A little sprinkle of this magical pizza seasoning fairy dust makes every pizza better, and happily it takes 5 minutes to toss together. Having a jar of this homemade pizza seasoning recipe on hand is non-negotiable.
Whether you’re crafting homemade pizzas or gussying up a frozen pizza, this homemade seasoning blend elevates everything. Don’t stop at using it on your own pizza, though, this gives every dish a little pizzeria magic.
It’s not just for that! Stir a couple tablespoons of this into one and a half cups of tomato sauce and you have almost instant pizza sauce.
Stir into melted butter and brush on Italian bread for a next level garlic bread experience. Add a couple teaspoons when making your dough for pizza recipes that taste amazing to the last bite of crust. Sprinkle your pizza spice mix over store bought dough or crust to elevate it.
You can add this to pasta sauces and roasted veggies, too. The sky is the limit!
Pizza Seasoning Recipe
Thankfully the best pizza seasoning recipe is not complicated. It’s all about measuring ingredients and whisking or shaking them together.
The key to making the ultimate pizza seasoning is all in the combination of herbs, spices, and aromatics. Whether you leave them as is, like I do, or choose to pulse them in a blender, spice grinder, or food processor to make them more finely powdered is up to you.
Let’s go over a quick list of the ingredients and equipment needed to make our pizza seasoning blend. As with any homemade spice blend, you can alter it to suit your own tastes, but this is the exact blend that lives in a jar at my home at all times.
Ingredients
- Oregano
- Parsley flakes
- Granulated garlic or garlic powder
- Granulated onion or onion powder or onion flakes
- Whole fennel seed
- Thyme leaves
- Marjoram, Italian seasoning, or basil
- Smoked paprika
- Kosher salt or coarse sea salt
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Coarsely ground black pepper
- Optional but tasty: Grated Parmesan cheese
It’s probably pretty obvious that the principal ingredient here is the oregano. The entire spice blend is built on that!
For the best aroma and taste, you should use fresh dried herbs and spices. If it’s been long enough that you’re not sure how long ago you bought that jar of oregano (or basil or parsley or whatever), you should probably discard it and buy a new one.
Most of the ingredients in this list are pretty obviously “pizza-y”, but there may be a couple that require some explanation. Fennel seed, for example…
Fennel is one of the defining flavours of Italian sausage and makes it way into more Italian foods than you might know. Sometimes, It’s also a little polarizing, though.
Most people love it or hate it. If you fall into the fennel haters’ category, please feel free to omit it from your blend. If you’re not sure how you feel about it, I recommend trying it with the fennel first. It truly adds something special and if you don’t like it, you’re guaranteed to have a friend who would love to be gifted pizza seasoning.
The recipe specifies using either marjoram, Italian seasonings, or basil. I always use marjoram. I think it’s an under used dried herb and adds a lovely note to a great deal of Italian, Greek, and other Mediterranean foods.
You can decide what to use based on what you have on hand and what you like best! I’ve made it all three ways and loved it.
If you’re in the market for a salt-free blend, this is an easy fix; just omit the salt! And I love smoked paprika in our blend, but you can substitute regular paprika if that’s what you have or love.
And let’s talk about the parmesan cheese for a moment. I frequently find myself steering people away from the powdered parmesan shaker style cheese most often with a cry of “There’s a time and a place!”
Well, ya’ll. This is the time and the place! Do not use freshly grated cheese for this. It will go bad quickly and will have a tendency to clump.
An important note: If you make it using the powdered parmesan cheese, you’ll need to store it in the refrigerator. It will still last as long as the mix without the cheese stored at room temperature.
Equipment
Don’t blink or you’ll miss this list. Ready?
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- Whisk or fork
- A glass jar or another container with a tight fitting lid
That’s it! That’s all you truly need to make our pizza seasoning. And you can either mix it together directly in the container you’ll use to store it, or whisk it in a bowl and transfer it to your container.
As I mentioned briefly above, you can blitz it in a spice grinder, blender, or food processor if you like a more powdery seasoning. Just measure everything into one of the aforementioned and pulse until it is the texture you like.
If you do this, keep in mind that the more you break it down, the faster it ages so you will want to use it more quickly. That won’t be a problem, though, because you’re going to put this on everything.
Pizza Seasoning
Measure all of the ingredients into a jar with a tight fitting lid or a mixing bowl then whisk it or shake it together until even in colour.
Store the tightly closed jar or air tight container in a cool, dry place away from sunlight for up to 3 months*.
*If you use the optional parmesan cheese, please store your tightly closed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
Pizza Seasoning
Rate RecipeEquipment
- 1 jar with a tight fitting lid
- 1 whisk or fork
- measuring spoons
- Measuring Cups
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Oregano
- 2 tablespoons Parsley flakes
- 2 tablespoons Granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons Granulated onion or onion powder
- 1 tablespoon Whole fennel seed
- 1 tablespoon Thyme
- 1 tablespoon Marjoram Italian seasonings, or basil
- 1 tablespoon Smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
- Up to 1 tablespoon Crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon Coarsely ground black pepper
Optional but tasty:
- 3 tablespoons Grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Measure all of the ingredients into a jar that has a tight fitting lid or a mixing bowl. Whisk it or shake it together until even in colour.
- Store the tightly closed jar or container in a cool, dry place away from sunlight for up to 3 months*.
- *If you use the optional parmesan cheese, please store your tightly closed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
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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Reader's Thoughts...
Barbara Smith says
I was told that one person invented thr pizza spice but they don’t have any Recognition of that on the Internet anywhere ? Who invented the pizza spice???
Norma says
Hi, Rebecca–
What amount would you recommend to put in to tomato sauce to make homemade pizza sauce?
Bet this would be good mixed into ground pork to make homemade sausage!
Rebecca says
Hi Norma- I bet it would be amazing in ground pork! Good call!! As for the sauce, I’d probably start with about 2 tablespoons per cup then stir and taste. I suspect I’d like more than that, but it’s easier to adjust upward than downward! 🙂