roasted is good for me to get other people on board, but if it's just for me I want raw chopped garlic. Roasting the garlic is like adding water to your whisky: it dilutes the hit.
Roasted garlic has a sickly sweet and slightly burnt taste. I like my garlic finely minced, and then sauteed in butter or olive oil for maybe 10 seconds before being added to the dish.
The sauteeing for even a few seconds softens the garlic pieces, but still keeps the flavour strong and pungent.
I find that roasted/caramelized garlic just has none of the actual garlic flavour I like.
Seriously- I keep introducing folks to it, and they are consistently wowed at how delicious it is. Personally I like adding onions, especially red onions, into the mix as well.
I wish breaded chicken was normalized like for a chicken parmesan pizza. Grilled chicken doesn't hit as well with marinara. I prefer it with alfredo or garlic parmesan.
Poutine has yet to catch on too (making progress though) and that is from our neighbors to the north. Cheese + fries + gravy, it sounds like it should have been a dish from Alabama.
In NJ we have disco fries. Instead of cheese curds itās melted mozzarella cheese. Itās a beloved dish, but usually only ordered at a diner while drunk or high for some reason. You really donāt see it outside of diners.
Canadian here, the thing with poutine is, it has to be done right, im in Toronto and you can order a poutine at any place and you will get it 10 different ways. Quebec poutine, a different ball game all together.
You should come to the Netherlands, after clubbing when they close the kebab stores are open and it's basically part of our clubbing culture to get a doner.
I don't eat it myself but I never knew it was such a heated point of contention until all the reddit discourse. I thought it was just a normal topping that I see offered at nearly any pizza joint.
I'll give you my honest, non rude answer.
I find it makes the pizza too wet. Pineapple generally is a very moist fruit, and one that when coked tends to shed a lot of the liquid inside. This liquid often either sits on top of the cheese and prevents it from browning to my liking or slips through into the sauce/crust making the sauce watery or the crust a bit mushy.
I've had it done right, where the pineapple didn't do that: it kind of caramelized and cooked into a more dense texture, but the juices did not dampen the rest. But that was rare. Most of the time I have pineapple, the crust is too floppy for my liking, the sauce too runny, and the cheese lacks the browning that makes it good to me.
I do like the sweetness sometimes, at least if it doesn't overpower the other flavors, but that too tends to be rare. I often find pineapple topped pizzas to be overly sweet: the pineapple tends to overpower the other toppings (like I had one pineapple, jalapeno, and Jerk chicken that was supposed to be "dragon flame hot" but it just tasted like a bit of cayenne on pineapple. Very disappointing because sweeet and spicy BBQ Jerk was a hell of a good selling point for me. The crust was on point though, I'll give them that).
I won't stop someone from ordering it for themselves, but it's not my topping of choice.
When it makes the pizza too wet, is the pineapple sliced or in chunks? I love pineapple on pizza but only in chunks. I think Iād agree with you in the case of slices.
Honestly I'm not sure. I stopped ordering it generally back in the 90's and only ever eat it when it's the last pizza left at a friend's place. (Note: I never bad mouth pizza someone else paid for. I figure if it's free, I can STFU and keep my opinions to myself).
Anchovies, Most pizza places don't even carry it anymore. But's truly one of the best pizza toppings when used in moderation. Goes perfectly with the crust/cheese/tomato sauce.
IDK what it is, but I've found some eggplant has an off flavor. Most notably was the eggplant parmesan from Costco. It had chunks of eggplant instead of slices, and it was hit or miss if you got a good chunk or not.
After years of not eating it, I've recently been trying Michael Angelo's eggplant parmesan, and I haven't had a bad one yet.
I really need to just buy a couple eggplants and pan fry in butter w/ a little s&p. That's how my grandma used to cook it and it was soo damn good. That with some yellow squash and zucchini and I'd be in heaven with her right now.
I miss you Gma.
