What’s the Best Cheese for Your Pizza? [Tastiest Options]

Cheese is the most vital ingredient on pizza, so choosing the perfect cheese is essential. The best cheese for pizza UK residents are searching for is found here in our guide. This article addresses the best cheeses you can put on a pizza and the best combinations for your taste.

What Cheese Goes Best on Pizza?

There are many pizza cheese options to choose from; it can be challenging to pick one that gives your pizza the desired taste. So what should you look for when selecting the best cheese to use?

• Meltability: The right pizza cheese melts quickly at a high temperature and spreads evenly across the surface of the pizza.
• High-Fat: Low-fat cheeses don’t produce the same stretchy effect as high-fat cheeses. So when choosing cheese for pizza, make sure you use the high-fat kind.
• Low Moisture: Nobody wants a soggy pizza. So select a low-moisture cheese that won’t release a lot of water and make the dough wet.
• Browning: Choose a cheese that turns brown but doesn’t burn—one that produces a golden-brown cheese crust.
• Taste: Some prefer cheese with an intense taste, while others like milder-tasting cheeses.

These are the main features you should consider when choosing a pizza cheese. Now check out the following best cheeses for your pizza.

The Best Cheese for Pizza UK: Top 10 Picks

As mentioned, there are plenty of pizza cheese options to choose from. So we compiled the following list of the top 10 types of pizza cheese to make your selection easier.

Mozzarella

Mozzarella is probably the world’s most well-known cheese. This soft cheese is popular because it melts quickly and becomes incredibly stretchy. It has a mild taste and pairs well with all pizza toppings. But before putting mozzarella on your pizza, make sure you drain it of any liquid, grate it, and don’t overcook it.

Gouda

When ranking types of cheese for pizza, we need to put gouda near the top. This Dutch cheese has a sweet, smoky flavour and a good melting ability. Gouda is an excellent choice for thin-crust pizza and combines particularly well with chicken, bacon, and barbecued meats because of its natural smoky flavour.

Cheddar

Cheddar cheese is a familiar favourite among pizza lovers. Its intense flavour and vibrant colour make it a great addition to pizza. Unlike other commonly used pizza cheeses, cheddar doesn’t melt quickly. So it’s best if used in combination with another, milder cheese that balances the tangy cheddar taste. It does, however, go well with spicy toppings (pepperoni, jalapenos), sweetmeats, and pineapple. This pizza topping cheese should be grated to improve its melting effectiveness.

Provolone

Provolone is a traditional semi-hard Italian cheese that’s sweet and creamy with a sharp, spicy taste. The taste of provolone, however, depends on how long the cheese has aged. Older cheeses are harder and drier and have a sharper taste, with lower meltability. Most opt for younger provolone, which goes well with any pizza because of its creamy texture.

Gorgonzola

When thinking about what cheese is best for pizza, you may not have considered gorgonzola. This marbled, soft cheese has a pronounced taste and extreme creaminess. It also melts very quickly, so be careful not to burn the cheese when baking your pizza. Gorgonzola is excellent in combination with ham or bacon.

Goat Cheese

For a fresh-tasting pizza, try goat cheese. Even though it doesn’t melt as well as some other types of cheese, it provides a rich, savoury flavour to any pizza. It’s good as a lone topping or in combination with another cheese. Because of its fresh taste, when this cheese is used in pizza making, it couples well with vegetables. So it’s excellent on vegetarian and Mediterranean-style pizzas.

Parmesan

Parmesan is a hard cheese that’s shredded or shaved on top of the pizza after it’s baked—never bake parmesan cheese in the oven. It’s also best if you don’t combine it with other cheeses because it has a particular salty taste that’s best emphasised when the parmesan is the only cheese on the pizza. But even though you can sprinkle it on top of any pizza, this cheese is also delicious on Margherita, Sicilian, and Hawaiian pizzas.

Camembert

When asking what cheese is used on pizza, you might be surprised to find that camembert is an excellent pizza cheese. This cheese is very creamy. It’s best if you add small chunks of it to your pizza when you take it out of the oven—the heat will instantly melt the cheese, and you can enjoy the gooey texture of the camembert. It combines well with caramelised onions, prosciutto, and cherry tomatoes. And you can also make a dessert pizza with it by adding walnuts, cranberries, or similar toppings.

Ricotta

Ricotta is a soft cheese made from curds separated from the whey. This cheese for pizza topping has a creamy texture that melts perfectly. It’s best enjoyed when the pizza has just been taken out of the oven. And if the cheese hardens, you can reheat your pizza to continue enjoying the same taste and quality. Due to its sweet flavour, ricotta pairs well with seafood toppings and vegetables, or you can mix it with another type of cheese to make a creamy base.

Gruyere

And last but not least, gruyere. This Swiss cheese is possibly the best pizza cheese for meltability. Even though gruyere is a hard cheese, it melts nicely to produce a sweet, nutty flavour. It goes best with bacon and caramelised onions. Gruyere and white pizza sauce also make for an excellent pizza.

Mix and Match

After you’ve read through our list of all the delicious cheeses you can put on your pizza, it’s understandable if you can’t decide on just one. So why not combine two or three cheeses to get the best cheese pizza?

Some of the best combinations include mozzarella and cheddar, mozzarella and provolone, or goat cheese with another creamy cheese. You can also enjoy a four-cheese Quattro Formaggi pizza—made with mozzarella, parmesan, gorgonzola, and ricotta.

Conclusion

What cheese do you put on pizza? There are many types to choose from, but we’ve listed the top 10 types of delicious cheeses that go perfectly on pizza. So why not experiment with those that best fit your taste and preference?