11 Creative Ways to Give Your Frozen Pizza a Makeover

Pickled, marinated, and oil-cured vegetables bring rich, complex flavors that frozen pizzas often lack. As I’ve mentioned earlier, the oil these vegetables are packed in serves a dual purpose:

The flavored oil drips onto the pizza, soaking into the crust and infusing the entire pie with

flavor

. For optimal results, add marinated vegetables once the cheese begins to melt but before it starts to brown, so they can become warm and succulent.

Pickled vegetables offer a sharp, tangy taste and should be added after cooking. I particularly love pickled onions and pickled corn, especially if they’re pickled in beer.

Plopping an egg on anything is a quick and easy way to make it feel like a complete meal. Eggs provide protein and essential vitamins, and the yolk serves as a rich, golden sauce—ideal for cutting through bland cheese and dry crusts. Be sure to season the egg with a pinch of salt, and finish it off with a generous drizzle of hot sauce. Yolk, hot sauce, and salt form a powerhouse of flavor.

Laying thin slices of cured meat on a hot pizza doesn’t just elevate the flavor—it also acts as a shield, preventing the scorching cheese from burning the roof of your mouth while softening the chill of the charcuterie. The fats in mortadella, prosciutto, or soppressata gently melt on top of the pizza, allowing your tongue to fully savor them. While you can choose any charcuterie, my personal favorite is mortadella—it stays put on the pizza without sliding off when you take a bite (unlike prosciutto, which can be a bit slippery).

I’ve already made my case for the salad-on-a-pizza combo, but just to quickly recap:

In my younger days, I loved dining at a small spot called “The California Pizza Kitchen.” One of my go-to orders was a thin-crust pizza topped with a tangy heap of greens. I felt somewhat virtuous eating salad, and the contrast of acidic vinaigrette with salty cured pork was absolutely divine. When making pizza at home, I prefer to keep the salad simple—baby greens or arugula, a vinaigrette, and perhaps a little parmesan—then toss it onto the pizza right after it comes out of the oven (letting the greens wilt just slightly).

I still stand by it.

Honey is the perfect finishing touch for dishes with salty or spicy flavors, making it a great companion to a frozen spicy pepperoni pizza loaded with sodium. A touch of honey balances the intense saltiness of cured meats, and it also serves as a perfect dip for that final bite of crispy crust. For an added twist, try fermented garlic honey, or if you prefer a little heat, opt for hot honey.

One simple way to make a dish appear more gourmet is by adding fresh herbs, a trick that works even when you’re cooking for yourself. This works wonders with frozen pizza, which can be elevated by a handful of fresh herbs like basil, oregano, or fennel fronds. These herbs bring the authentic flavors you’d expect from a homemade pizza, which might otherwise be missing or overwhelmed by mass-produced toppings. Add them right before serving, and don't be shy with the handfuls.

Grilling a frozen pizza gives you a beautifully crisp crust and is a fun and simple way to prepare it:

Grilled frozen pizza is an easy yet surprisingly satisfying choice for a weeknight meal. You can grill several pizzas one after the other, enjoying the first at a relaxed pace while the next one cooks. It takes only about 20 minutes to go from frozen to perfectly crisp, and the preheating time is much shorter than it would be in an oven.

Want to add a smoky flavor? Toss some wood chips on the coals to infuse your pizza with a hint of smoke.

There’s a reason why “cacio e pepe” became a food trend a few years ago; it’s a quick and affordable way to bring an Italian touch to everything from biscuits to potato chips. Salty Pecorino Romano (or Parmesan) and bold, fresh pepper can turn anything into a flavorful dish, including that frozen Red Barron pizza you’ve been neglecting for a year. Don’t worry about overdoing it – pile a generous heap of fluffy cheese on top and finish with a hefty sprinkle of pepper.

Steam can ruin a crispy crust, but a few strategically placed holes can solve the issue:

If your pizza comes in plastic wrap (which is almost always the case), here’s a helpful tip: Flip the pizza over onto a flat surface like the box before removing the wrap. Peel the plastic off the back and then use a fork or paring knife to gently poke small holes, or 'dock' the dough, in the center where the toppings are. This will let the steam escape, keeping your crust from getting soggy.

This technique might not be necessary for thin-crust pizzas like Totino’s, which are already quite crispy, but it can make a huge difference for doughier pizzas like Digiorno.