Different Types of Pizza: A Guide to Popular Styles Worldwide

While pizza may seem uniform with its round shape and diverse fillings, did you know it comes in many types? Understanding these variations can help you discover the one best suits your palate. Moreover, it opens up a world of diverse pizza experiences, ensuring you never tire of this delectable Italian specialty. Here’s a simple guide to the different types of pizza you should try.

Neapolitan Style Pizza

Neapolitan-style pizza is the most common pizza and originated in the 18th century in Naples, Italy. They already consumed pizza in that era because it was made quickly and cheaply, making pizza a type of food popular from then until now. Nowadays, we can find three official variants of Neapolitan pizza. The three pizzas are Pizza Marinara, using extra virgin olive oil; Pizza Margherita, which uses basil and sliced mozzarella cheese; and Pizza Margherita Extra, which contains mozzarella from Campania.  

New York-Style Pizza

Unlike its Neapolitan counterpart, New York-style pizza is a uniquely American, boasting a richer flavour and a wider array of toppings. It's not just about tomato sauce and mozzarella; New York Pizza often features additional toppings like parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes, creating a flavour profile that's distinctly its own. This unique blend of flavours is sure to pique your interest.

New Haven–Style Pizza

New Haven-style pizza is characterised by its thin crust and distinctive charred flavour. The crust is typically made from a white and wheat flour blend, resulting in a chewy texture with a slightly crispy bite. It is usually topped with simple ingredients such as tomato sauce, grated Pecorino Romano cheese, and fresh garlic. 

One of the most famous varieties is the "white clam pizza," which features fresh clams, garlic, olive oil, and oregano, adding a briny, umami depth to the flavour. Overall, this pizza is perfect for those who appreciate the simplicity of fresh ingredients and a well-crafted crust.

Chicago Style Pizza

Chicago-style pizza, commonly known as "deep-dish," is a culinary delight that embodies the bold flavours of the city. It is baked in a round, deep-pan, resulting in a thick, buttery crust that provides a sturdy base for a generous layer of cheese, usually mozzarella. This cheese is topped with various toppings and a layer of tomato sauce. This unique layering creates a symphony of flavours and textures, where each bite offers a satisfying combination of crispy crust, gooey cheese, and delicious toppings.

Sicilian Pizza

Sicilian pizza, often called "sfincione," is known for its thick crust and rectangular shape, showcasing the region's culinary heritage. The crust is thick and airy, providing a robust base for toppings. Typically, it is topped with simple ingredients like tomato sauce, cheese, and herbs. These toppings are spread evenly across the pizza, creating a balanced flavour profile that is both familiar and comforting. Sicilian pizza is a hearty and filling choice, perfect for a casual or light lunch.

Detroit-Style Pizza

Detroit-style pizza is bold and distinctive, showcasing its thick, rectangular crust with crispy, caramelised cheese edges known as "Frisco." This pizza embodies the city's industrial heritage and is baked in a steel pan, ensuring exceptional crispiness. It features a generous layer of brick cheese, followed by various toppings, with a layer of tomato sauce layered on top. This unique combination creates an unmatched flavour profile. Detroit-style pizza is the ultimate option for anyone who truly values a crispy crust and an abundance of cheese.

Greek Style Pizza

Greek pizza is a favourite among cheese lovers. Although usually paired with tomato sauce like any other pizza, this pizza usually uses a mix of cheese as a topping. Some examples of cheese are mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese, which taste more savoury. The texture of this kind of pizza is that it has a thicker and chewy crust, though not too thick.

Grandma Pizza

Are you so used to eating round pizza that you haven't heard of grandma's large rectangular pizza? Grandma's pizza is rectangular and thinner than other pan pizzas. But despite its thinness, the pizza crust is crispy rather than hard, allowing you to enjoy a pizza with just the right texture and not too much. You can eat this pizza if you don't want a pizza that is too hard or too chewy.

Buffalo-Style Pizza

Similar to Greek-style pizza, which requires a lot of cheese in the pizza-making process, buffalo-style pizza provides triple cheese to enrich the flavour of cheese as a topping. It has a thickness that is in the middle of thick and medium, which is the right thickness to be consumed by many people's preferences. With triple cheese and cupped pepperoni, this pizza has more sauce than a typical pizza.