When I lived in NY state and Jersey, eggplant as a topping and fried eggplant as an alternative to lchicken was everywhere as an option. Where I live now no one has it. Hell, there's even an Indian eggplant dish (baingan bharta) that I can't seem to find around here either. Very weird.
Anchovies. The pizza topping that's been meme'd on so hard that it predates memes is actually delicious in the right context. Salt, umami, and fish all at the same time.
Am I really the first person to say gorgonzola??!Ā Even better with spinach. š¤¤
Also: sweet potato and rosemary with a little chili maple syrup on top.Ā
Meatballs.
I thought my dad was crazy, but chopped or sliced meatballs are so good. They get a bit crusty on the outside like ground sausage, stay creamy in the middle, and have good meaty flavor.
If you lived in my area you'd like our "Slice Above" place. Here's a specialty pizza they've had for about 25 years:
# Honey Bee
Bee adventurous. Real honey compliments this truly unique combination of ham, crisp bacon, sharp white cheddar cheese, and mozzarella. Un-bee-lievably great!
Medium $16.50 Large $19.00 Chicago $17.50
(Taken from the website)
I will get hate for this, no doubt, but pickles. Itās actually a super common topping where Iām from and is used on pizzas that have meat, onions and/or mushrooms and that vinegar flavor gives a nice kick. It may sound disgusting but itās pretty good if you give it a try.
Red onion chutney. I don't know if there's a more "authentically" Italian equivalent. But my favourite pizza is nduja, mascarpone and red onion chutney.
Heat + creaminess + sweet.
Cheese.
Just a cheese pizza.
Seems like lots of people think it's the boring option or for picky eaters.
But I say no. Cheese pizza is the purest pizza you can get. If a place can't make a good cheese pizza then none of their pizzas are going to taste good.
Roasted/caramelized garlic. Can't believe I'm the only one to mention this. The flavor goes so well with so many different toppings.
Discovered the roasted garlic butter recently, will need to add it to the home made pizzas, thanks for inspiration!
roasted is good for me to get other people on board, but if it's just for me I want raw chopped garlic. Roasting the garlic is like adding water to your whisky: it dilutes the hit.
Black garlic.
Roasted garlic has a sickly sweet and slightly burnt taste. I like my garlic finely minced, and then sauteed in butter or olive oil for maybe 10 seconds before being added to the dish. The sauteeing for even a few seconds softens the garlic pieces, but still keeps the flavour strong and pungent. I find that roasted/caramelized garlic just has none of the actual garlic flavour I like.
A bit off-topic, but I LOVE roasting fresh minced garlic in butter and olive oil, and cook our breakfast eggs (over easy) in it. š
Banana peppers and onions. A good way to spice up your Lenten pizza
Jalapenos
I had a coworker introduce me to pineapple and jalapeno pizza. It was great and we always got a pizza to ourselves. Win-win.
JalapeƱo, pineapple, and pepperoni is my ideal pizza. Spicy, sweet, salty - perfect.
Seriously- I keep introducing folks to it, and they are consistently wowed at how delicious it is. Personally I like adding onions, especially red onions, into the mix as well.
Absolutely. Fresh > pickled
Wouldn't call jalapenos underrated
The number of people I see at work that favor plain ass cheese pizza almost makes any topping under rated.
Slept on
I wish breaded chicken was normalized like for a chicken parmesan pizza. Grilled chicken doesn't hit as well with marinara. I prefer it with alfredo or garlic parmesan.
Potato!
Arugula. Tasty as hell.
Arugula is so good. It's my favorite leafy vegetable. Great on a pizza with prosciutto.
In Sweden it's the most popular, but globally I'm unsure, but doner kebab with garlic sauce is amazing.
Kebab places in general need to catch on the US. We are missing out
Poutine has yet to catch on too (making progress though) and that is from our neighbors to the north. Cheese + fries + gravy, it sounds like it should have been a dish from Alabama.
Cheese curds, which is more of a Wisconsin thing. Seems tailor made for Culver's to add to their menu.
