How To Make The Best Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

This classic deep dish pizza is perfect, beautiful, and oh-so-delicious. We show you how to make the best Chicago Deep Dish Pizza in this authentic, step-by-step recipe.

Can we make the perfect Chicago deep dish pizza at home? YES. I love pizza and the Chicago style is one of my favorite. Of course, I love a thin slice of New York style pizza, but I really have a soft spot for a big, meaty, hardy deep dish. You can also check out another favorite, Detroit style pizza recipe or our Grilled Weber Pizza recipe.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Equipment
• Substitutions
• Storage
• History tidbits
• FAQ
• Tips & tricks
• Products used in this recipe
• Did you make this recipe?
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Ingredients

There is a lot of ingredients in this recipe, but this really is a from-scratch recipe that will have your family asking for more. You can find the exact ingredients' amounts in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:

• bread flour
• water
• peanut oil
• dry yeast
• salt
• sugar
• whole milk low-moisture mozzarella
• Italian Sausage
• Chicago deep dish sauce
• freshly grated parmesan

Check out the recipe card below for quantities.

Instructions

One of the defining characteristics of a Chicago deep dish is that the cheese is not on top. It is constructed with the crust, then the mozzarella cheese, THEN the ingredients, and then the sauce. You might find parmesan on top or some high moisture ingredients on top, but the bulk of the cheese is on the bottom.

The pizza dough

I really struggled with the dough on this one. I made several pizzas trying to get this down (the struggles of a food blogger, right?). When you look into it, it seems that there are so many opinions on the Chicago deep dish dough and what makes it great.

Some claim that the Chicago deep dish pizza should be bready and huge, but this is wrong. This pizza definitely has some bulk to it, but the crust should not feel like a loaf of bread.

The crust should actually be thin, but strong enough to hold the ingredients of this pizza. There is a debate on whether a Chicago deep dish should contain cornmeal or semolina flour. I chose to make my best Chicago deep dish without either.

A great Chicago deep dish dough should be thin, but able to carry quite a bit of ingredients. It should be golden brown, as though it has been fried just a tad. The edges should not be loaves of bread but have a crisp, golden brown flakiness to them.

We tried so many recipes and tweaked them in so many ways, but just couldn't get it right. Then, I found inspiration. It was getting really frustrating until I found Real Deep Dish and deep dish 101.  My best Chicago deep dish is a modified version of this recipe.

If you have gotten serious about bread baking before, you know that measurements matter. One thing I really appreciate about Deep Dish 101 is that he gives exact measurements. That can really make a difference.

Just a few tablespoons of water or flour can really impact the rise and the final product. So, I have to give credit to Deep Dish 101 on the dough recipe in helping me make the best Chicago deep dish.

The sauce

The pizza sauce for this style is super simple. I used a simple 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. VIOLA! Unlike my other pizza sauce that I cook in a pot and simmer to reduction, this is baked right on the pizza.

I had tried some other crushed tomatoes and crushed my own from San Marzano canned whole tomatoes. The Cento crushed tomatoes worked best for me.

Finally, it is important to strain the tomatoes. We want as little loose liquid floating around in here as possible. I found out early on that too much moisture can result in pooling of liquid in your pizza when baking. That is no fun.

The cheese

Whole milk, low-moisture mozzarella is the cheese to use. Do yourself a favor and get it sliced from the deli or slice your own. I am sure shredded will work, but it is not in the tradition of this style.

We are trying to keep in the tradition of making a GREAT dish, so I would recommend going au natural, rather than pre-bought shredded cheese with mold inhibitor and chemicals to prevent sticking.

No, you should not use fresh mozzarella. It might be tempting to purchase those round balls floating in the liquid, but that is not appropriate for this recipe. Get the block of cheese.

Toppings

Well, this is completely up to you. I am going to keep in Chicago tradition and make this a sausage pizza. For any ingredients that are high in moisture, I drain them.

For example, my wife likes pepperoncini and pineapple. Of course, I try to cook to her taste.  I will throw these high moisture ingredients in a strainer for a while to get as much of the moisture out as possible.

For the sausage, we add this as a raw sausage. Make sure that you are separating the ground sausage into small pieces. This will cook to be a safe 160° Fahrenheit, but check out some food safety tips from the USDA and make sure everything is safe for you.

Cutting and serving

The deep dish can be a little tricky to cut and serve What I did was cut the best I could using my pizza cutter. Then, using a knife, I cut the small corners to ensure that the pieces were separated before I tried removing the slices.

When everything was cut, I used my pie server to move the pieces to the plate. Remember, this is a bulky pizza and is best served on a plate.

Equipment

The other element that Deep Dish 101 used and helped level up my deep dish pizza abilities was the use of a pizza stone. I had originally wondered why I would need a pizza stone, as I am not cooking directly on the stone like other pizza styles.

When I cook a Neapolitan, it goes directly on the stone, but Chicago deep dishes are already cooked in a pan. For this recipe, the pan goes directly on the stone. It turns out that this helps create a nice golden brown crust on the bottom and contributes to the bake of the whole pie. Make sure to give your stone enough time to warm up!

Originally, I was using my 14-inch cast iron to cook my pizzas. I think this would continue to work, but I decided to splurge and get a 12-inch pizza pan. I was also thinking about getting a spring pan, as that could make slicing much easier, but most had a rough bottom and I did not want that.

Near the recipe card, I have a full list of equipment I like and recommend for this recipe.

Substitutions

This recipe calls for sausage, but you really could add or substitute any kind of ingredients you want. The options are endless, as long as you make sure to keep food safety in mind.

In a pinch, you can use store-bought grated parmesan. This is not my favorite for a great pizza like this, but it absolutely will work.

While I use crushed tomatoes for this dish, you could also use petite diced tomatoes.

Also, for the sauce, I call for one teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning. You can totally use fresh ingredients for this. I like to combine the leaves from two sprigs of thyme, two teaspoons of chopped oregano, ½ teaspoon of chopped sage, and ½ teaspoons chopped rosemary. Add this herbaceous mix to the can of tomato and you have a nice, fresh sauce.

Storage

Store this pizza in your refrigerator for up to 4 days. I tend to reheat right in the microwave, but you will get some great results if you heat the pizza back up at 350° Fahrenheit for 20 or so minutes.

History tidbits

I wrote a whole article about the history of the Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, so forget the 'tidbits' and head over to the article to learn more. The spoiler is that Uno's was the first Chicago Deep Dish joint in Chicago. It is all over the nation now and feels a bit corporate, but the story starts there!

FAQ

Tips & tricks

• You could have your deli slice cheese for you, but I slice a one pound block ont he short end and try to evenly place across the entire bottom.
• While you can use the grated parmesean in the green containers, get some fancy parmesan for this recipe.
• The sauce recipe calls for dried Italian seasoning, but you can also use fresh ingredients.
• Do not overload with toppings if you are using raw sausage. If you do, make sure that you temp the sausage to a safe 160° Fahrenheit.
• Make sure that your sausage is evenly spread and only in small clumps.

Products used in this recipe

• 12-inch Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Pan
• KitchenAid Professional Mixer
• Pizza Stone
• Fine wire strainer

Did you make this recipe?

Thank you so much for giving it a try and I hope you love it as much as I do. If you liked it, you could really do me a solid and leave a rating in the comments section below. This helps other visitors get a feel for the recipe and also lets me know how I am doing with this pizza recipe. Most of all, thank you for visiting Ramshackle Pantry and I hope you find some other recipes to make!

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