Easy Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

Chicago-style deep dish pizza is where the crust has a high edge and the pizza is filled generously with cheese and “toppings.” It’s a delicious and filling style of pizza and has been around since the early to mid-1900s!

I take my Chicago-style deep dish pizza very seriously. When I lived in Chicago I ate at just about every deep dish parlor and had strong opinions about all of them (as one should!).

I brought my love of deep dish pizza into my kitchen before I even left the windy city, and make this pie at least a few times a year! It’s one of my favorites for large gatherings as it is always a big hit and everyone leaves satisfied and with full bellies!

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza: The Traditional American Recipe From Illinois

These days I use vegan mozzarella, but the dough is the same! And if it sits a bit lighter in my stomach, well, I’m certainly not going to complain and miiiiight just have an extra slice!

Chicago-style deep dish pizza is all about the crust. Get the crust down and you’re basically golden! Cause the crust bakes up golden… get it? ………….

It should be thick enough to support generous amounts of filling, cheese, and sauce. The crust should be buttery tasting and tender enough to cut with a butter knife.

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza Recipe • The Curious Chickpea

The dough is flavorful due to long ferment times, meaning this isn’t a recipe you can throw together in just a couple of hours. Though, I mean, the cooking time along kinda prevents that!

It’s worth every second though, and a little planning ahead either in the morning or the night before means you’ll have an easy pizza dinner!

Working from bottom to top, Chicago-style deep dish should have crust followed by a mixture of mozzarella and “toppings.” Of course here, the toppings are really the filling/stuffing. Then we have the sauce, which needs to be thick and not watery, because we can’t have a soggy pizza! Finally (and optionally) some parmesan sprinkled on top to finish the pie off!

How To Make The Best Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

For deep dish pizza you need: all purpose flour, water, oil, yeast, sugar, salt, and this last one is optional–cream of tartar.

A lot of people are under the impression that deep dish pizza contains cornmeal. This is just not true, at least not for traditional Chicago-style deep dish.

Traditionally corn oil is used to make deep dish pizza (probably because Illinois is land of the corn), and the faint taste of corn is likely from the choice of oil.

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza Dough Recipe

The second ingredient that may surprise you is cream of tartar. This is optional but works to slow down the proliferation of yeast. Slower yeast = slower rise = more flavor!

The dough itself requires very little effort to make. You whisk together the dry ingredients, add the wet, bring it together to make a shaggy dough, then just knead for one to minutes!

Yes that’s right. No long kneading times here! This is in part to keep the tenderness of the crust. The oil in the dough also effectively shortens the gluten strands which also means a more tender crust.

How To Make Deep Dish Pizza For Pizzeria Flavors At Home

You then leave the dough to rise for several hours, or overnight in the fridge. This long fermentation times does some of the work of kneading for you. The gluten strands relax and start to align in the wet dough.

So with the dough done it’s time to decide on the stuffing. You can go with a plain cheese deep dish, but what’s the fun in that!

Beyond vegetables you can add your usual pizza suspects. I used a vegan pepperoni in this one, but also love a good veggie sausage!

Mozzarella Mac Deep Dish Pizza

Mozzarella is the traditional cheese, though in some you may find a mix of mozz and cheddar if you want to replicate that style.

I like to layer my filling: a little sprinkle of cheese on bottom and then some cheese in between the filling if I’m using more than one, and then most of the cheese on top of the fillings as it will melt downwards to fill in any gaps!

Note: some deep dish pizza places add a little mozzarella around the edge of the dough so that the crust bakes up cheesy and crispy. Tuck some mozz around the crust if you want this effect.

Chicago Style Pizza Recipe

Choose high quality san marzano style whole peeled canned tomatoes. Then crush them up by hand or a few pulses in a food processor or blender and set it to drain in a fine mesh strainer for 5-10 minutes. A bit longer is okay too!

