Often when the husband and I go to a fancy Italian restaurant, we’re always excited to try their speciality brick-oven pizzas. There’s usually some version of this Pear and Gorgonzola pizza on the menu, and it’s always richly decadent, sweet and delicious. One night I was inspired to try to make it at home (since it was a weeknight and we were not in the mood to dress up and go out to dinner), and I thought I’d try to make it a bit healthier without losing any of the richness that we love about this pizza.
I have to say, my attempt was a HUGE success! The husband loved this pizza, said it was “restaurant quality,” and didn’t even notice some of the healthy swaps I made. I served it with a light salad of Arugula, Spinach and Walnuts (in keeping with the walnut theme). So what were some of the healthy swaps I made?
- Whole wheat dough (from Trader Joe’s) – increased the fiber & whole grain content of the pizza
- More fruit: Usually the pear & gorgonzola pizzas have like 6 thin slices of pear on them. I used 1.5 pears and sliced them super thin so they became gooey and melted into the cheese, but this increased the fiber of the pizza and more fruit is always good.
- Less cheese: I used 1 cup of Fontina cheese and about 3 oz (max) Gorgonzola cheese. Trust me, this was enough – the husband couldn’t tell the difference!
- More walnuts: I used 1/2 cup for healthy fats, fiber and protein
Hello! I'm Anjali. I'm a 20 something living in the SF Bay Area, with a passion for delicious food and a desire to make healthy eating easy, tasty, and fun! Try some of 
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I have eaten this pizza at restaurants and have loved it! I’m totally trying your recipe over the weekend. Thanks Anjali for sharing
Believe it to not… this is one of my FAVORITE pizzas! (I also usually add some caramelized onion).
What an amazing combination of flavors! That’s the great thing about pizzas…you can do whatever you want!
Oh this looks amazing- look at all that cheesey goodness in that picture. This is one of my favorites to order too! I love it when they drizzle with truffle oil too. (I’m excessive like that)
I love this combo! Always looking for new pizza topping ideas. Thanks for sharing!
This looks delicious and so EASY to make! I have to try it.
This is one of the best combos ever, can’t wait to try this pizza!
Gourmet Pizza at home – love it!
I love making my own pizza’s I will be making this one tonight! Thanks for the suggestion, looks delicious.
This pizza looks fabulous! Definitely going to try it!
I LOVE making my own “Healthy” version of pizza’s.. I make a salad with walnuts, pear and gorgonzola.. but it sounds eve more amazing on pizza! awesome idea!
I LOVE PIZZA!!! I love making my own pizza too, because I can control everything that goes in there – to make it as healthy as it can be! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I love homemade pizza. There is nothing better! This is a recipe I am going to try. If it turns out as half as good as those pics look, my family will love it. Thanks for sharing. Glad I found your site!
I love this flavor combination! Definitely going to give this one a try!
Congrats for the successful pizza made at home and thanks for the recipe. Really walnut pizza is very delicious but making it it in home is something very difficult but you had done a great job the pizza looks awesome.
This looks amazing. I’ve never had pears on pizza before, but I am all about adding new and healthy ingredients to pretty much everything, like putting kale in chocolate shakes (seriously). Love your blog! Keep up the good work!
-Elesha
I would never have thought to make a dessert pizza. You healthy changes are right up my alley. My blog focuses on light and healthy cooking. I can’t wait to try this. I wonder if it would be good with apples instead of pears? I have those on hand right now.
o-m-g. amazing. my mouth is watering.
pear and gorgonzola is one of my favorite pizza combinations, but i’ve never added walnut! this actually reminds me a lot of some chicken, apple, walnut ravioli i made last week! check it out at http://www.hazelnutblog.com. ps: love your site!
-Julia
of hazelnutblog.com
Thanks so much Julia! Love your blog as well – can’t wait to try that chipotle pumpkin soup recipe!
I’ve lived in Italy for almost 4 years now. The Italian food back home in the Bay Area is 100 times better than the food here. The Italians do not like a lot of flavor. Everything is super bland
We’re stationed up north but have traveled all over Italy and have not found anything that is as amazing as your pizza is!
Oh wow – I’m sorry to hear that your food experiences in Italy haven’t been great! Thank you so much for your kind words – I’m so glad you liked this recipe!
Anjali, my husband says he doesn’t like gorgonzola. I wonder if it’s because he really doesn’t, or if it’s the idea of blue cheese that throws him off. When you say your husband didn’t know the difference, do you mean he didn’t realzie there was gorgonzola? Or that he didn’t realize it was mostly fontina?
Hi Jen! I think my husband didn’t get the pungent flavor of gorgonzola when he tried this pizza (because as you said – there is definitely more fontina than gorgonzola). Also – I think he is similar to your husband in that he doesn’t like the idea of gorgonzola (because when mixed with other things, he tends to enjoy it!) Let me know if your husband ended up liking this pizza as much as mine did!
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