Extraordinary Pizza Toppings For Your Next Pie

Whether you prefer to head out to a specialty brick oven pizzeria or you’re fine with delivery from a national chain, we don’t know anyone who’d turn down a slice of pizza. It’s a magical combination that seems to appeal to nearly everyone. Even better, the details of that combination are up to you. Keep it simple with plain cheese or Margherita, or keep piling on the toppings until you can barely slide your pie into the oven.

If you’re looking for some new ideas to top your next pizza, you’ve come to the right place. We searched for the most delicious, out of the ordinary pizza toppings we could find. Maybe one of these five recipes will make it onto your menu.

Pizza Toppings: Soppressata, Mushroom, and Black Olive Pizza

While at first glance this pizza may look fairly traditional, it’s far from your everyday delivery version of mushroom and olive pizza. This is one intense pizza, from the homemade dough to the homemade sauce, to the heavy duty toppings. Make this for the ultimate pizza lover in your life.

We are all in favor of making homemade dough and sauce when you have the time. As you’ll remember from our posts about homemade pretzels and bagels, allow enough time to store the dough in the refrigerator for 24-36 hours before you bake it. This extended fermentation will wake up all sorts of flavors. Likewise, allow your homemade sauce to simmer and the flavors to meld before spreading it on the dough.

You’ll find soppressata in the deli section, and you might want to look there for good quality mozzarella too. Homemade pizza is not the time to use bags of shredded cheese. Likewise, grate fresh Parmesan over the top. Finally, don’t skip the step of brushing olive oil on the crust. The oil will give the crust extra crunch.

Pizza Toppings: Thai Chicken Pizza

This recipe is similar to the famous Thai Chicken pizza made by California Pizza Kitchen, which is a modern classic. If you like Thai flavors, this pizza will be right up your alley. Plus, it’s easier than you might think.

While the recipe doesn’t call for homemade dough, we recommend it if you have the time. Otherwise, swing by your favorite pizza place and buy a pound of dough. Of course there’s no marinara sauce on this pizza, but it does use peanut sauce, made from scratch. If you’ve made any of the other Asian-inspired recipes we’ve recommended, you probably have most of these ingredients on hand already. It comes together quickly on the stovetop, so you can make it in advance or as you’re preparing the rest of the pizza ingredients.

Be sure to cook the chicken before adding it to your pizza. You can do it as instructed in the recipe, or poach it on the stovetop or in the slow cooker. Definitely use fresh mozzarella for the two layers of cheese, and don’t skimp on the bean sprouts, carrots, and green onions. They add a fresh, crisp crunch that balances the spiciness of the sauce.

Pizza Toppings: Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza

Pear and gorgonzola pizza recipes abound, but we chose this one in particular for a few key reasons. First, it starts with a layer of mozzarella, and the gorgonzola goes on top. That way you get the full impact of the gorgonzola flavor with the richness of two layers of cheese. Second, we like our pears baked along with our pizza. It softens their texture and deepens their flavor. These pears are even sautéed in butter before baking.

A final reason we chose this recipe is the arugula on top. We love the taste of fresh greens added after the pizza comes out of the oven. If you’ve never had arugula on pizza, it’s a wonderful flavor combination. Plus it helps alleviate some of the guilt caused by two layers of cheese.

Try the homemade dough included in this recipe, or use your own favorite dough. Either way, be sure to brush the crust with olive oil before baking to help it stay crisp.

Pizza Toppings: Pulled Pork Barbecue Pizza

There’s also no shortage of barbecued meat pizza recipes, but most of them involve chicken. We searched for a barbecued pork pizza recipe and happened upon this one. You’ll roast pork shoulder with barbecue sauce for a few hours until it’s tender enough to shred. Because this recipe calls for two pounds of meat and makes four pizzas, you may choose to halve the ingredients or save half the meat for sandwiches.

This recipe also includes homemade marinara, but we have to admit we’re on the fence about it. We might choose to spread barbecue sauce on our pizza dough instead of traditional marinara. Use mozzarella cheese as recommended, or try provolone or cheddar.

Finally, while you can use an inverted baking pan and parchment paper for your pizza, we think a pizza stone makes all the difference in how pizza crust bakes. Once you try a pizza stone, we bet you’ll never go back to baking sheets.

Pizza Toppings: Sausage and Gravy Breakfast Pizza

You can still have breakfast for dinner, even if you’re making pizza. You can also make this breakfast pizza first thing in the morning. There’s never a wrong time to eat pizza, especially this one.

Not only do we think all the ingredients in this breakfast pizza sound simple and delicious, we also love how she offers logistical suggestions if you want to actually get it on the table for breakfast. You can make everything the night before -- from the sausage to the gravy (made from scratch using the sausage drippings), and from the scrambled eggs to the pizza dough. Go ahead and refrigerate it all, and then get it out in the morning to come to room temperature before assembling and baking.

We love the idea of using homemade sausage gravy as the sauce on this pizza. You can fry bacon too, and use those drippings for gravy and crumble bacon on top. You can mix cheese into your scrambled eggs, or sprinkle it on top of your pizza, or do both. Try colby and jack, and shred it fine so it melts quickly. Because the eggs and meat are pre-cooked, you won’t want them to spend too much time drying out in the oven.

Whether you branch out with your pizza toppings or you stick to the tried-and-true ones you love, you simply can't go wrong with pizza.