25 popular pizza toppings
Pizza essentials
Before you start, make sure you have the best equipment: pizza flour, pizza cutter, pizza stone, super pizza peel, and pizza oven. With the right tools, you’ll be making restaurant-quality pizzas at home in no time (we personally use all of these)! Here are our pizza-making essentials: Listen—the classics are classics for a reason (like the mighty pepperoni, chicken BBQ, and Hawaiian pizza). But the real magic happens when you start playing with unexpected combinations. In our house, some favorite pizza toppings are whole milk mozzarella (it melts better than part skim), fresh basil, prosciutto, spicy Calabrian chilis, and sauteed portabello mushrooms. If we’re feeling fancy, a tiny drizzle of truffle oil that makes everyone at the table say “wow.” Of course, our fan favorite pizza sauce is on everything. This list below goes further, with pizza topping ideas from the classic Margherita pizza to unique pies like taco pizza, pickle pizza, and more. Each idea is linked to a recipe with instructions on how to make it. Let’s get to it!
Best pizza dough: Try our Pizza Dough Master Recipe for tried and true artisan pizza, or our Thin Crust Dough for a thinner, crispier dough. Best pizza sauce: This Pizza Sauce recipe will become your go-to! It’s just 5 ingredients, takes 5 minutes, and has incredible flavor. Pizza stone: High temperatures make the crust crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. Here’s the pizza stone we recommend, and a bit more on how to care for it. Pizza peel: A peel is a paddle used to slide a pie onto the hot stone in the oven. We recommend this standard pizza peel or this conveyor pizza peel. Alternate methods: Don’t want to invest in a stone and a peel? You do not need a pizza stone for Cast Iron Pizza or Sheet Pan Pizza because the crust style is different. Head to those recipes for the crust, then use some of the pizza topping ideas above.
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1 ball Best Pizza Dough or Thin Crust Dough (or go to Cast Iron Pizza, Sheet Pan Pizza, or Pizza Oven Dough) Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting
For the pizza sauce (use ⅓ cup for topping)
1 small garlic clove (1/2 medium) 15 ounces crushed fire roasted tomatoes (or high quality organic canned tomatoes) 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil ½ teaspoon dried oregano Scant ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the toppings — or use topping ideas from 25 Top Pizza Recipes
¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or ½ cup shredded mozzarella and 2 to 3 ounces goat cheese, in dollops) Parmesan cheese, for topping Fresh basil leaves, for garnish
