Pickle Pizza

Creamy garlic dill sauce, molten cheese, and a scandalous amount of garlicky dill pickles make this Pickle Pizza a memorable, delicious, and habit forming departure from your average pizza. Make with homemade pizza dough or store-bought dough, but do make it!

I know all my pickle people out there are either in love with or horrified by this idea, but hear me out if you think it’s an abomination. I’ll break down why it is so wonderful.

Garlic Sauce

This fast and furious, no-cook, homemade creamy garlic sauce starts our pizza out right. It comes together in mere moments and is makes enough for at least 2 pizzas plus some for dipping. Trust me, you’ll want to dip.

Our creamy garlic sauce is made with sour cream, a little mayonnaise, some grated parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and a hint of bright lemon juice. If you’re using this sauce exclusively for our pickle pizza, you can stir a little dried dill weed into the sauce, too!

If you happen to have our Creamy Garlic Cauliflower Sauce on hand, you can substitute it for the dairy creamy garlic sauce in the recipe. Just use between 1/3 and 1/2 cup per pizza.

And while the creamy garlic sauce is plenty delicious, if you fancy a little red sauce on your pizza, feel free to dollop a couple of teaspoons full like polka dots. I think it makes a wonderful surprise when you bite into your slice.

Dill Pickles for Pickle Pizza

Well, it wouldn’t be a dill pickle pizza without dill pickles, right? Feel free to use whichever dill pickles ding your chimes.

Of course, I’m partial to my Homemade Claussen Knock-Off Pickles and Home Canned Garlic Dill Pickle Recipe, but I also love our dill pickle pizza made with store-bought pickles. Claussen is a natural choice, but Bubbie’s and Grillo’s Garlic Dill Pickles are wonderful, too.

Any garlic dill pickle you like to munch is a likely candidate for a pickle pizza. Just remember to slice it thinly and pat dry gently to remove excess brine before adding your pickles to the pizza.

Pizza Crust

It’s no secret that I’m a pizza fanatic. If you’ve been here a while, you’ve probably seen my viral hit The Best Pan Pizza: How, Why, and What to Put on it.

But that’s not the only pizza here on Foodie with Family. We also have Figgy Pig Pizza – Tuscan Style Prosciutto, Fig, Greens Pizza, Trashed Up Barbecue Turkey Pizza, Honey-Drizzled Salami Pizza, and Pissaladière (French Pizza).

The point is that pizza and I go way back. And if you don’t have my book “Ready, Set, Dough: Beginner Breads for All Occasions” this would be a great time to grab it so you can have all my best pizza secrets!

Never fear, though, you don’t have to wait for your book to arrive to make this pickle pizza. You can use store-bought pizza dough or this great no-knead whole wheat and semolina dough.

And if a pan pizza is more your style, start a batch of the dough that goes with our The Best Pan Pizza and go to town!! Pickle pan pizza rocks my world!

Pizza Cheese

Mozzarella is going on this pickle pizza pie for sure! My personal preference is to use part-skim mozzarella on our pickle pizza.

It melts stretchier and gets some toasty brown edges better than whole milk mozzarella. If you prefer a blonder pizza, though, go for whole milk mozzarella, by all means!

You probably already knew that, but I want to put in a good word here for grating a block of mozzarella by hand.

I know, it’s an extra step, but freshly grated mozzarella is just so much creamier and stretchier when melted. If you have kids around, hand the chore off to them. It’s worth it.

If you steadfastly refuse to grate your own cheese, I absolutely understand. Just use the bagged, pre-grated stuff and you’ll still love your pizza. The hand-grated stuff is just next-level.

That’s not where our cheese journey ends for a pickle pizza, though. Oh no.

You’re also going to want to toss on a fistful or two of grated parmesan cheese. And while you know I love the fresh grated stuff, I’m here to tell you the pre-grated parmesan will work just fine on pickle pizza.

Pizza Stone vs. Pizza Steel vs. Sheet Pan

All of these are good options. I’m not phoning it in, they really are. It just depends on what you like best.

A pizza stone and pizza steel will give you a far crispier bottom crust. The top should still be chewy, but that bottom crust will give a little structure to your pizza so it doesn’t flop when you pick up a slice.

Pizza steels are my preferred way to bake pizzas because I love the crust results. If you don’t have a pizza steel and a peel, though, don’t fret! Sheet pans to the rescue!

If you’re a softer-crust aficionado, opt for the sheet pan. Sheet pans are easier, too, because they don’t require fiddling with a floppy pizza crust and a screaming hot stone or steel.

