Beyond Mozzarella: Exploring the Best Cheese Alternatives for Pizza

Mozzarella, with its soft texture and delicate flavor, has always been the symbol of pizza. But your choice of cheese is equally as important. However, in recent years, many pizzaiolos and pizza enthusiasts have started exploring more unusual alternatives, adding a touch of originality and a unique taste experience. Let’s discover some of the cheeses that are gaining popularity in modern pizzerias and could become the new stars of your home oven.

The block of mozzarella you’d typically use is pretty plain if you ask me. Sure, it’s got some of the milky/tangy flavor of cheese in general, but all in all, it’s fairly neutral. But what about a pizza topped with the gentle flavors of mushroom and bell pepper, or black olives and onions? We all know a perfectly topped cheese pizza when we see it: melty, lightly browned, and just the right amount of stretch for a drool-worthy cheese pull photo. While many cheese-loving pizza enthusiasts are familiar with classic cheese toppings like mozzarella, fewer are familiar with off-the-beaten-path options like ricotta or mixed cheese blends.

This guide covers some of our favorite cheeses to top your pizzas with, suggested cheese blend options, and some cheesy pizza recipes to get you started on your way to Margheritaville.

Understanding Mozzarella: The Classic Choice

Mozzarella is the usual starting point for cheese on pizza. But there are many different types and varieties of mozzarella. Deciding which to use for your pizza can be a slightly difficult task.

Every year, Wisconsin Cheesemakers make nearly 1 billion pounds of mozzarella. Where does it all go? Well, a good chunk of it is destined to top pizzas across the country. But let’s take a step back: what makes mozzarella so good as a pizza topping? It comes down to a few factors. For one, mozzarella has ideal melting and stretching properties. It has just enough moisture to brown and bubble without burning as the pizza bakes.

In terms of flavor, mozzarella is perfectly milky and mild, while still maintaining enough richness to stand as a distinct flavor. Basically, mozzarella is a flawless base for any pizza.

What type of mozzarella is best for pizza? In general, low-moisture mozzarella is our go-to for pizza. LMM can come diced, in strips or in a block which you can cut up yourself. It’s ideal for pizza making and will deliver a great result whatever style of pizza you’re making. It’s a little hard to find in the supermarkets, who often only stock the pre-grated bags of Mozzarella, which contain added starches to stop the strands sticking together.

Pre-shredded mozzarella generally has additives like potato starch to give it a longer shelf life and to prevent pieces from clumping together. Unfortunately, the starch also prevents it from melting into a smooth cheesy layer. Pre-shredded mozzarella can still be delicious, but believe us when we say that high-quality mozzarella you’ve shredded yourself is a one-way ticket to pizza heaven.

Pre-grated Mozzarella also often contains added vegetable oil to reduce cost. Unfortunately this affects the quality and most pre-grated supermarket mozzarella should be avoided. Have a look for more specialist suppliers online and try and find a good quality low moisture mozzarella. Galbani Cucina is a good option which can be found both online and also in some supermarkets.

Fresh mozzarella, the kind that comes in a tub of brine, can take your pizza to an entirely new level, but it takes some extra prep work to avoid creating a soggy pie. Due to the higher moisture content of fresh mozzarella, you’ll want to drain your cheese and let it dry for 20-25 minutes on a paper towel. Then, you can tear your mozzarella ball into small pieces to gently place on your pizza. If your dream dinner is a minimalist margherita pizza, look no further than fresh mozzarella. That’s amore!

There are other types of Mozzarella cheese:

• Buffalo Mozzarella. This style of mozzarella uses the milk produced from Water Buffalo and is produced almost exclusively in the South of Italy, specifically the Campania region. It’s a popular choice for Neopolitan style pizza, giving a rich and soft texture that gives this style of pizza its distinctive look and taste. If you’re looking to make traditional Neopolitan pizza and you are using a very hot oven, then it can work well. It is however quite wet and can make your pizza soggy, so it’s best used only for high heat, low cooking time pizza styles such as Neopolitan.
• Fresh Mozzarella. Widely available in supermarkets, fresh Mozzarella usually comes packed in water in 125g balls. It’s a soft cheese and quite wet in texture, similar to Buffalo Mozzarella. It’s definitely possible to use fresh Mozzarella for your pizza making, although due to its water content, it’s better suited to high heat cooking in an outdoor oven where the heat can help burn off some of the extra moisture.
• Fior Di Latte. Literally translating to ‘flower of milk’, Fior Di Latte is a type of Mozzarella cheese that is an ideal choice for pizza making. It comes both as a soft fresh cheese, but also available as a low moisture drier cheese, which is definitely the best choice for pizza. Fior Di Latte offers the perfect balance of creamy flavour, delightful stretchiness and browns just enough to look the part.