Use whole canned tomatoes because these are the best quality tomatoes. One large can of tomatoes (~28 oz) is enough for one 12-inch pizza.

Add some garlic, oregano, and salt. I also added some fennel this time around for a hint of sausage flavor. If you add fennel I recommend lightly crushing it first. You could also add some dried basil for more Italian-seasoning!

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza With Sausage & Pepperoni

I like my dough on the medium thick side, but if you prefer a thinner dough, just use less. Extra dough can always be made into a small personal pie or turned into some breadsticks.

I use my 12-inch cast iron skillet to make my deep dish pizza, but you can also buy specialty deep dish pans or use cake pans!

No matter what pan you use, you’ll want to oil or butter the pan to give that slight fried dough effect and also ensure that the pie will be easily removed from the pan!

Deep Dish Chicago Style Pizza

I think that’s everything you need to know to make amazing deep dish pizza at home! Feel free to drop any questions in the comments below!

If you make this Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza, leave a comment below and rate the recipe on the recipe card. And please share your photos with me on Instagram, tag @ and #. I love seeing your recreations!

*If using active dry yeast dissolve the yeast in warm (not room temperature) water (1 1/4 cups/294g) along with the sugar and let activate for 5-10 minutes before adding to the rest of the ingredients.

Copycat Giordano's Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

I like a medium-thick crust, but if you prefer a thinner crust remove some of the dough (about 1/4 to 1/3 of it) and with this extra dough make a smaller personal pan sized pizza or turn it into breadsticks.Make the best Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza at home! If the thick, buttery crust doesn’t win you over the layers of gooey cheese, sausage and a sweet and spicy red sauce will surely have you craving seconds!

Sally is the author of four cookbooks and is a regular correspondent for the Boston Globe Wednesday Food Section. She also is a food photographer.

Chicago-style deep dish pizza is not your everyday pizza fare. This thick pie with buttery, crisp crust is filled to the max with oozy cheese and crumbled sausage and then topped with a slightly sweet and spicy tomato sauce and even more cheese. By most accounts invented in Chicago (thus the name) this deep-dish version fulfills hungry pizza cravings in a most satisfying way!

Homemade Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

The dough is layered with butter, rolled and fitted into a cake pan. The high-sided crust makes room for a substantial amount of filling. To create its buttery flavor and light crust you laminate the dough and give it an extra rise.

Laminate means to create alternate thin layers of butter and dough (think croissants or puff pastry.) While those pastries require folding, rolling, and folding again a few times over, in this simplified version, all you do is spread a layer of softened, room temperature butter over the dough and roll it into a cylinder, creating layers. Easy enough, right? The dough gets another rest in the refrigerator to maintain the layers, to rise slightly, and to allow the butter to become firm. Then it is rolled out into a circle and pressed into the pan.

The assembly of a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza is a bit different, too. You start with a layer of mozzarella cheese slices on the bottom not the top! This keeps the crust crisp and allows the cheese to melt and ooze to the max. Top it with crumbled, cooked sausage (or other fillings of your choice) and spread the sauce on top not the bottom! Sauce on top keeps the crust from becoming soggy. Sprinkle with Parmesan and your pie is ready to go into the oven. That thick sauce holds the pie together when you slice it, and the cheese on the bottom oozes just a little on the plate.

Cast Iron Deep Dish Pizza Recipe (chicago Style!)

A slightly chunky, slightly sweet sauce is the hallmark of deep-dish pizza. I used crushed tomatoes, but you could also use diced or whole canned tomatoes crushed in a bowl. Just be sure to let the sauce simmer long enough for it to thicken; it should be thicker and chunkier than tomato puree but not as thick as tomato paste. Garlic, onions, and Italian seasonings like oregano, rosemary or basil are the usual suspects, and they add an essential panache to the sauce.

There are specific deep-dish pizza pans, but you won’t need one. This recipe is geared to work in a 9-inch cake pan

Posted by bankkong639

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