Meats
Meats and seafood are usually cooked or cured before being added as a pizza topping. This is done to ensure that the meat is cooked to a safe temperature. It also affects the flavor and texture of the meat. How you cook it can change the flavor, whether roasting, grilling, frying, braising, curing, or smoking. You can add extra flavor to the meat by marinating it before cooking or curing it. Meat should be chopped into bite-sized pieces before adding to your pizza, especially in the case of larger cuts of meat, like chicken breasts, meatballs, etc. Ground meats and sausage should be sauteed first and drained to remove any excess fat.
- Bacon
- Barbecued pulled pork
- Barbecued chicken
- Beef
- Cajun flavored chicken
- Canadian bacon
- Chicken
- Chorizo
- Duck
- Ham
- Lamb
- Meatballs
- Pancetta
- Pepperoni
- Pork
- Prosciutto
- Salami
- Sausage
- Tasso ham
- Turkey
- Venison
Seafood
Seafood is great as a pizza topping. Like meats, seafood is almost always cured, salted, smoked, or cooked before topping your pizza, again, not only to ensure the safety of the food, but to add flavor and improve the texture. Cut the seafood into bite-sized pieces when adding to your pizza.
- Anchovies
- Calamari
- Caviar
- Clams
- Scallops
- Shrimp
- Smoked salmon
- Tuna
- Smoked oysters
- Crayfish
- Lobster
- Prawns
- Salmon
- Squid
Vegetables
Most vegetables are not pre-cooked before adding on top of your pizza, but you can cook them to add a different flavor or texture. For example, raw, grilled, or caramelized onions all have different flavors and textures that can compliment other ingredients. Experiment to find the best techniques for your own tastes. If you want to use a vegetable that will not do well under the high temperatures of your oven, such as avocado, lettuce, or some fresh herbs, add them once you remove your pizza from the oven.
- Artichoke hearts, plain or marinated
- Asparagus, raw or roasted
- Bamboo shoots
- Banana peppers
- Beets, pickled or roasted
- Bell peppers, different colors, raw or roasted
- Black beans
- Black olives
- Broccoli
- Butternut squash, raw or roasted
- Capers
- Carrots, sliced or shredded
- Cauliflower, raw or roasted
- Cherry tomatoes
- Chives
- Eggplant, grilled or roasted
- Garlic, raw or roasted
- Granny smith apples, sautéed
- Green chilis, roasted, peeled, and chopped
- Green olives
- Green onions
- Heart of palm
- Jalapeno peppers, raw or pickled
- Kalamata olives
- Leeks
- Mushrooms
- Onions, raw, grilled or caramelized
- Peanuts
- Peas
- Pepperoncinis
- Pineapple, raw or grilled
- Portobello mushrooms
- Potatoes, boiled, baked, steamed, or roasted
- Red beans
- Red onions
- Refried beans
- Sauerkraut
- Scallions
- Shallots
- Shitake mushrooms
- Snow peas
- Spinach
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Sweet corn
- Tomatoes
- Trumpet mushrooms
- Water chestnuts
- Watercress
- Yellow squash
- Zucchini
Extras & Garnishes
These ingredients are great to add after your pizza has been baked. They add extra flavor, texture, and visual appeal to your pizza. You can try any fresh herbs and spices--I've included some I particularly like on a pizza.
- Alfalfa sprouts
- Almonds
- Avocado
- Basil
- Bay leaf
- Bean sprouts
- Cardamom
- Chili flakes
- Chili oil
- Chives
- Chutney
- Cilantro
- Coriander
- Cumin
- Dill
- Guacamole
- Hard boiled eggs, sliced
- Lettuce
- Olive oil
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Peanuts
- Pecans
- Pine nuts
- Pistachios
- Rosemary
- Salsa
- Thyme
- Walnuts