Pickles on the pizza? This cucumber pizza will convince you that this spice belongs in a pie, complete with garlic dill sauce and gooey cheese.
Pickles on the pizza? Yes, Pickle Pizza is one thing. And this recipe will convince you that this salty spice is made to garnish a cake! This unusual pizza combines a creamy garlic-dill sauce with lots of gooey cheese and tangy slivers of cucumber. It may sound strange: until the first bite. The flavors work remarkably well together and keep you coming back for more. Count us impressed. Cucumber lovers: Here’s your new favorite pizza!
Pickle Pizza Ingredients
Who Invented the Cucumber Pizza? There are a few stories: Rhino’s Pizzeria in Rochester, New York claims to have invented the original pizza in August 2018. There’s also QC Pizza in Mahtomedi, Minnesota, which pioneered the “It’s Kind of a Big Dill” pizza with Canadian bacon, which went viral in June 2019 online.
Anyhow, there are a few similarities between most pickle pizzas. Most pair white garlic sauce or ranch dressing with lots of cheese and thinly sliced pickles. We created our own original recipe using these ingredients (it’s not a copy of any of the above, although it has similar flavors). What you need for this recipe:
- Pizza dough: Try our Best Pizza Dough, Thin Crust Pizza Dough, or other options below
- Garlic Dill Sauce: Plain or Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, dried dill, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper
- mozzarella cheese
- parmesan cheese
- dill pickles
For the garlic dill sauce
Garlic Dill Sauce is a twist on our homemade ranch dressing, using a blend of yogurt and mayonnaise to bring a fresh twist to the classic dressing. Here are some tips for preparing this sauce:
- Use yogurt or sour cream. yogurt reduces calories and makes a lighter sauce; If using Greek yogurt, add ½ tablespoon water to make it spreadable. Or substitute sour cream!
- Substitute store-bought ranch dressing if desired. You can also omit the homemade sauce and coat the dough with store-bought ranch dressing. Homemade is much better, so we highly recommend it!
Pickles for pickle pizza
Here are some pointers for cucumbers too! We prefer to use whole dill pickles and cut them into thin slices. Why?
- Pre-cut dill chips may be too thick. If they’re too thick, they’ll overwhelm the flavors of the cucumber pizza.
- A store-bought deli-style sliced cucumber might work, like these Grillo Dill Chips. Use your best judgment: many store-bought jars can have a very strong flavor.
- Also homemade! Try our homemade dill pickles.
For the pizza dough
The trick to the best cucumber pizza? Homemade pizza dough. There are several options for the dough depending on your preferences and the tools you have. Here are your best bets:
- Best Pizza Dough: Our Benchmark: Works great on an oven-baked pizza stone
- Thin Crust Pizza Dough: It’s easy and you can roll it out instead of stretching it. It’s also slightly healthier because there’s less batter.
- Pizza Oven Dough: Do you have a pizza oven? This is the dough recipe for you.
- Perfect Skillet Pizza: Prepare your cucumber pizza in a cast iron skillet! It comes out with a chewy crust
- Sheet Pan Pizza: This makes a double recipe in a large sheet pan: perfect for serving a crowd!
Choose your crust, then top it with creamy sauce, gooey cheese, and pickles. We hope you love it as much as we do! Let us know what you think in the comments below.
More pickle recipes
Calling all cucumber lovers! Also try these pickle recipes:
This cucumber pizza recipe is…
Vegetarian.
The description
This cucumber pizza will convince you that this spice belongs in the pizza! Brush the dough with garlic and dill sauce and top with sticky cheese.
- 1 Recipe Best Pizza Dough, Thin Pizza Dough or Baked Pizza Dough
- ¼ cup Whole milk yoghurt or sour cream* (or Greek yoghurt with ½ tbsp the water)
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon every dried dill, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt and black pepper
- ¾ cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
- 2 Dill pickles, thinly sliced and patted dry
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- Hot sauce for garnish (optional)
- Prepare pizza dough: Follow the Best Pizza Dough, Thin Crust Pizza Dough, or Pizza Oven Dough recipes to prepare the dough. (It takes about 15 minutes and 45 minutes to rest.)
- Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F. OR preheat your pizza oven (this is the pizza oven we use).
- Prepare sauce: Combine yogurt, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, dill, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and black pepper.
- Bake pizza: When the oven is done, dust a pizza peel with corn or semolina flour. (If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can use a rimmed baking sheet or the back of a rimmed baking sheet. But a pizza peel is worth the investment!) Roll out the dough in a circle; For instructions, see How to stretch pizza dough. Then carefully place the dough on the pizza peel.
- Spread a thin layer of garlic and dill sauce over the dough. Add mozzarella and parmesan. Top with pickles and sprinkle with dried oregano.
- Use the pizza peel to carefully transfer the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 5-7 minutes in the oven (or 1-2 minutes in a pizza oven).
- Let the pizza cool for a minute or two, then add hot sauce if desired. Cut into pieces and serve immediately.
Remarks
*You can also substitute about ¼ cup of store-bought ranch dressing for the sauce, but we prefer the homemade sauce.
- Category: Pizza
- Method: Cooked
- Kitchen: American
- Diet: vegetarian
