Recipe for Pepperoni Pizza

Recipe for Pepperoni Pizza Introduction

This recipe for pepperoni pizza is tried and true for several years. There are many recipes for pepperoni pizza out there, but this is easy to follow step-by-step, and has many options you can take advantage of, including making dough or using premade crusts. The ingredients are common and can be found easily at grocery stores.

If you want to learn more on usage of pizza peels that make moving homemade pizzas into and out of the oven easier, read our article on how to use a pizza peel.

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What is Pepperoni Pizza made of?

The ingredients for making a pepperoni pizza consist of three main sets of content, in the form of layers.

1. There is the pizza dough, which is the base from which the other 2 sets of content are applied.
2. The second item is that a foundation of a tomato-based sauce is spread across the surface of the raw pizza dough.
3. The third and final content layer that is added consists of toppings. These additions consist of a variety of spices, vegetables, meats, and cheeses. In the specific case of a pepperoni pizza, the minimum topping would be mozzarella cheese, oregano, pepperoni, and no vegetables.

Of course, this post’s included gourmet pepperoni recipe covers the whole list of ingredients with options and steps to follow.

What goes with Pepperoni on a Pizza?

There are so many options for toppings on a pizza, but pepperoni is always a classic choice. If you’re looking for something to go with your pepperoni, here are some good, popular ideas enjoyed by others:

• Sausage goes with pepperoni on a pizza. Adding sausage to your pizza is a great way to add flavor and protein. There are many different types of sausage to choose from, so you can find one that fits your taste. Usually, people will choose between Italian sausage or Pork sausage. It goes on top of the cheese but below the pepperoni.
• Ham goes with pepperoni on a pizza. Just add about 3-5 thin deli-style slices. You can tear them apart for better distribution. Like another other meat addition, it will go on top of the cheese but below the pepperoni.

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Pepperoni for Homemade Pizza

We use Pepperoni for Homemade Pizza but it also continues to have cheese as well. Pepperoni is real meat but it’s been cured. Regarding pepperoni pizza, pepperoni actually didn’t get to be popular on pizza until after WWII.

Read our Pepperoni article that tells you more things about Pepperoni. You’ll learn of its historical source, what pepperoni is made of, what goes with it on pizza, and other interesting info.

What Pepperoni Do You Use For Pizza?

I make my pepperoni pizza USA style and therefore, I often use the American Hormel Pepperoni slices. I usually get what they call the “Pillow Pack” as a 6 ounce package. And, I used about 1/2 the package for one pizza. I also have used their Turkey Pepperoni and the Less Sodium types at times but I prefer the standard original type. That’s what I use for the American pepperoni pizza recipe.

How Much Pepperoni Goes on a Pizza?

Hormel makes several kinds and I have also used the store brands of pepperoni with good success as well. They make large packages that restaurants buy in bulk also. Their food service package of sliced pepperoni for pizza has been know to state about 16 slices per ounce so that means you would use about 50 pepperoni for homemade pizza.

How to Make Pepperoni Pizza Recipe Step by Step

Once you have all the homemade pepperoni pizza ingredients, you can proceed to follow this gourmet pepperoni pizza recipe on how to make pepperoni pizza step by step.

How to make pepperoni pizza at home is very easy. The key is to have all of the right ingredients ready and then get as much of the prep work done you can before you start building the pizza. You’ll save a lot of time following the step-by-step recipe instructions for this pepperoni pizza homemade. You can make the best use of time by prepping the toppings during the dough rising or resting periods. And, if you have a bread machine, it can make the dough for you so that, even those steps are covered for you.

A complete list of pizza recipes and steps of how to make homemade pizzas are available in the “Homemade Pizzas Recipes Complete Guide“.

Pizza Homemade Recipe From Scratch

Here are the steps summarized visually for making the best homemade pizza recipe, which starts with making your own pizza dough.

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• The first step is to make the dough. You can use store-bought dough and unroll it out, or make your own dough from scratch. If you’re making your own dough, be sure to allow enough time to make, which is mostly rising time totaling about 1-1/2 to 2 hours for the entire process.
• While the dough is rising, you can prepare your toppings, measured, and cut.
• Just before the dough is ready, you can start to preheat the oven and set aside the prepped toppings.
• Once the dough is ready, you can roll or stretch it out for shaping.
• You’ll add your toppings to the dough and transfer it into the oven, baking on your preferred pizza cooking surface.

This recipe covers some good options and notes for each type of pizza cooking surface such as a pizza pan, a baking sheet, a pizza stone, or a pizza steel. If you happen to have your own pizza oven, you’re best to follow those baking times instructions because you’re baking at a much higher temp than our 500°F oven, which is what our recipe follows.

Pizza Dough Recipe Making and Shaping

With homemade pizza, here are 2 separate recipes with details of how to make and shape the pizza dough. You can make it from scratch by hand or you can make it using a bread maker. If you use a mixer with a dough hook, you can decide how to modify the one from scratch, although no long kneading is required. Check them out for any details for your first few times in making pizza dough.

To prevent each type of pizza recipe from being excessively long, the basic pizza dough creation and shaping details are covered separately in their own recipes.

