Pickle Pizza

Pickles on pizza? Yep, Pickle Pizza is a thing. And this recipe will convince you that this briny condiment is made for topping a pie! This unusual pizza pairs a creamy garlic dill sauce with loads of gooey cheese and tangy bursts of pickle. It might sound odd: until you take the first bite. The flavors work remarkably well together and keep you coming back for more. Count us impressed. Pickle lovers: here’s your new favorite pizza pie!

Ingredients in pickle pizza

Who invented pickle pizza? There are a few stories: Rhino’s Pizzeria in Rochester, New York claims to have invented the original pizza in August 2018. There’s also QC Pizza in Mahtomedi, Minnesota, which launched the “It’s Kind of a Big Dill” pizza with Canadian bacon that went viral online in June 2019. Either way, there are a few common elements between most pickle pizzas. Most combine a garlic white sauce or ranch dressing with loads of cheese and thinly sliced pickles. We created our own original recipe using these elements (it’s not a copycat to either above, though it has similar flavors). Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

Pizza dough: Try our Best Pizza Dough, Thin Crust Pizza Dough or other options belowGarlic dill sauce: Plain or Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, dried dill, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepperMozzarella cheeseParmesan cheeseDill pickles

For the garlic dill sauce

The garlic dill sauce here is a spin on our Homemade Ranch Dressing, featuring a mix of yogurt and mayonnaise to make a fresh spin on the classic dressing. Here are a few notes for whipping up this sauce:

Use yogurt or sour cream. Yogurt keeps the calories lower and makes a lighter sauce; if you use Greek yogurt add ½ tablespoon water to make it spreadable. Or, substitute sour cream! If you like, substitute purchased ranch dressing. You can also skip the homemade sauce and spread the dough with purchased ranch dressing. It’s much better with homemade though: so we highly recommend it!

The pickles for pickle pizza

There are a few notes for the pickles here, too! We prefer using whole dill pickles and thinly slicing them. Why?

Pre-sliced dill chips can be too thick. If they’re are too thick, they overwhelm the flavors on the pickle pizza. A purchased deli-style sliced pickle could work, like these Grillo Dill Chips. Use your best judgement: many storebought jars can have super strong flavor. Homemade works too! Try our Homemade Dill Pickles.

For the pizza dough

The trick to the best pickle pizza? Homemade pizza dough. There are several options for dough depending on your preferences and the tools you have available. Here are your best bets:

Best Pizza Dough: Our go-to: works great on a pizza stone in the ovenThin Crust Pizza Dough: It’s easy and you can roll it out instead of stretching it. It’s also slightly healthier since there is less dough.Pizza Oven Dough: Got a pizza oven? This is the dough recipe for you.Perfect Pan Pizza: Make your pickle pizza in a cast-iron skillet! It comes out with a fluffy crustSheet Pan Pizza: This one makes a double recipe in a large sheet pan: perfect for serving a crowd!

Pick your crust, then top it with the creamy sauce, gooey cheese and pickle coins. We hope you’ll love it as much as we do! Let us know what you think in the comments below.

More pickle recipes

Calling all pickle lovers! Try these pickle recipes too:

Make creamy Dill Pickle DipTry classic How to Make Dill PicklesGo for Pickled Jalapeños, Pickled Banana Peppers or Easy Pickled Peppers (which would all be perfect on a pizza!)