An Expert Explains Why Pickles Pair So Well With Pizza

Pizza is among the world's most versatile foods. Its crust is basically a blank canvas upon which its creator may lay their vision. Sure, some type of sauce and cheese varieties are typically expected. But, building on those neutral elements, one hundred pizzaiolos could spend one hundred years kneading, spinning, tossing, and topping, and still never make the same pie twice. Why, one could even incorporate something as seemingly unexpected as, say, pineapple, and nobody would make a peep. Just kidding — half the population would balloon with vexation, even though fruit is part of pizza history. For Angelo Sosa, "Top Chef" regular, cookbook author, and executive chef of Kembara and Tía Carmen in Phoenix, Arizona, and Carmocha and Tía Carmen in Indian Wells, California, pickles are another semi-surprising ingredient to perk up your next slice.

Chowhound spoke to Sosa exclusively to find out why the tangy, briny topping works so well on pizza. "I'm a huge fan of acid and punches of flavor in all of my food," he says. "I'm someone who loves kimchi on my pizza, so yes, pickled onions, pickled jalapeño and straight dill pickles would be magical with the fat of the cheese and the earthy/sweet notes of a house made tomato sauce."

Whichever pickle you pick, be it the allium, pepper, or good ol' cucumber variety, any addition is a budget-friendly way to upgrade your frozen pizzas. But, whether you're zhuzhing up the flavor of a pre-made pie or crafting one from scratch, the key is adding your pickles at the right time.

While a side of grilled cucumber pickles are great at the cookout, their appeal on pizza is in their contrasting texture; that crisp, cool crunch. Sliced and run through the oven they'll lose that little bit of snap. Yes, you're going to lose the cohesion you'd have enjoyed if you'd slipped the slices between the sauce and the cheese, but the taste will be much livelier. Pickled onions are on the opposite end of the spectrum. While they'd be just dandy as a final touch, their simmering sweetness is just more effective when they become a part of the pie and their texture easily coalesces with the other ingredients. Pickled jalapeños can go either way. Fully adhered or freewheeling like your parm or red pepper flakes, they'll impart their signature heat and acidity in any case.