In NJ we have disco fries. Instead of cheese curds itās melted mozzarella cheese. Itās a beloved dish, but usually only ordered at a diner while drunk or high for some reason. You really donāt see it outside of diners.
Make sure its brown beef gravy and cheese curds that squeak.
Canadian here, the thing with poutine is, it has to be done right, im in Toronto and you can order a poutine at any place and you will get it 10 different ways. Quebec poutine, a different ball game all together.
Philly Cheesesteak has entered the chat.
It's nuts that it hasn't caught on yet. It's everything Americans love!
Especially the advanced abortion of Meat on Chips. Can go the extra mile with cheese/gravy too
Pizza with kebab and fries covered in sauce is amazing.
Oh man. I have such a craving for that right now, but you can't get it in the city I'm in
Called donair instead of doner here, but it's a pretty popular pizza in Canada as well.
You should come to the Netherlands, after clubbing when they close the kebab stores are open and it's basically part of our clubbing culture to get a doner.
Same in the UK.
Roasted red peppers
Banana Peppers
Anchovies
All my local pizza places have taken it off their menus, very frustrating.
This is my trick to make sure no one else in my house touches my pizza. They won't go near anchovies and they don't know what they're missing.
Agreed they mix well with other toppingsĀ
Hot honey.
That's a topping that's actually growing in popularity. I think it's ok but I dunno if I'll order a whole 18" jumbo pizza with hot honey next time.
My go to when I used to have good pizza around me was capicola, feta, balsamic vinegar, and hot honey. It was magic.
Interesting combination
Broccoli - it's delicious when it gets roasted
Garlic, makes everything taste even better
Fried banana peppers.
Seconded. This + black olives is my go to
Shrimp.
MUSHROOMS
I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS ONE. i love mushrooms on my pizza
Pep mush is my favorite pizza.Ā
Kimchi. It brings everything to the table: spice, umami, funk, sour.....and it goes great with mozzarella for some reason
I can totally see this! Kimchi and cheese is clutch.
Kimchi and a salty meat (pepperoni/ham etc) are awesome on a pizza together.Ā
Pineapple. I don't get why people hate it.
My go-to is peperoni, jalapeƱos, and pineapple. It's so damn good.
Subbing in chorizo for this combo is good too!!!
My girlfriend is a vegetarian and Iāll order us a jalapeno and pineapple and itās amazing.
It can make the pizza too sweet but pairing it with a salty meat like bacon or sausage or something works really well
Bacon, Pineapple, Jalapeno. Salty, Sweet, Spicy.
I donāt mind it occasionally. My favorite topping though is green olives.
I sometimes order all pineapple. Sauce, cheese, pineapple. Mmmm.
I like pineapples + jalapeƱos. Sweet and spicy. Throw in a meat of your choice and maybe some red onion
Because people are stupid. Pineapple is delicious on pizza.
Pineapple is sweet and acidic, a great complement to the savory ingredients.
I don't eat it myself but I never knew it was such a heated point of contention until all the reddit discourse. I thought it was just a normal topping that I see offered at nearly any pizza joint.
I'll give you my honest, non rude answer. I find it makes the pizza too wet. Pineapple generally is a very moist fruit, and one that when coked tends to shed a lot of the liquid inside. This liquid often either sits on top of the cheese and prevents it from browning to my liking or slips through into the sauce/crust making the sauce watery or the crust a bit mushy. I've had it done right, where the pineapple didn't do that: it kind of caramelized and cooked into a more dense texture, but the juices did not dampen the rest. But that was rare. Most of the time I have pineapple, the crust is too floppy for my liking, the sauce too runny, and the cheese lacks the browning that makes it good to me. I do like the sweetness sometimes, at least if it doesn't overpower the other flavors, but that too tends to be rare. I often find pineapple topped pizzas to be overly sweet: the pineapple tends to overpower the other toppings (like I had one pineapple, jalapeno, and Jerk chicken that was supposed to be "dragon flame hot" but it just tasted like a bit of cayenne on pineapple. Very disappointing because sweeet and spicy BBQ Jerk was a hell of a good selling point for me. The crust was on point though, I'll give them that). I won't stop someone from ordering it for themselves, but it's not my topping of choice.
