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We recently created this amazing Smoked Salmon Pizza while at a live cooking festival in Oregon, and it was a HUGE HIT. The flavors are inspired by a lox and bagel combo, but translated into a stunning and delicious pizza that we knew we had to share here. You can also substitute hot smoked salmon if your heart desires.
My husband, Sean, has a ridiculous obsession with bagels. It gets out of hand sometimes. So he tried to disguise one of his favorite bagel combinations as a pizza, thinking I wouldn’t notice. I did. But… it was so good that I decided we needed to turn the idea into an official smoked salmon pizza recipe and share it with the world (or at least a cooking event with hundreds of people to test it out on). Yes, it’s that good and featured lox from Kenai Red Fish Company here in Portland, OR.
To elevate the flavor, we start with a goat cheese béchamel sauce (vs classic cream cheese) and then layer in the flavors of the classic bagel, with capers, onions, and dill. We then add the lox at the end, after the pizza is done, since it’s already technically cooked (we don’t want it to burn). Give it a go and let me know what you think!
Table of Contents
Smoked Salmon Pizza Ingredients + Substitutions
Portions for the ingredients are the recipe card. Print it for your grocery store checklist.
- Pizza Dough – We use our classic Neapolitan Pizza Dough. You can also use your favorite store-bought dough for ease. Alternatively, you can use our popular Gluten-Free Pizza Dough or our Sourdough Pizza Dough Recipe.
- Cream Sauce – A basic béchamel sauce with goat cheese, flour, butter, and cream. That goat cheese adds such a great touch! But if you don’t love goat cheese, feel free to leave it out or substitute it with cream cheese.
- Red Onions – Thinly sliced red onions will add a nice bite.
- Capers – We love the briny and salty flavor capers offer.
- Smoked Salmon – We used Kenai Red Lox Salmon.
- Fresh Dill – For that classic combo.
We finish almost all of our pizzas with good olive oil and Maldon salt, including this one.
Tools
When making pizza, a few essential pizza tools are important for success. We highlight them below and use them in all of our pizza recipes.
- IR Thermometer – The pizza stone temperature is the most important consideration when making a pizza. You have to make sure it’s at the right temperature for best results. We use the Thermoworks IRK-2 for accurate readings in less than a second.
- Pizza Peel – We use a metal pizza peel with perforated holes to allow the extra flour to fall out as we launch it.
- Turning Peel – If you are using a pizza oven like a Gozney Dome or Alfa Forni Moderno – a turning peel will help you rotate the pizza for even cooking.
How to Make a Goat Cheese Béchamel Sauce
You can use a classic White Pizza Sauce recipe for a smoked salmon pizza, but adding goat cheese gives it an elevated flavor similar to cream cheese on a bagel.
We recommend making the white sauce in advance so it can cool before you make the pizza. You don’t want to add a steaming hot sauce to the base of your dough. Room temperature, or cooled in the refrigerator is ideal.
- In a large sauce pot over medium heat add butter and allow it to melt. Add the flour and then stir to combine. Stir consistently for 2 minutes until the flour and butter is combined and bubbling. This will make the roux and thicken the sauce.
- After the roux is combined, add the milk, goat cheese, Dijon, and salt and then stir consistently over medium heat until it starts to simmer. Reduce the heat and keep at a low simmer until it thickens.
- Then salt to taste and let cool. As it cools it will continue to thicken.
*You can substitute gluten-free cup-for-cup flour as well for a gluten-free version.
How to Make Smoked Salmon Pizza
We are making this pizza on our dedicated pizza oven. We have modifications for your home oven below. Use bread or semolina flour to dust your prep area and pizza peel. If it’s your first time using your oven, then check out our top tips for using a pizza oven.
- Prepare your pizza oven. We do a Neapolitan style, which we cover in our Neapolitan Pizza recipe, targeting 1,000 degrees in the oven and a stone that is 700 degrees. For a kitchen oven, see notes below.
