Jamie Oliver’s pizza fritte duo makes a quick self-raising flour dough, rolls it into thin rounds and shallow-fries them until puffed and golden, then tops two with a broad bean, lemon and mozzarella smash and the other two with a raw grated-tomato sauce and pecorino. Four fried pizzas for two people, 20 minutes, 506 kcal a serving.
The recipe is from Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals (2012). Pizza fritte, fried pizza, is a Neapolitan street food tradition, and Oliver’s version sidesteps every barrier to homemade pizza: no yeast, no proving, no oven, no pizza stone. Self-raising flour and water make a dough that’s ready to roll in minutes, and half a centimetre of olive oil in a frying pan does the baking.
The two toppings are deliberately different so you eat them side by side. The broad bean version is fresh, green and lemony, with torn mozzarella melting on the hot base. The tomato version is sharp and savoury, with a raw grated-tomato sauce that tastes brighter than anything cooked, and pecorino grated over. Two bites, two moods, same dough.
Jamie Oliver Pizza Fritte Duo
Course: Dinner, LunchCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
servings10
minutes10
minutes506
kcal20
minutesJamie Oliver’s fried pizzas from Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals: self-raising dough shallow-fried golden and puffed, topped two ways: broad bean, mozzarella and lemon, or raw tomato and pecorino. Neapolitan street food in 20 minutes. Serves two, four fritte.
Ingredients
150g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
80g frozen broad beans
1 ripe tomato (100g)
½ a small clove of garlic
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ a fresh red chilli
1 sprig of basil
½ a lemon
½ x 125g ball of mozzarella cheese
20g pecorino or Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Make the dough:Put the flour into a bowl with a pinch of salt and make a well. Gradually add 90ml of water, stirring with a fork until too stiff to mix, then bring together by hand into a dough. Divide into 4 balls and rest.
- Cook the beans:Boil the broad beans for 2 minutes, then drain.
- Make the tomato sauce:Halve the tomato and grate the cut side into a bowl so you get a slurry, discarding the skin. Peel and grate in the garlic, mix with the oregano and 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, and season.
- Make the bean smash:Finely chop the chilli and pick the basil. Blitz the broad beans with 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and the lemon juice to a coarse paste, loosening with water if needed. Season. Grate and reserve the lemon zest.
- Fry the fritte:Heat ½cm of olive oil in a large frying pan on medium-high. Roll each dough ball on a floured surface into a 14cm round. Fry two at a time for 3 minutes total, turning halfway, until golden, puffed and cooked through. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Top and serve:Spread two fritte with the broad bean smash, top with torn mozzarella, lemon zest, chilli and basil. Spoon the tomato sauce over the other two and grate pecorino over. Finish with extra virgin olive oil.
FAQs
What is pizza fritta?
It’s fried pizza, a Neapolitan street food where dough is cooked in hot oil rather than in a wood-fired oven. The base puffs up as it fries, turning golden and slightly crispy on the outside while staying soft and pillowy inside. It’s the original fast food in Naples, sold from street stalls stuffed or topped and eaten by hand.
Oliver’s version keeps the spirit but simplifies the dough: self-raising flour instead of yeast, water instead of a long-fermented base, and a shallow fry rather than a deep one. You lose the complex, slightly sour flavour of a true yeasted dough, but you gain a 20-minute dinner from a cupboard ingredient.
Why self-raising flour instead of yeast?
Speed. A traditional pizza dough needs yeast, time to prove (at least an hour, ideally longer), and strong bread flour. Self-raising flour has baking powder already in it, so the dough rises as it fries rather than needing time to prove. You mix, roll and cook in minutes.
The texture is slightly different: more scone-like and tender than a chewy, elastic yeasted base. But for a quick fried pizza, that tenderness actually works well, since the fritte puff up light rather than stretching into a chewy crust. It’s a practical trade-off for a weeknight dinner.
Why grate the tomato?
It’s the fastest way to make a raw tomato sauce. Halving the tomato and grating the cut side against a box grater turns the flesh into a fine slurry while the skin stays in your hand, no blanching or peeling needed. Mixed with garlic, oregano and olive oil, it’s a sharp, bright, uncooked sauce that tastes fresher than anything from a tin.
This technique is common in Spanish cooking (pan con tomate uses the same grating method), and Oliver applies it here for speed and flavour. The raw sauce sits on the hot fried base and warms through from the residual heat without actually cooking, keeping its vivid, fresh-tomato taste.
Can I change the toppings?
The fritte are a base, and any pizza topping works. Oliver gives you the duo format, one green, one red, but you could top all four the same way or create your own combinations. Prosciutto and rocket, nduja and burrata, or simply olive oil and flaky salt would all suit the fried dough.
Keep toppings light and fresh rather than heavy and saucy, since the fritte are smaller and more delicate than an oven pizza and can’t support the weight of a loaded pie. Think of them as canapé-sized rather than main-course-sized, two per person with two different toppings for variety.
How hot should the oil be?
Medium-high, and deep enough to come halfway up the dough rounds. Oliver says ½cm in a large frying pan. The oil is ready when a small piece of dough sizzles immediately and rises to the surface. Too cool and the dough absorbs oil and goes greasy; too hot and the outside burns before the centre cooks.
Three minutes total, turning halfway, is the target. The fritte should puff up visibly as they cook, with golden, blistered surfaces. Drain them on kitchen paper before topping, so they’re crisp rather than oily. Fry two at a time so they’re not crowded and the oil temperature stays stable.
What else from Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals pairs with this?
These work as a light dinner for two, but they’re also brilliant as a starter before something more substantial. His chicken and sausage stew would make a hearty follow-up, or his Thai hot and sour chicken soup if you want to stay light. For a fully Italian 20-minute menu, start with these fritte and follow with the pressure cooker bolognese.