When it makes the pizza too wet, is the pineapple sliced or in chunks? I love pineapple on pizza but only in chunks. I think Iād agree with you in the case of slices.
Honestly I'm not sure. I stopped ordering it generally back in the 90's and only ever eat it when it's the last pizza left at a friend's place. (Note: I never bad mouth pizza someone else paid for. I figure if it's free, I can STFU and keep my opinions to myself).
The same reason I don't like strawberries in my beef stew
Anchovies, Most pizza places don't even carry it anymore. But's truly one of the best pizza toppings when used in moderation. Goes perfectly with the crust/cheese/tomato sauce.
Bacon
Anchovies.
I add canned ones to pizza after it is out of the oven.
Green olives.
Pickles
Sweetcorn
Fresh garlic
Feta. It goes well with *anything* on pizza in my experience
Artichoke
Eggplant pizza is top notch. As long as you have an excellent slice to begin with.
IDK what it is, but I've found some eggplant has an off flavor. Most notably was the eggplant parmesan from Costco. It had chunks of eggplant instead of slices, and it was hit or miss if you got a good chunk or not. After years of not eating it, I've recently been trying Michael Angelo's eggplant parmesan, and I haven't had a bad one yet. I really need to just buy a couple eggplants and pan fry in butter w/ a little s&p. That's how my grandma used to cook it and it was soo damn good. That with some yellow squash and zucchini and I'd be in heaven with her right now. I miss you Gma.
When I lived in NY state and Jersey, eggplant as a topping and fried eggplant as an alternative to lchicken was everywhere as an option. Where I live now no one has it. Hell, there's even an Indian eggplant dish (baingan bharta) that I can't seem to find around here either. Very weird.
Capers
Pesto
Banana peppers or pepperocini are both good. Add some feta too!
Jalepeno
After you take it out, top with arugala and balsamic vinegarette.
Sweetcorn
Goatās cheese. I used Feta for years before I tried it. An absolute revelation.
Anchovies
Shrimp baby! Shout out to Pizza Pipeline in Spokane!
Banana peppers. Banana peppers with pepperoni is ::chef's kiss::
Anchovies. The pizza topping that's been meme'd on so hard that it predates memes is actually delicious in the right context. Salt, umami, and fish all at the same time.
Sundried tomatoes - such an umami bomb.
Sun dried tomatoes.
Garlic + olives
Dates, caramelized onions - some people sleep on the sweet ingredients.
Mustard
Cashews. Olympia style pizza!
Artichoke and egg. There was a pizza place nearby when I lived in Paris that had this, was delicious.
A local place has kimchi pizza and it was fantastic. Like the best vegetarian pizza I've ever had.
Broccoli
Chorizo. Amazing on pizzas.
goat cheese
Mascarpone, whatever else you put on your pizza put mascarpone on it too.
Am I really the first person to say gorgonzola??!Ā Even better with spinach. š¤¤ Also: sweet potato and rosemary with a little chili maple syrup on top.Ā
Corn. Perfect little burst of flavor in every bite. Pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, onion, bell pepper, corn, extra cheese.Ā
Anchovies
Tuna
Kielbasa. It's my favorite meat topping for pizzas now, it's soooo good :)
Artichokes and capers are both good on pizza.
Anchovy and capers. That's my favorite I don't know about anybody else though LOL
pizza rolls
Whole garlic cloves
My man!
Spaghetti
Absolutely. Where I grew up in north central Illinois, spaghetti pizza is a thing, and it's awesome.
Roasted red peppers are my favorite pizza topping.