- Lightly coat the pizza peel with flour. Gently form the pizza dough into an 11 – 13 inch circle on your pizza peel. With a large spoon add the white sauce to the center and then even it out on the dough. Add the capers and onions, evenly. Shake the pizza, it should slide back and forth. If it doesn’t then add more flour between the peel and dough until it does.
- Slide the pizza into the pizza oven. Turn the pizza a quarter turn every 15 seconds for up to 90 seconds to 2 minutes until the crust is cooked through. Remove the pizza from the oven and top with slices of the salmon, and dill. Then drizzle with olive oil and top with Maldon salt.
Conventional Oven
If using an oven, set the oven to 550 degrees Fahrenheit with the pizza stone on the middle rack. Wait 30 minutes so the stone can heat up to 500 – 550 degrees F. Slide the pizza on the stone and cook for 5 minutes. Rotate the pizza 180 degrees for an additional 5 minutes until done. Be sure to watch the pizza as ovens are not always even.
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Prep Tip
When we make pizza, we like to set up a preparation area that includes a large cutting board and a bowl of flour to use for dusting. We form the pizza on the cutting board, dust the peel with flour, and slide the peel under the prepared pizza.
Related Recipes
For a great side, try our Grilled Romaine Caesar Salad. For more pizza oven inspiration try some of our favorites.
- Garlic Knots – A great use for leftover pizza dough.
- Classic Margherita Pizza – If you like simple but amazing flavor then try our margherita pizza recipe.
- Easy Pizza Sauce – Our no-cook pizza sauce is a delicious NY-inspired sauce.
Smoked Salmon Pizza
Equipment
- 1 pizza oven
Ingredients
Goat Cheese Béchamel Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk, (We strongly recommend whole milk for the best texture. See notes on the roux if using skim or 1%)
- 4 tablespoons goat cheese, (You can sub with cream cheese if you don't like the flavor of goat)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Smoked Salmon Pizza:
- 1 280 gram pizza dough, (We use a Neapolitan-style dough)
- 1/3 cup goat cheese Béchamel sauce (from above)
- ¼ cup red onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained and roughly chopped
- 3 ounces lox
- 1 tablespoons dill, chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, (Optional finishing oil)
- ½ teaspoon Maldon salt, (Optional finishing salt)
Instructions
For the Goat Cheese Béchamel Sauce:
- Roux: In a large sauce pot over medium heat add butter and allow it to melt. Add the flour and then stir to combine. Stir consistently for 2 minutes until the flour and butter is combined and bubbling. This will make the roux and thicken the sauce.
- Simmer: After the roux is combined, add the milk and goat cheese, and then stir consistently over medium heat until it starts to simmer. Reduce the heat and keep at a low simmer until it thickens (about 6-8 minutes). Then salt to taste and let cool. As it cools, it will continue to thicken. Let it cool before adding it to your pizza.
For the Smoked Salmon Pizza:
- Prep: Prepare your pizza oven. We do a Neapolitan style, which we cover in our Neapolitan Pizza recipe, targeting 1,000 degrees in the oven and a stone that is 700 degrees. For kitchen oven modifications, see notes below.
- Build: Lightly coat the pizza peel with flour. Gently form the pizza dough into an 11 – 13-inch circle on your pizza peel. With a large spoon, add 1/3 cup of the cooled white sauce to the center and spread it evenly on the dough within 1/2 inch of the rim. Add the capers and onions evenly. Shake the pizza; it should slide back and forth. If it doesn’t, then add more flour between the peel and dough until it does.
- Bake: Slide the pizza into the pizza oven. Turn the pizza a quarter turn every 15-20 seconds for up to 90 seconds to 2 minutes until the crust is cooked through. Remove the pizza from the oven and then top with slices of the salmon and sprinkle the dill. Then, if you wish, finish with a drizzle of olive oil and top with Maldon salt.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is just as good with hot smoked salmon too. Just shred it up for some amazing flavor.