Classic mozzarella has the ideal balance of moisture, elasticity, and fat content for meltability.

Beyond Mozzarella: Expanding Your Cheese Horizons

Next time you bake pizza and are considering toppings, remember: mozzarella is a fine choice, but it's not your only option.

Here are some cheeses that are gaining popularity and could become the new stars of your home oven:

1. Stracciatella: The Cream of Pizza

   Known for its softness and fresh, creamy flavor, stracciatella is becoming one of the most popular choices to enrich pizza. Derived from mozzarella, this stringy cheese variety is perfect for those seeking a rich and creamy pizza.

   Why choose it: It adds an irresistible creaminess, ideal for pizzas like margherita or mushroom pizza.

   Recommended pairings: Porcini mushrooms, fresh cherry tomatoes, basil, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

2. Caciocavallo: The Aged Cheese That Makes the Difference

   Caciocavallo is a stringy, aged cheese that offers a bold, smoky flavor. Originating from Southern Italy, this cheese is perfect for those looking for a pizza with a more intense taste.

   Why choose it: Its aging makes it ideal for adding a smoky and slightly spicy note to the pizza.

   Recommended pairings: Spicy salami, peppers, sausage, and black olives.

3. Gorgonzola: The Blue Cheese for Gourmet Pizzas

   For true connoisseurs, gorgonzola is a blue-veined cheese that is gaining ground in pizzerias. Its strong, tangy flavor can turn a simple pizza into a gourmet dish.

   Why choose it: Gorgonzola is perfect for those who enjoy contrasting flavors, with its creaminess pairing wonderfully with the sweetness of caramelized onion or pear.

   Recommended pairings: Pear, walnuts, caramelized onion, and prosciutto.

4. Ricotta: Lightness and Creaminess for Pizza

   Ricotta is a light, yet creamy cheese that’s delightfully refreshing as a pizza topping. You can enjoy it as a solo topping, or better yet, blended 1:1 with another cheese like mozzarella. Although ricotta is still a pizza topping underdog, it’s becoming increasingly popular. Try a bite and you’ll understand why.

   Ricotta is a fresh and light cheese that is also making its way into pizzerias thanks to its versatility. It adds a soft, delicate texture without weighing down the pizza.

   Why choose it: Perfect for those looking for a lighter alternative to mozzarella, ricotta pairs easily with a wide range of ingredients.

   Recommended pairings: Spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, pancetta, and fresh basil.

5. Taleggio: A Strong Flavor but Soft Texture

   Taleggio is a Lombard cheese with a washed rind and a strong flavor, but a soft texture. It’s perfect for those looking for a pizza with a rich but balanced taste.

   Why choose it: Its creaminess and intense flavor add depth to the dish without overwhelming the other ingredients.

   Recommended pairings: Mushrooms, walnuts, Parma ham, and arugula.

6. Fontina: The Cheese of the Valle d'Aosta

   Fontina is a semi-aged cheese from the Valle d'Aosta region that melts beautifully, making it ideal for pizza. Its rich, slightly nutty flavor is perfect for a gourmet pizza.

   Why choose it: Its ability to melt easily and its enveloping flavor make it an excellent choice for those looking for a cheese that enhances the pizza.

   Recommended pairings: Speck, potatoes, red onions, and a drizzle of olive oil.

7. Pecorino: A Touch of Intensity

   Pecorino, with its strong and salty flavor, is perfect for adding intensity to a pizza. It is often used in combination with milder cheeses, but it can also shine on its own.

   Why choose it: Its crumbly texture and bold flavor make it ideal for adding character to the pizza.

   Recommended pairings: Broccoli, sausage, and cherry tomatoes.

Enhancing Flavor with Cheese Blends

Remember, you don’t have to limit yourself to one variety of cheese.

