Gourmet pizza topping ideas for your pizza party

If it’s true that Italians love simple things and the most famous pizza in the world is made with just mozzarella, tomatoes and basil leaves, they also have a gourmet soul. This translates in a numerous amount of gourmet pizza topping ideas that you may be surprised by. Burrata pizza or figs and goat cheese pizza are just a few, there are other variations and odd combinations that await you and your pizza party!

If you're a cheese lover, a gourmet pizza you should absolutely try is burrata pizza. Traditionally made with a tomato-based pizza sauce, basil leaves and the precious burrata cheese, it’s a vegetarian-friendly pizza appreciated all over the world. If you don’t know what burrata is, think of it as a fresh mozzarella with a soft and creamy interior: exquisite. To add an extra touch to burrata cheese pizza, we suggest you adding some fried zucchini flowers or Parma ham.

Even if fig and goat cheese pizza may trigger you, in Italy there's a proverb saying “mica pizza e fichi”: meaning that something is of more worth than it appears to. Pizza and figs are thus considered simple ingredients that together create something special and extremely worth-tasting! The ultimate fancy pizza topping if you want to take this duo to the next level is caramelized onion, fig and prosciutto pizza with goat cheese: a combination of magic and taste that’s hard to forget.

If you’re looking for fancy homemade pizza, then pesto pizza is the one! This pizza screams for summer and is the perfect gourmet pizza topping idea for a party with friends. It hails from the Italian Riviera and is made with fresh genoese pesto : a green cream made with basil, pine nuts, garlic and pecorino cheese that you can easily make at home. If you want to try pizza pesto, you can choose between the traditional one with mozzarella and tomatoes or a more Ligurian version with potatoes, green beans and pine nuts.

Grilled caprese salad pizza is all the way better than a classic caprese salad. Why? because it involves pizza, of course! Caprese salad pizza is a healthy pizza topped with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil leaves and is perfect for outdoor summer dinners since it requires to be grilled on the barbeque. Yes, you heard it right, grilling the pizza dough on the BBQ confer it a similar taste to a wood fire oven made pizza: try it to believe it.

Prosciutto arugula pizza is a classic Friday night pizza made by the combination of tasty prosciutto and spicy arugula. This homemade gourmet pizza idea comes together in a flash since no chopping or precooking is necessary: topped with a layer of savory Italian prosciutto and covered with some handfuls of fresh, peppery arugula, this arugula and prosciutto pizza can be enriched with some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and a few drops of balsamic vinegar.

Among gourmet pizza topping ideas, gorgonzola pizza with honey surely is the most bizarre. It was born from the concept that Italians often match cheese and honey as a way to enhance cheese's flavor. This pizza is both a great appetizer, dessert or snack to be eaten during winter and bound perfectly with red wine and rich drinks. To deepen the contrast between sweet and salty, it can also be enriched with walnuts and brace yourself...pears, that believe it or not match perfectly with all the other ingredients.

Some of you may think that gourmet and vegetarian diet cannot go hand in hand, well we’ll prove you wrong, since gourmet vegetarian pizza is extremely tasty and loved by both adults and children. Veggies and ricotta pizza is a gourmet vegetarian pizza recipe made by just combining together grilled seasonal vegetables and ricotta cheese. This last, goes extremely well with pizza since it's similar to mozzarella yet more creamy and spongy and help creating the perfect base to lie down your veggies.

Capricciosa pizza is a traditional Italian pizza that can be found on every pizzeria’s menu and its name literally means “capricious”. It is prepared with prosciutto, mushroom, artichoke and olives added as toppings to the base of a classic Margherita pizza. According to some, there's also a variant that includes anchovies and boiled eggs, but what’s certain is that Capricciosa differs from the Quattro Stagioni pizza (literally "Four Season pizza") only in the arrangement of the ingredients: they are scattered all together rather than divided into four segments.

Last but not least, what a better way to end your pizza party than with a pizza dessert? Chocolate pizza is the ultimate gourmet pizza recipe to amaze everybody: simply made by adding your favorite spreadable chocolate cream or melted chocolate squares to your pizza and then cover it with some powdered sugar or fresh strawberries. Now that you've discovered some of the most appreciated gourmet pizza topping ideas, you are ready to invite and conquer your guests with some refined pizza.