Thinking Beyond Margherita: Creative Toppings for Wood-Fired Pizza Enthusiasts

Ahh, the Margherita pizza—a culinary classic dreamed up as a humble offering to Queen Margherita of Savoy. With its simple tomato sauce topped with fresh mozzarella and basil, this dish—and its many tributes—has fueled so many different gatherings and moments it’s impossible to list them all. 

Despite the beautiful simplicity of a Margherita, after 125 years, it’s fair to think outside the pizza box. If you want some yummy pizza toppings to cover your wood-fired pizza, look no further.

Carnivore Cravings

Pepperoni and sausage might get top billing as meat pizza toppings, but there are so many other proteins and preparations that will send you on a wonderfully unexpected flavor adventure.

Fancy Fare

You can go with fancy bacon and a delicacy like prosciutto, fig sauce or pineapple toppings to add new dimensions of flavor, as we do on our Don Quixote or Kon Tiki pies. You’ve likely seen chicken on a pizza before, but we love the rich flavors and lesser-utilized poultry, such as the roasted duck paired with a house-made chipotle glaze found on our Ann Bancroft.

Go-To Grub

If you don’t want to turn your pie into a white linen affair, you can look to more humble preparations to go outside the box with your protein. We love the smoky spice of BBQ so much that we put pulled pork and a made-from-scratch mustard sauce atop our Indiana Jones pizza.

Don’t forget that how you prepare your protein beforehand will play a part in how your pizza turns out—feel free to experiment with different techniques.

Pondering Plants

You’ve likely seen just about the entire produce section on a pizza at some point. Peppers, onions and olives have carried the banner for plant-based toppings for some time, but there are so many other options to consider, such as:

• Pickled carrots and onions
• Sweet grapes and crispy jalapenos
• Dried cherries and fresh tomatillos
• Roasted sweet potatoes and maple syrup

You can also experiment with the preparation of your veggies. Add a depth of smokiness with grilled vegetables or roast your veggies to highlight their natural sweetness as we do on the Dr. Who. Vegetables offer so many different ways to impart flavor to your wood-fired pizza.

Be A Sauce Boss

Pizza sauce acts as the flavorful foundation of a pizza, balancing the richness of cheeses and other toppings. A poorly partnered sauce will overpower all the deliciousness of the toppings. Like the right chocolate enhancing a wine, finding the best partner is a practice that lets you experiment and explore the bounty of tastes that make a memorable pizza. A red sauce is the American standard, but there are as many sauce options as cultures worldwide. Each culture adds a rich bounty of sauce and flavor options. 

Explore cream sauces, olive oils, curries, pestos and seasonings that will complement your efforts to find the best meats and toppings for your taste buds. Be the boss of your sauce.

More Than Just Mozz

Mozzarella is the quintessential pizza cheese. It offers a consistent creaminess and even distribution that has become iconic for the past 125 years. Of course, you can always try something different. Play with the nuttiness of gruyere or parmesan. Take the creaminess of your cheese layer to the max by blending your mozz with provolone, blue cheese or brie. 

Playing with dairy offers the chance to impart unexpected flavors into your next pizza.

A Pizza is Worth a Thousand Words

A Wandering Fire caters for events, taking guests on a delicious wood-fired pizza journey. With curated menu options composed of high-quality, local ingredients, your idea of what a pizza can be will change forever.

We bring our mobile 900-degree pizza oven and open-air kitchen to you, so your celebration can culminate with fabulous flavors and the warm glow of the fire. 

Reach out to book your wedding, graduation or other event today.