Who doesn’t love pizza? Pizza, characterized by a flat, bready base, tomato sauce, and a cheese topping, is a classic dish beloved by most.
However, there are many different styles of pie! One of the main variations is traditional Italian versus American-style pizza. What’s the difference between the two, exactly?
There are actually many subtle changes between the two styles, and they make a big difference in taste!
Once you’ve worked them out, you can seek out the pizza you prefer – or even have a go making your own. We’ll cover everything you need to know in this guide, including:
- What’s Italian pizza?
- What’s American pizza?
- Crust types
- The difference in topping style
- Cheese use
- Eating style.
Let’s get cooking!
Italian Pizza
Pizza as we know it originated in Italy, Naples in the 1800s.
The first recognizable pizza was likely the margarita, with its tomato, mozzarella, and basil representing the Italian flag made in honor of the Queen at the time.
While similar to Neapolitan pizza, this type of pizza uses sliced tomatoes rather than crushed.
It’s safe to say that Italian pizza is the authentic style! It’s distinguished by its coarse, thin crust, its lack of uniformity, and the quality of the fresh ingredients.
Classic red pizza is traditionally made with fresh tomato sauce, which is simply peeled tomatoes (San Marzano are best) blanched with salt, fresh basil, and olive oil – and not cooked over heat!
This leads to a fresh and flavorful sauce. On the other hand, white pizza doesn’t use tomato sauce – just cheese, oil, and usually garlic and salt.
American Pizza
Pizza was brought to the United States with the waves of Italian immigrants in the 18th century, with Lombardi’s being the first pizzeria to open in 1905.
After soldiers returned from duty in Italy after World War II, pizza rose in popularity and was spread across the country, along with other Italian restaurants and foods.
Like with everything, Americans made pizza their own. The American version of pizza typically has a thicker, softer crust, and a uniform distribution of cheese.
It’s typically made with a tomato base, and American pizza sauce is often created with canned tomatoes, cooked, and flavored with herbs and spices as well as a mozzarella layer.
Toppings and styles vary based on location, with many regions having a distinct take on their pizza – such as the famous Chicago deep dish.
Difference between Italian Pizza vs American Pizza
While both styles of pizza are delicious in their own right, there are a few key differences to look out for:
Crust
Traditional Italian pizza is made with type 00 flour – the finest ground. The dough is also left to leaven for several hours and then carefully hand-stretched.
This leads to a very thin and stretchy crust, with a raised portion around the edges.
There is more variety in American pizza crusts due to the large assortment of styles. However, it is typically made with high-gluten flour, similar to that used to make bagels.
It also sometimes includes a shortening agent, which is not found in Italian pizza dough. This means it’s able to be tossed and stretched while keeping it buttery, soft, and with a good bite.
Toppings
Italian toppings are generally more simple and pared down to highlight the high quality of the fresh ingredients used.
Traditional meat toppings include prosciutto, sausage, salami, anchovies, and other seafood.
In addition to fresh mozzarella, provolone, shaved parmesan, and gorgonzola are commonly added cheeses. Meanwhile, olives, artichokes, broccolini, and mushrooms are among the popular vegetables.
With American-style pizzas, it’s a little more “anything goes”.
There are often more toppings added in combination, leading to a heavier meal! Pepperoni pizza is of course extremely popular, but so is hamburger meat and sausage.
Meat Lover’s Pizza is also commonly ordered in American pizzerias and pizza chains which combine two or more of these proteins.
Onions, peppers, mushrooms, and olives are all regularly used vegetables in American pizza. While these might be accepted in Italy, another American favorite, pineapple, is certainly less traditional (and welcome).
Americans also love their cheese, with extra cheese being a favorite addition on American versions – as well as just plain cheese pizza!
In the U.S., you can also normally order your pizza half and half, with different toppings on each side.
Cheese
Buffalo mozzarella cheese is a must for authentic Italian pizza.
The cheese is normally added to the pizza in balls or slices before cooking, leading to gooey rounds of cheese scattered across the finished pie. Other cheese may be added as well, but it is less common.
The main difference in American-style pizzas is the sheer quantity of cheese.
In this type of pizza, grated mozzarella cheese is usually thickly distributed across the entire pizza before it goes into the oven – leading to a uniform layer of stringy, melty, cheese.
At some pizza places, parmesan in a powdered form is available in shakers to be added on top of the slices by the customer, though in higher-end pizzerias this is likely to be shaved or grated instead.
Some places even stuff the crust with cheese as well!
Texture
Texture might be the biggest difference between these types of pizza. Italian pizza is often crispier – even cracker-like on the bottom – with wet tomato sauce and warm (but still firm) cheese.
The outside of the crust is puffy with air pockets and chewy with a good bite. The toppings are usually high-quality fresh ingredients, giving a wider variety of texture and flavor with each mouthful.
American pizza tends to have a softer, fluffier crust. The ingredients are more homogenized, giving a more consistent bite with less distinct flavors.
The cheese is also more melted, pulling apart with long strings but not sliding off of the pizza itself. It also sometimes separates slightly while cooking, leading to a greasier slice.
Chicago-style deep-dish pizza is a whole other beast, with layers of cheese and sauce resulting in a very thick, dense, and wet tall slice of pizza.
Eating Style
This may come as a shock to Americans, but Italian pizza isn’t usually served by the slice!
Instead, it will be served uncut in a round, and eaten with a knife and fork. Smaller servings, meant to be eaten on the go, may be cut into rectangles and eaten by folding them so that the high-quality ingredients do not slide off.
American pizza is almost always served sliced, and in many places can be purchased by the slice.
This is because American pizzas are usually larger, and kept warm between cooking and serving so the slicing doesn’t cool the pizza much.
American pizza is also typically a heavier meal, usually enjoyed for dinner (although slices are always a popular lunch option too).
Americans also have many different variations on pizza by region, as well as different pizza-themed snacks such as pizza-style sub sandwiches, pizza pockets, and pizza rolls.
In Italy, calzones are a popular dish that also originate from Naples in the 18th century.
They consist of slated dough folded and stuffed with meat, cheese, and sometimes egg.
Variations include the American version, stromboli, which also has tomato sauce, and a fried version originating in Italy called panzerotti.
Conclusion
As you will have found out by now, America and Italy have vastly different types of pizza!
Italian pizzas are simpler with a thinner, crispier crust, and a higher focus on the ingredients.
On the other hand, American pizzas are bigger, cheesier, and have a softer, thicker crust and more toppings.
Even still, thin-crust pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven and using simple ingredients are rising in popularity in America.
And while there may not yet be a Pizza Hut in Italy, American food is as popular in Europe as Italian food is in the United States.
While everyone has their personal preferences, one thing is for sure: both styles are absolutely delicious!
As someone from Long Island, New York, Thomas knows what it takes to make a good pizza. He understands that it’s a combination of high-quality ingredients, well-rounded pizza ovens, and a little bit of love. From the dough of a Neapolitan-style pizza to the wood that powers a wood-fired pizza oven, he has you covered. Thomas’ love of pizza is what got him here and he hopes that you’ll enjoy pizza as much as he does soon.
