in the market yet, so that got me thinking and inspired me to make my own version of fig pizza at home if I could find some figs at my local market. And guess what, success!
Whole Foods had the figs in cute little green baskets, ready for the taking. I hope you enjoy this recipe for fig and prosciutto pizza with sweet honey balsamic glaze, it’s a little bite of heaven if you ask me.
If you are in a time crunch and don’t have those extra minutes in the day to make pizza dough from scratch (I’ve been feeling the pinch for time myself lately), many grocery stores carry dough that is ready to go.
My favorite and the most affordable is Trader Joe’s premade fresh pizza dough that you can find in their refrigerator aisle (for under $2!). They sell a 1 pound dough that comes in traditional, whole wheat and even herb flavors. This is my go-to dough when I want instant pizza gratification and want to make a gourmet meal for my family.
If you are itching to make dough from scratch and have a few extra minutes to spare, The Kitchn has an excellent recipe for homemade thin crust pizza dough that I love using as well!
I recently learned a new technique on how to grill a pizza, and it’s wonderful! It’s so much easier than you think and the pizza is ready in under 10 minutes with a perfectly crisp crust. You can bake this pizza in the oven as the recipe calls for or try my method on cooking the pizza on the grill.
Once you try this combination of candy figs, savory prosciutto, spicy arugula, crunchy walnuts and honey-kissed balsamic glaze to bring all the flavors together – you will be looking forward to fig season every year so you can make this pizza!
Recipe Science
When are figs in season and how to buy and store them?
Fresh figs are sweet, luxurious pear-shaped fruits that taste like honey when ripe. There are two seasons where you can find fresh figs, a quick season in early summer and a late summer crop that starts in the late summer to fall. If you are super ambitious, you can grow your own fig tree! The most common figs you will find in the market are the super sweet black mission figs (blackish-purple skin and dark pink flesh), brown turkey figs that look similar to black mission but are less sweet, or the Adriatic figs (pale green skin with bright pink/red center). Since figs are very fragile, look for the slightly wrinkled yet still plump figs, a bit of a bend at the stem and slight weariness to the skin can indicate more ripe and flavorful fruit. Avoid shrunken, squishy or leaky figs. Store these jewels at room temperature with circulating air, as they mold quickly and should be eaten within one or two days!
Fig and Prosciutto Pizza with Balsamic Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 pound pizza dough, homemade or store-bought
- olive oil, for brushing on pizza crust
- 1 cup arugula
- 8 figs, cut into quarters
- 8 ounces mozzarella, cut into thin round slices (or pre-grated)
- ⅓ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- 2 ounces prosciutto, torn into smaller pieces
- all-purpose flour, for dusting dough and pan
- cornmeal, for dusting pan
- kosher salt, for sprinkling on dough
- black pepper
Balsamic Glaze
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500°F. Place a cold pizza stone or a sheet pan in the oven to preheat. Allow dough to come to room temperature while you prepare the balsamic glaze, about 30 minutes.
Balsamic Glaze
- Stir balsamic vinegar and honey together in a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Bring mixture to a boil, and then reduce heat to low. Keep checking the sauce, and stir every few minutes. Simmer until the vinegar mixture has reduced to ⅓ cup, or the sauce can coat the back of a spoon, about 20 minutes.
- Set the balsamic reduction aside to cool but keep at room temperature. You want the sauce to be easily drizzled on the pizza, yet not be runny. The sauce will thicken once cooled so do not over reduce. You can test this by sprinkling a small amount on a plate and to see how thick the sauce is. You can always add a little amount of water to thin the consistency once cooled if needed so it can be drizzled on the pizza.
Pizza
- Lightly flour your work surface and using your rolling pin, roll outward from the center of the dough until you have created a circular shaped crust, about 10-12 inches in diameter.
- Remove the preheated pan or pizza stone from the oven, placing it on a metal cooling rack. Sprinkle a thin layer of cornmeal and flour in the pan or on the stone, and then carefully transfer the dough to the preheated surface. Be careful, it will be very hot!
- Quickly brush a thin layer of olive oil on the crust, and then lightly sprinkle with salt. Spread the mozzarella evenly over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border for the crust.
- Add the quartered figs to the top of the pizza, and then add some freshly cracked pepper over the entire surface.
- Bake at 500°F for 10 to 14 minutes, or until the crust is slightly browned and the bottom of the crust is cooked.
- Remove pizza from the oven and top with prosciutto, walnuts, and arugula. Drizzle the balsamic sauce on top.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Linda young says
This was awesome.!!! I had a Figgy Piggy Pizza while in California. Only difference was I did mine with the Pizza Crust from same company that makes Naan Bread
Jessica Gavin says
I love how you improvised on the pizza crust!
Gregg says
Honestly this was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever tasted…and I’m Italian. Jessica really nailed bringing all these wonderful flavors together and that Balsamic honey drizzle….amazing 👏 If I could give this recipe 10 stars I would.
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you so much, Gregg! That is a huge compliment!
Becky Gottsegen says
Made this last night but made into rectangular flatbreads! Only change was I used some blue cheese mixed into the mozzarella and sliced the figs into rounds which was beautiful! These were a real hit at our supper club last night!