California-Style Pizza

You might feel bored with traditional pizza toppings like tomato, onion, or pepperoni when craving pizza. California-style pizza offers an anti-mainstream option because you can use a variety of toppings, and there is no limitation on the toppings. You can use a variety of toppings, such as chicken, cheese, and egg, that are not commonly used as toppings for pizza.

Roman-Style Pizza

Roman-style pizza offers two different options in terms of shape and texture. The two pizzas are pizza al taglio, which has rectangular slices, and pizza tonda romana, a thinner, more rounded, crispy pizza. The pizza dough is made with less hydration and baked at a lower temperature for longer, creating a crisp bottom. In addition, they use light and straightforward toppings such as potatoes and zucchini that you can easily find around you. 

Philadelphia Tomato Pie

Although it originated in the mid-19th to 20th century, this pizza has not had any significant changes, so it remains the same as pizza from that era. Making this pizza feel more original, traditional, and authentic. It has a signature caramelised tomato heated in the oven, making the tomato topping sweet yet savoury when you have one bite of the pizza. However, you can also find Philadelphia tomato pie with other toppings, such as umami and herbs, that may not be commonly found on classic pizza.

St. Louis Style Pizza

An excellent pizza choice at a party with many people is the St. Louis-style pizza, which offers pizzas divided into 3-4-inch rectangles. It uses a thin crust and light slices, perfect for snacking with friends or family. For additional information, this pizza uses sweet tomato sauce with a hefty oregano and Provel cheese dosage. Provel cheese is a white processed cheese made from cheddar, Swiss, provolone cheese, and liquid smoke.

Quad City-Style Pizza

Quad City-style pizza offers a unique pizza option with a pizza flavour you may have never tasted before. With a dough with a nutty, slightly sweet flavour and a dark crust that is robust yet chewy, this pizza certainly has a much different taste than the original pizza. In addition, the unique point of this pizza is also found in the toppings, in a thick layer of mozzarella, which also dominates the salty taste of cheese.

Colorado-Style Pizza

With its texture and very thick crust, Colorado-style pizza is often called mountain pie. This pizza is also unique because of its braided edges, frequently dipped in honey, an uncommon ingredient in the pizza-making process. Moreover, the dough is soft and sweet, making it taste like freshly baked bread. The beauty of this pizza is that the toppings are plentiful, with lots of cheese, meat, and vegetables piled on. It is usually baked in a deep pan, resulting in a dense and filling bite.

Rhode Island Pizza

Unlike other pizzas that usually use a lot of cheese to create a savoury and chewy taste, Rhode Island-style pizza does not include mozzarella. Instead, it relies on pizza sauce as the main topping, with just a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. This makes the pizza feel lighter and simpler, as it avoids heavy toppings. Because it uses mainly pizza sauce and minimal cheese, this style is ideal for enjoying at school or buying from a bakery. It is often served at room temperature or cold, making it a convenient and easy option for a quick meal.

Altoona-Style Pizza

Altoona-style pizza is a pizza that uses thick dough to create a chewy texture. The toppings used on this pizza also differ from traditional toppings because they use sweet green peppers, canned mushrooms and yellow American cheese. It makes this pizza quirky and very cheesy.

Types of Pizza Crust

With different thicknesses, pizza crust provides many options for pizza lovers, but the two most popular types of pizza crust are thick and thin crust.

Thick Crust Pizza

Thick-crust pizza, like Sicilian pizza, has a chewy and dense texture, so it is perfect to be eaten as a main dish during lunch or dinner with your family and loved ones. If you want to try a thick-crust pizza recipe, you can customise it with the amount of sauce and many toppings because you can't give many toppings to a thin-crust pizza. The thickness of the dough can be up to ⅛ to ¼ inch.

Thin Crust Pizza

As the name suggests, another type of pizza is a thin-crust pizza, thinner than the original chewy pizza with a thick crust. The purpose of thin-crust pizza is to create a crispy and crunchy pizza when eaten. To make this pizza using thinner dough, it is important to stretch the dough slowly to form the edges. The toppings of this pizza are diverse, just like with thick-crust pizza. However, it usually does not use a lot of toppings because it will be too heavy for the dough.

From the original round shape with tomato sauce to unique pizzas with a variety of toppings and sauces, you'll surely be able to find the best pizza for your taste! With so many kinds to try, there's always a new slice waiting to surprise you. So, explore different styles and enjoy the pizza journey at Piccolino Woodfired Pizza & Homemade Pasta.