The Best Cheese to Use on Pizza

The cheese you choose can make a massive difference to your pizza and transform it into something really special. There are a lot of really great options whether you want something classic, adventurous or gourmet. Here are some of the top choices.

Mozzarella

Of course mozzarella is the world's most popular pizza cheese, whether you eat in Naples or New York. And with good reason. It's great on pizza! But mozzarella varies a lot in style and quality.

Fresh Italian buffalo mozzarella is the number one choice for purists. This is a beautifully creamy and flavorsome cheese. Unfortunately, because it is a fresh cheese, it may not be an option for everyone. When it comes to buffalo mozzarella, the general rule is the fresher the better. And because it is packed in water, sitting in that water too long can cause the cheese to lose its texture and flavour quite quickly. This makes it difficult to find great buffalo mozzarella outside of Italy. Even in Europe, although it is available, it is not exactly common. Grab it if you can, especially for a classic Neapolitan or Margherita.

The next choice is fresh cow's milk mozzarella which is widely available for most. However, in many cases, this has little more flavour than regular grated or shredded supermarket mozzarella. In fact, grated mozzarella gives excellent results on most pizzas and is still a good choice.

Of course there is more to pizza than mozzarella. There are lots of other great options.

Parmesan and Grana Padano both work really well on pizza, combined with other milder cheeses or on their own.

Fontina is mild, nutty and melts beautifully. Try it with wild mushrooms for a really special gourmet pizza.

Taleggio is another cheese that melts well and is full of flavor. It's great with onions, peppers or tomatoes.

Ricotta is great on pizza, especially combined with mozzarella or parmesan. It adds a light, freshness to your pizza and is great with any summer vegetables.

Provolone. If you haven't tried provolone on pizza, you should! You might be very pleasantly surprised. Provolone piccante has an incredibly full and savory flavor when melted and is wonderful on pizza with just about anything.

Feta cheese is another favourite. Its rich salty flavour gives your pizza a real bite. It's particularly good with tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, olives or peppers.

So why not try a different pizza cheese the next time you make or order pizza?

Emer Dwane writes Everyday Vegetarian Recipes, a website that's all about simple and delicious vegetarian food for everyday living. You'll find lots of mouth-watering vegetable pizza recipe ideas on her website including the best pizza dough, pizza sauce and veggie topping ideas.

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