Pizza Marinara

Pizza marinara is the oldest Neapolitan pizza — predating margherita by decades. It contains no cheese. The topping is tomato, garlic, olive oil, and optionally oregano. It is the cheapest complete pizza per serving in this calculator.

The name refers to the sailors (marinai) who ate it, not to seafood. There is no fish in pizza marinara.

Ingredients (4 servings — 2 medium pizzas)

Dough:

• 500g Type 00 flour (farina 00)
• 7g fresh yeast (lievito di birra fresco)
• 300ml water (lukewarm)
• 10g salt

Topping:

• 400g canned peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
• 20g garlic (4–5 cloves), thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Make the dough Dissolve the fresh yeast in 100ml of lukewarm water. Combine flour and salt. Add yeast water and remaining 200ml water gradually. Knead 8–10 minutes until smooth. Cover and rest 1 hour at room temperature, then refrigerate minimum 3 hours.

2. Prepare the sauce Crush the canned tomatoes by hand. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt. Do not cook.

3. Shape and top Remove dough from refrigerator 1 hour before baking. Divide into 2 balls, rest 30 minutes. Preheat oven to maximum (250°C+) with stone or heavy tray inside.

Stretch each dough ball by hand to approximately 28–30cm. Spread tomato sauce. Distribute sliced garlic evenly. Drizzle with remaining olive oil.

4. Bake Bake at maximum temperature for 10–12 minutes until the crust is golden and the edges are beginning to char.

5. Serve Serve immediately.

Notes

The absence of cheese makes pizza marinara technically a vegan dish — a useful property for dietary contexts. It is also the standard reference point for comparing pizza ingredient costs: the cost difference between marinara and margherita is precisely the cost of mozzarella.

Cost Context

At Italian supermarket prices (Q1 2025), total ingredient cost for 2 pizzas (4 servings) is approximately €1.90 — roughly €0.47 per serving. This is the lowest cost per serving of any pizza in this calculator, and one of the lowest in the entire Italian recipe database. Compare to margherita at €1.15/serving — the €0.68 difference is entirely explained by the mozzarella.