Everyone loves pizza. It’s the perfect food that can be modified to fit everyone’s tastes and dietary needs; from gluten-free to yeast-free to low-carb to vegan with nutritional yeast, pizza has you covered. Just like there are many different styles of pizza, there are many ways to make pizza, too.
One of the biggest debates in the pizza world is which order to add the toppings. It’s a question many home pizzaiolos ask when they start making pizza; should they put pizza toppings above or below the cheese?
Truth be told, there is no easy answer; it depends on the preference of the pizzaiolo and the pizza eaters. But when you start to examine the question, there are a few important things to consider when deciding where to put your pizza toppings, like the type of crust, whether the toppings are vegetables or proteins, and desired pizza texture.
The very word “toppings” implies that they should go on top, right?
When to Put Cheese On Pizza Before the Toppings
While it all comes down to preference, there are a few times that you really should put the toppings above the cheese. For example, if you are topping your pizza with everyone’s favorite pizza topping, pepperoni, you should put that on top of the cheese.
The hot pizza oven will force the pepperoni to leak greasy fat and curl the edges to a crisp. This is one of the key characteristics of a Detroit-style pizza.
The same rule applies to salami, sausage, Italian sausage, and chorizo. These fatty meats have enough oils and durability to stand up to a hot oven. If you put the meats below the cheese, the fat is going to render out and be trapped under the cheese, which adds even more grease and liquid to the pizza, so fatty meats should definitely go on top.
Now let’s talk about the crust, the base of every great pizza. If you are making a thin crust pizza, like a St. Louis-style pizza, the crust needs extra protection to hold everything together, so layering the cheese first creates a stronger base to add more toppings.
If you like to top your pizza with moisture-rich vegetables like zucchini or mushrooms, add them on top of the cheese. The heat from the oven will let any moisture evaporate and not leave a soggy mess. Putting moisture-rich vegetables below the cheese traps the moisture, and when you slice up the pizza, all of that moisture will ooze out.
Of course, if you are making Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, then you will be layering the cheese, then toppings, then more cheese, and lastly, sauce. Detroit-style pizza adds sauce on top too. But most other styles of pizza start with crust and sauce.
One thing to consider is the presentation. Pizzas with toppings on top of the cheese look better. A hungry diner can identify each topping and knows exactly what they are getting.
When You Should Put Pizza Toppings Below the Cheese
Putting pizza toppings below the cheese makes sense when you are adding ingredients that can easily burn. For example, very thinly sliced vegetables like onions and green peppers will blacken and burn to dust before the pizza even gets out of the oven.
The solution to that is to hide them below the cheese. This is a good option when using less fatty proteins like chicken and shrimp, which can quickly dry out if cooked on top of the cheese. This is what we do with our local MN ‘sota style pizza.
Ok, so we know we just said to put vegetables on top of the cheese due to moisture, but there is an exception here; if you dry out the vegetables before adding them to the pizza, you can put them under the cheese.
For example, roasting zucchini, sautéing onions and peppers, or dry-roasting mushrooms. It is all about consistency and making sure the pizza is the right texture, finding the balance between a wet soggy mess and an overly dry pizza.
Another common argument for toppings to be placed under the cheese is that the cheese acts as a type of glue and keeps all of the toppings in place. This makes sense, especially if you are using a thicker crust where the melted cheese on top is a structural component of the pizza.
Choosing the best cheese grater for homemade pizza will allow you to glue as many toppings together as you want.
Pizza Cheese on Top or Bottom: Best of Both Worlds
The world is never black and white; instead, it’s always shades of gray, and you don’t have to be completely on one side or the other. For us, we have found a compromise that makes for an amazing pizza. We generally like to put our toppings on top of the cheese because we like to see the combination of pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms, and onions.
We have said it before and will say it again: pizza is art, and we want to see what we are eating. So how do we keep the vegetables from drying out? We either cut them in bigger chunks which lets them withhold the heat and not turn black, or we precook the vegetables to remove the moisture.
We also like to add a light sprinkle of Parmesano Reggiano or Grana Padano to the top of the pizza before tossing it in the oven. This keeps the toppings in place and protects them from falling off during the cooking process and transferring in and out of the oven.
It took some trial and error to figure out the best order to add our favorite toppings, and we believe we have cracked the code to the perfect pizza. But again, it comes down to personal preference, so it’s a good idea to experiment a little to figure out the best order for your favorite pizza toppings.
Pro Pizza Topping Tips
- Add arugula, spinach, fresh basil, or other delicate greens in the last few minutes of cooking, or massage them with olive oil and add them to the pizza when it’s fully cooked.
- Always add prosciutto crudo after the pizza is cooked.
- Squeeze moisture out of wet ingredients like olives, artichokes, pineapple, jalapeños, fresh tomatoes, etc., with a clean paper towel.
- Fresh mozzarella should be dried and added in small pieces to keep the pizza from getting too soggy.
- Never add uncooked protein to a pizza. A pizza is in the oven for a short time, and the protein won’t have enough time to cook.
- Pepperoni, salami, and other deli meats do not need to be precooked.
What’s your verdict? Should you put your pizza toppings above or below the cheese?