If you use a sheet pan, you can choose whether you want to line it with parchment for easier removal after baking. When I use a sheet pan, I oil it generously and sprinkle some cornmeal over the bottom of the pan to aid both in body and removal.

These are all optional steps, and you can adjust this to suit your preferences.

Pickle Pizza

Whisk together all of the ingredients for your Creamy Garlic Sauce, cover, and refrigerate until you have your pizza dough rolled out.

Preheat your oven to 450ºF. If using a pizza stone or peel, please heat that up on the middle shelf as the oven preheats. If using a sheet pan, please oil generously and sprinkle with a tablespoon of cornmeal, or line with parchment paper.

Stretch and roll your pizza dough out to a circle that is approximately 12-inches in diameter. If using a sheet pan, roll out to about ¼-inch thickness and transfer to the prepared pan.

If you’re using a peel and steel or stone, scatter some cornmeal or semolina on the peel to keep the dough from sticking and transfer the dough to the peel. Shake from time to time to make sure the dough is not sticking.

Spread the creamy garlic sauce to within 1 inch of the outer edges of the crust. If using the pizza sauce, too, dollop in polka dots over the creamy garlic sauce. Arrange half of the pickle slices over the sauce, then top with the grated mozzarella cheese and grated parmesan cheese.

Arrange the rest of the dill pickle slices evenly over the cheese and sprinkle with the dried dill. 

Slide carefully onto the pizza steel or stone or place the sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven.

Bake for 12-20 minutes, or until the pizza crust is firm and golden brown around the edges, the cheese is melted and bubbly, and there are little bits of dark brown cheese near the crust. Pull it from the oven when it is done to your liking.

Use a peel to transfer the pizza to a cutting board or remove the pan from the oven and allow it to stand for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.

Pickle Pizza

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Rebecca Lindamood

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

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Creamy garlic dill sauce, molten cheese, and a scandalous amount of garlicky dill pickles make this Pickle Pizza a memorable, delicious, and habit forming departure from your average pizza. Make with homemade pizza dough or store-bought dough, but do make it!C

Equipment

• sheet pan or pizza steel/stone and peel

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Creamy Garlic Sauce

• ¾ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese optional
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic peeled and super finely minced or pressed (see notes)
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder

Optional:

• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed

Pickle Pizza

• 1 pound pizza dough purchased or homemade
• ½ cup Creamy Garlic Sauce
• 2 tablespoons pizza sauce optional
• 1 cup thinly sliced dill pickles drained in a colander and gently patted dry to remove excess brine
• 1 ½ cups grated mozzarella cheese
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon dried dill weed
• Cornmeal for the peel or sheet pan

Instructions

 

• Whisk together all of the ingredients for your Creamy Garlic Sauce, cover, and refrigerate until you have your pizza dough rolled out.
• Preheat your oven to 450ºF. If using a pizza stone or peel, please heat that up on the middle shelf as the oven preheats. If using a sheet pan, please oil generously and sprinkle with a tablespoon of cornmeal, or line with parchment paper.
• Stretch and roll your pizza dough out to a circle that is approximately 12-inches in diameter. If using a sheet pan, roll out to about ¼-inch thickness and transfer to the prepared pan.
• If you’re using a peel and steel or stone, scatter some cornmeal or semolina on the peel to keep the dough from sticking and transfer the dough to the peel. Shake from time to time to make sure the dough is not sticking.
• Spread the creamy garlic sauce to within 1 inch of the outer edges of the crust. If using the pizza sauce, too, dollop in polka dots over the creamy garlic sauce. Arrange half of the pickle slices over the sauce, then top with the grated mozzarella cheese and grated parmesan cheese.
• Arrange the rest of the dill pickle slices evenly over the cheese and sprinkle with the dried dill.
• Slide carefully onto the pizza steel or stone or place the sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven.
• Bake for 12-20 minutes, or until the pizza crust is firm and golden brown around the edges, the cheese is melted and bubbly, and there are little bits of dark brown cheese near the crust.
• Use a peel to transfer the pizza to a cutting board or remove the pan from the oven and allow it to stand for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.

Notes

*This garlic needs to be completely pulverized before adding to the sauce. To do this, I peel and finely mince my garlic, sprinkle the salt over it, then lay the flat part of the knife on the garlic, and press down on the garlic, dragging the knife over it. I do this a couple of times until the garlic resembles a paste.

Nutrition

Calories: 510kcalCarbohydrates: 60gProtein: 25gFat: 19gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 1943mgPotassium: 168mgFiber: 3gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 551IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 515mgIron: 4mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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