Pizza concepts went crazy for pickles and hot honey in 2024, with both those topping choices growing year over year, according to Technomic Ignite menu data. But what will be the hot toppers of 2025?
Expect to see other briny and fermented toppings follow pickles’ lead, notes The State of the Pizza Nation 2025 report released by AK Crust ahead of the International Pizza Expo next week in Las Vegas. While pickles will retain their popularity, olives, kimchi and sauerkraut are ready for prime time.
It’s not uncommon for pizza customers to order a salad on the side or to share with the table, but salad-topped pizzas can meet both cravings. Caesar salad-inspired pies featuring romaine, croutons, lemon and fresh basil are in the forecast, along with pizzas topped with tomato, cucumber, onion, feta, olives and oregano in the style of a Greek salad.
While both of these sound pretty mainstream, some more obscure topping ingredients may be in the offing. Blueberries, cranberries and raspberries are being added for flavor and texture contrast to rich cheeses and spicy meats. “Foodies are treating pizzas like grazing boards,” said the report. Indeed, Pizza Hut, a chain squarely in the mainstream, introduced Pizza Charcuterie for Pi Day on March 14.
Operators are also exploring sausages beyond the sweet and hot Italian variety. “Alternative sausage” toppings include bratwurst, curried sausage, chorizo and ‘nduja, a spreadable spicy sausage from the Calabria region of Italy.
On the crust side, sourdough is rising as a pizza crust ingredient. Technomic cites sourdough as the fastest growing pizza ingredient, surging 64.3% in menu mentions year over year. People are also looking for more crunch in their crust, with cheese baked into the edges of the dough more often providing that extra crispness. Cheddar is becoming the cheese of choice to create those encrusted crispy edges.
But mozzarella and pepperoni are not getting thrown to the sidelines any time soon. Technomic reports that mozzarella tops 39% of pizzas and pepperoni, a bit over 20%. And pizza as a menu item is certainly holding its own, showing up on 35% of menus in Technomic’s database of 8,500-plus operators.
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