Note that each specific pizza recipe will still have ingredients for pizza dough. While they may or may not change from the base dough recipes, there might be one or more changes due to the type of pizza being made. So, it’s always best to follow the specific pizza recipe for its own dough ingredients listed. In the meantime, the below pizza dough recipes cover a very good foundation for making just about any kind of pizza.

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For more options of homemade or ready-made pizza doughs, refer to our “Homemade Pizzas Recipes Complete Guide“.

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Adding the Pizza Toppings in Order

It is reasonably important to know about a toppings order for these reasons:

• for proper dough cooking to avoid sogginess
• preventing certain veggies from drying out
• a great melding of flavors.

The basic guideline list for toppings sequencing

1. Homemade or store bought Pizza dough, thick crust or thin crust
2. Tomato-based sauce
3. Cheeses Option 1:
   • All fresh or shredded cheeses
4. Cheeses Option 2:
   • Half the cheeses
   • Only veggies that need extra moisture (spinach, mushrooms, etc.)
   • The other half of cheeses
5. Veggies and Meats (except pepperoni), any order
6. Spices (can use Oregano to substitute for Italian Seasonings, if used)
7. Sprinkle a little parmesan cheese (optional)
8. Pepperoni, if called for

Optional Toppings

• Onions
• Mushrooms (sliced or diced)
• Bell Peppers (Green, Red, or Yellow)
• Black or Green Olives (diced or sliced)
• Tomatoes (diced, thin sliced, or sun-dried)
• Spinach (fresh, chopped)
• Extra Cheese
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Fresh Basil

Pepperoni Pizza Toppings Recipe

When you’re done with the dough shaping, and you’ve ensured it’s on some cornmeal so it can transfer to the oven easily, you’re ready to apply the pepperoni pizza toppings.

You’ll start with spreading out the tomato-based sauce. Then, procced with any cheeses. Add on the spices next. Conclude with covering the entire pizza with pepperoni slices. For that, it’s best to start in the center and keep adding them around in a spiral, as you fill it gradually outward. They’re going to shrink so, feel free to overlap any of them.

A 14-16 inch pizza will hold about 3 ounces of pepperoni slices. I use the Hormel or store brand pizza slices that are ready to eat. That way I don’t have to slice or cook any of them. It’s another time saver with no loss in gourmet flavors.

Pepperoni Mushroom Pizza Recipe

In order to have this as a pepperoni and mushroom pizza recipe, you only need to make one additional step. When following this pepperoni homemade pizza instructions for adding the toppings, just add on the mushrooms right after the tomato-based sauce, which is before the cheese. Anything that needs to stay moist, you can add it just before the cheese layer. This will be items like mushrooms and spinach leaves.

To prepare the mushrooms, you have 2 options. You can buy them whole or sliced. If they’re sliced, you save a lot of time but you need to use them soon. If you buy them whole, you just rinse them well in water, spot dry them off with paper towels, and slice them. An average mushroom will get about 3-4 slices each. They don’t have to be sliced perfectly and they can even be bits and pieces.

Now, if you don’t like them to be that fresh and moist, on the finished pizza, feel free to put them on right before you cover the pizza with pepperoni. It’s the pepperoni that always needs to be the final layer added to a pepperoni pizza from scratch.

Pepperoni Garlic Pizza Recipe

When you want to make a pepperoni garlic pizza recipe, use this one as it includes the option of garlic powder as an ingredient to include within the pizza dough. So, after the dough has been shaped and it’s ready for the sauce to be first added, take a moment and spoon out a small mixture of olive oil (2 tbsp) and minced garlic (2 tsp). You can use a brush or your fingers to spread it around the dough like a coating. After that, sprinkle a small amount of salt across it all. Then, proceed with the tomato-based sauce and the rest of the steps.

Pepperoni Pizza Slice Calories

The pepperoni pizza calories slice will vary based on your specific ingredients. This recipe for a 14-16 inch pizza that has 8 slices, displays the pepperoni pizza slice calories as a little under 400 calories. That’s about how many calories in homemade pepperoni pizza for 1 slice.

Calories can be reduced by rolling out a thinner dough and discarding the excess. Also, using a pepperoni that uses turkey as part of the meat product reduces it further. Using low fat cheeses also contribute to further reductions.

Conventional Oven Instructions

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What to Serve with Pizza

A simple green lettuce salad or spinach salad are super and healthy sides. Or, even celery and carrot sticks are good crunchy things to munch on. Those sides, or something similar, can offer lower fat and calorie intake for the meal. They help give some fiber and other nutrients to go along with the meaty protein of the main course.

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And, like the restaurants do, you could also have some cookies on hand for the after meal. I believe the popular kind is chocolate chip.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this recipe for pepperoni pizza is incredibly easy to follow and the results are delicious. You can choose to make your own dough, or use a premade option, which makes the process even simpler. So why not give it a try today? Or, try our Cheese Pizza or Sausage Pizza! And, if there’s an argument over pepperoni or sausage pizzas, have it 1/2 pepperoni and 1/2 sausage pizza or the combined 2-meat sausage and pepperoni pizza!

A more complete list of pizza recipes is available in the “Homemade Pizzas Recipes Complete Guide“.

Also, try our Italian Calzone recipe using sausage and our pizza dough or our Italian Lasagna Meaty recipe! Here, you can make your own Italian Seasonings!