Copycat Recipe CPK White Spinach Pizza

Fresh spinach, feta and mozzarella cheese on a roasted garlic oil-brushed crust. A copycat recipe for a homemade version of CPK White Spinach Pizza.

Follow me | Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook

One of my favorite items in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share or at the farmer's market is a bag of spinach. There are so many possibilities! If I'm overwhelmed with greens, unwashed spinach can hang out in the crisper longer than lettuce or even be frozen--to use in smoothies later on. My favorite is my Allergy Friendly Peanut Butter, Spinach, and Banana Smoothie. Today I'm sharing an updated version of a favorite way to use fresh spinach on a pizza.

Pin for later!

I didn't really set out to make a copycat of the California Pizza Kitchen White Pizza, but ever since I tried the roasted garlic oil on this Red Russian Kale and Baby Bella Mushroom pizza it has opened my world to other options.  If you don't have roasted garlic no worries! Just mince up some fresh garlic or rehydrate some dried garlic before warming in the olive oil.


Now, I must say from the start that this pizza is not an exact copycat of the CPK white spinach pizza I've gotten from my grocery store.  First of all, the CPK crust is just too thin for my tastes.  I don't need a deep dish pizza, but something a bit thicker than the cardboard circle it's on is what I prefer.  Please feel free to stretch out your crust to the thickness that best suits you--that's the beauty of making pizza at home!


Instead of just the usual Italian blend of cheese on the CPK white spinach pizza I added some feta. Spinach and feta cheese go so nicely together, so why not throw some on your pizza? Therefore this is not a California Pizza Kitchen White Pizza, it's a Farm Fresh Feasts White Spinach Pizza!

Thanks to Heather from In Her Chucks, I learned how to make a photo collage from PicMonkey (try it yourself! Then share on my Farm Fresh Feasts FB page!). So I'm going to show you how I turn a ball of dough into a pizza crust.  If you've never tried it--go get a ball of dough and do it. What do you have to lose? It's a skill that takes practice to master, just like any skill, but once you get the moves down . . . you get it.


Where could you get a ball of dough?  If you're fortunate to live near a Trader Joe's grocery store, they have them cheap in the sliced meat/cheese refrigerator case--three flavors, too!  In other grocery stores, try the freezer case with the bread dough (look very high or very low, it is not prominently placed).  Try the fresh foods/deli area-sometimes near the ready-to-bake pizzas are bags of dough.


Try your local bakery-they may sell balls of pizza dough.  Or try a pizza parlor.  I tried this once but was so shocked at the price they quoted me (something like $5 for a 1 lb ball of dough?  Are you kidding me?) that I haven't asked again. I just make my own.

For more recipes using spinach, please see my Spinach Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

I'm going to walk you thru how my pizza making process looks, step by step. First I use parchment paper (I crumple it up a bit) and a little blob of olive oil.

I cannot stress this enough-oil and parchment paper are your friend.  Without them easy crust at home is very hard!

Then I brush the dough with the garlic-infused olive oil. Mine looks brown here because I got distracted while warming it. Yours will probably look lighter, especially if you're using fresh garlic.

Next I scatter torn bits of spinach across the dough. If you're using baby spinach tear the whole thing up. If you're using a bag of spinach from the farmer's market tear the leaves off the stems before tearing the leaves into bits. (Compost those stems if possible.)

I scatter feta cheese on top of the spinach.

Then I top with an Italian blend of shredded cheese (fontina is so good on pizza). I finish with a couple shakes of Italian seasoning blend.

White Spinach Pizza
By Kirsten Madaus

Fresh spinach, feta and mozzarella cheese on a roasted garlic oil-brushed crust. A homemade version of CPK White Spinach Pizza.

Prep time: 00:15
Cook time: 00:12
Total time: 00:27

Yield: 1 12-14 inch pizza
Ingredients:
1 clove minced garlic or 1 clove roasted garlic
2 Tablespoons olive oil + some for the parchment paper
1 pound ball of pizza dough (see my Pizza Primer here)
2 cups torn spinach leaves
1/3 to 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup shredded Italian blend cheese
Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle or other Italian blend seasoning mix

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. I have a baking stone that lives in my oven, and I cook my pizzas on that. If you don't, use a cookie sheet.

In a small skillet warm the oil and garlic together over low heat, whisking to get the garlic to 'melt' into the oil if you're using roasted garlic. Go help a kid with an essay and forget about the garlic for at least 10 minutes, until the bits of it are slightly browned but not burnt. Or just warm and whisk for 5 minutes, your choice. I don't know why I have to help with homework on Pizza Night.

Brush the warmed garlic oil across the pizza dough.

Scatter the spinach across the top (I tore as I scattered, but I started with large stems of spinach--oh, if you have large stems like me, give the stems to the composting pigs and just use the leaves).

Sprinkle feta cheese over top, then the shredded Italian blend. Shake Italian seasoning over the pizza.

Slide the whole thing, parchment and all, into the oven.

Bake at 450 degrees for 5-8 minutes.

Shake the pizza off the parchment and onto the stone (or cookie sheet).

Bake an additional 3-5 minutes until the cheese is browned and bubbly.

Cool on a wire rack briefly, then slice and serve. Enjoy!

This recipe was first published in 2012, photos updated in 2015, and republished in 2019.