The Best Pepperoni Pizza

Three mozzarellas, seasoned sauce with dollops dropped on top, and real cupping pepperoni. The definitive pepperoni build.

Time: 20 min (pizza day) | Yield: 1 pizza | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 3 | Published: 2026-10-26

Pepperoni pizza is the most ordered pizza in America and most of them are built wrong. This is the version I would put against any shop: three mozzarellas doing three different jobs, a seasoned sauce that shows up twice, and pepperoni that actually cups and chars.

The layering is the recipe. Seasoned crushed tomatoes down first (salt, oregano, torn basil, barely blended), pecorino straight onto the sauce, then shredded part skim and whole milk mozzarella laid so slivers of red still show through. Cubed fresh mozzarella lands in pockets, and then, the move, dollops of the remaining sauce get dropped ON TOP of the cheese where they concentrate into bright, jammy islands.

The pepperoni has to be the cupping kind, Ezzo or RosaGrande, overlapped because it shrinks as it curls into little crispy grease cups. Any dough on the site works under it, my New York-ish Dough is the house pick, and my pizza sauce is the base if you want the exact ratios.

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 550 degrees or as hot as it can go, with a baking steel, for at least an hour.
    You'll know it's right: The full hour on the steel is non-negotiable. The steel temperature is the bottom crust.
  2. Stretch your pizza dough on a floured peel.
  3. Add salt, oregano and torn basil to your crushed tomatoes. You can stir or lightly blend with an immersion blender.
  4. Then evenly sprinkle your pecorino romano.
  5. Lay down your layer of shredded part skim and whole milk mozzarella. The trick is to not completely cover every inch of sauce with the cheese.
    You'll know it's right: Leave slivers of sauce showing through the shredded layer. Full cheese coverage steams the pie; the gaps are where the char happens.
  6. Evenly place your cubed fresh mozzarella.
  7. Now use the rest of the crushed tomatoes to evenly drop dollops of sauce around on top. About a tablespoon or less.
    You'll know it's right: Dollops, a tablespoon or less each, scattered on TOP of the cheese. They concentrate in the oven into bright red pockets.
  8. Last, lay down your pepperoni. If you are using cupping pepperonis, they will shrink, so it's okay to overlap. My favorites are Ezzo and RosaGrande.
    You'll know it's right: Cupping pepperoni shrinks as it curls, so overlap without fear. Ezzo and RosaGrande are the ones that cup and char properly.
  9. Optional drizzle of olive oil around the crust.
  10. Into the oven for 8 minutes with a 1 minute optional broil.
  11. Let rest on a rack for 1-2 minutes before slicing.
    You'll know it's right: The 1-2 minute rack rest lets the cheese set from molten to sliceable and keeps the bottom crisp.
  12. Finish with Parmigiano Reggiano!

Troubleshooting

Pepperoni stayed flat and greasy

Sandwich-counter pepperoni. Natural-casing cupping pepperoni is the whole category difference. Ezzo or RosaGrande, sliced on the thicker side.

Pale, steamed cheese layer

Wall-to-wall shredded cheese. Leave slivers of sauce showing through. The exposed sauce is where the caramelization and char live.

Soupy center

All the sauce went down as the base layer. A cup and a half splits into base plus dollops. The dollops concentrate on top instead of flooding underneath.

Fresh mozzarella puddled water

Big wet cubes straight from the brine. Small cubes, patted dry. A quarter cup placed in pockets, not spread.

Bottom was soft

Steel not fully preheated, or skipped the rack rest. The full hour preheat and the 1-2 minute rack rest are both load-bearing. Neither is optional for a crisp bottom.

Nutrition (2 slices (1/4 of the pie)): 420 calories, 19g protein, 38g carbs, 22g fat.