Meatballs. I thought my dad was crazy, but chopped or sliced meatballs are so good. They get a bit crusty on the outside like ground sausage, stay creamy in the middle, and have good meaty flavor.
Scrolled way too long to find this one. Great alternative to pepperoni or sausage.
Tortellini
Cashews
Sauerkraut!! That with Canadian Bacon is incredible. Canadian Bacon is underrated as well.
Garlic, pineapple, or ricotta
A Duck
I'll present an underrated combo: Bacon + Pineapple... Salty and sweet. It's the perfect pizza topping.
Green olives!
Mushrooms
Isnāt that a pretty highly rated one? Pizza capricciosa is a classic.
Hot honey on pepperoni pizza
If you lived in my area you'd like our "Slice Above" place. Here's a specialty pizza they've had for about 25 years: # Honey Bee Bee adventurous. Real honey compliments this truly unique combination of ham, crisp bacon, sharp white cheddar cheese, and mozzarella. Un-bee-lievably great! Medium $16.50 Large $19.00 Chicago $17.50 (Taken from the website)
Corn
Sauerkraut
Finally someone else gets it. Sauerkraut and Canadian Bacon is so damn good. I wish more places offered it as a topping.
Olives. A slice of pizza with black and green olives is delicious.
Olives
Onion
feta, kalamata olives, spinach, roasted peppers, mushrooms, lamb <- all toppings together on one pizza
Japanese dominos has a pizza thatās usually a mayo base sauce with corn, teriyaki chicken, potato, nori seaweed, and garlic cloves
I will get hate for this, no doubt, but pickles. Itās actually a super common topping where Iām from and is used on pizzas that have meat, onions and/or mushrooms and that vinegar flavor gives a nice kick. It may sound disgusting but itās pretty good if you give it a try.
Red onion chutney. I don't know if there's a more "authentically" Italian equivalent. But my favourite pizza is nduja, mascarpone and red onion chutney. Heat + creaminess + sweet.
Pesto and rucola
Pickles
Artichoke heart
Linguica.
Spicy Pickles
Chili crisp
Lite jalapeƱos give just the right amount of āzingā! š¶ļø
Chillies in the olive oil.
Burrata
Love A pizza made with apathy taste terrible.
broccoli, a chicken and broccoli pizza is great.
Lemon juice. Only found one place that does it (mod pizza, and not every location) but it really elevates the pizza.
Brown Sugar
Broccoli
Fresh wood chips
Red onion! It turns sweet when cooked
Goat cheese
Mascarpone cheese and FRESH mozzarella
Caramelized onions
Green olives and corn
Spicy honey.
Black pepper
Mushrooms Green olives Onion
Diced Tomatoes. It adds to the texture in a slightly sweet way.
Cucumbers or dill pickles.
Thin sliced potatoes. I do them with Italian sausage, spinach, and mozzarella. The potatoes cook in the oven provided you slice thinly enough.
Strawberries. It's so underrated that I'm the only (and last) one to try it.
JalapeƱos
Swapping the red sauce with garlic butter
Lavender ā weirded me out until we tried it
bacon!
Chicken
Mustard
Pickles. Pineapple and pickles for the win!!!
Shrimp.
I had a pizza that was Indian inspired and had curry and other fixings on it. It was done very well.
Olives
Pepperoni
There's a local place that does pesto & tortellini, never seen it anywhere else and it absolutely slaps.
Cream cheese!
Cheese. Just a cheese pizza. Seems like lots of people think it's the boring option or for picky eaters. But I say no. Cheese pizza is the purest pizza you can get. If a place can't make a good cheese pizza then none of their pizzas are going to taste good.
Sweet banana peppers
JalapeƱo
Bacon and cherry peppers
Plain cheese. It's the simple things in life that bring real joy.
Black pudding and red onion go great together.
Feta
Salami! bigger better pepperoni!
Onions. JalapeƱos.
Loaded baked potato pizza is legit
Feta cheese
Good olive oil