Provolone is our favorite cheese to blend with mozzarella when making a pizza. Put another way, if mozzarella was Batman, provolone would be Robin. They’re both heroes on their own, but bring them together, and you’ve got an unstoppable duo. Provolone is a semi-hard cheese that develops an increasingly sharp flavor as it ages for typically about four months. It’s a much drier cheese compared to mozzarella, and while it can still serve as a solo cheese topping, we think it’s best when in the company of mozzarella. We recommend starting with equal parts mozzarella and provolone and then experimenting from there.

Cheddar is an underrated cheese option for pizza lovers. However, we would advise against using cheddar exclusively as a topping, tasty as it may be. Compared to the gold standard of mozzarella, cheddar doesn’t handle high heat very well, and overheating can cause the fats to separate from the solids. This goes double for aged cheddars. If you want to try adding cheddar to your pizza, we would recommend starting with a base of mozzarella and then sprinkling in the cheddar of your choice to supplement. The rich and often tangy flavor of cheddar can be a great addition to pizza if it’s balanced with a meltier cheese.

Parmesan cheese is no stranger to pasta dishes-but what about pizza? Like other hard cheeses, parmesan is best enjoyed grated onto your pizza after baking. Due to parmesan’s low moisture content, even adding it to a cheese blend can result in bland and potentially burnt cheese. Some people also like adding parmesan to their pizza dough to infuse their crust with some extra umami.

Here’s a quick look at how different cheeses behave when melted:

Tips for Choosing and Preparing Cheese for Pizza

Our final top tip is to plan your pizza making in advance. Our pizza dough balls and Romana pizza bases are able to be stored frozen and defrosted for use as required, but you can also buy your mozzarella in larger quantities and freeze it into portions. This only really works with low moisture mozzarella, but if you buy a block of it, you can split it down into smaller amounts and remove from the freezer the day before you want to make your pizzas.

At last, you’re ready to put your pizza together so you rip open a plastic package of shredded mozzarella cheese … NOOOOOOOO! Pre-shredded cheese neither tastes as good nor melts as well as block cheese that you shred yourself. If you absolutely can’t shred your own (believe me, I get it), then it’s best to buy a block of mozzarella and simply cube, slice, or rip it into pieces.

Want to transform your own favorite aged cheeses into a meltable, pizza-perfect topping? How serious are you about stretchability? If the aforementioned strands of melting cheese can make or break your pizza experience, then you’d best stick to mozzarella as your main cheese squeeze, with provolone a solid runner-up. If stretch isn’t important but you still favor an ooey-gooey melted cheese experience, any of the other tested cheeses should suit you just fine. Cheddar, fontina, Muenster, Gouda, etc.

Three Cheesy Pizza Recipes for Inspiration

We couldn't leave you with all of these recommendations and not give you a way to put them into action. Read on to find out how to begin your personal pizza-making adventure.

Mozzarella and Provolone Agrodolce Sausage Pizza

If thin-crust Italian-style pizzas are your jam, this pizza is sure to please. This pizza features a sweet-sour sauce known as agrodolce that gives this lightweight pizza a heavyweight flavor. For our cheese topping, we opted for a timeless blend of provolone and mozzarella.

Get the recipe for our Mozzarella and Provolone Agrodolce Sausage Pizza.

Hot Sausage Deep-Dish Pizza

This is the pizza that can turn deep-dish doubters into believers. Our deep-dish creation combines a base of mozzarella with Sartori Company’s fontina for some extra flair. Topping it all off is a small serving of parmesan to give even more depth to the pizza. You can opt for a part-skim mozzarella if you’re concerned with your pizza turning out too rich.

Get the recipe for our Hot Sausage Deep-Dish Pizza.

Chicken and Sun-dried Tomato Grilled Pizza

Topped with the trifecta of mozzarella, ricotta, and parmesan, this grilled pizza masterfully combines a plethora of different flavors and textures into one delicious experience. Mozzarella acts as a mild base cheese while ricotta and parmesan infuse sophisticated nuance into every bite.

Get the recipe for our Chicken and Sun-dried Tomato Grilled Pizza.

Can’t find your favorite pizza cheese near you? You can get Wisconsin’s finest cheeses delivered right to your door with our continuously updated list of cheesemakers and retailers that allow you to order cheese online. Award-winning Wisconsin Cheese is just a click away.

Craving something other than pizza? Choose from our selection of over 300 recipes featuring Wisconsin Cheese.

Can I make pizza with cheddar cheese? Although cheddar is a popular part of many cheese blends used on pizzas, we would avoid using it as your only cheese topping. Cheddar does not melt well compared to cheeses like mozzarella or provolone.

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