Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
Quick answer
- Total time
- 60 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 8
About this dish
Chicago deep dish pizza is a pie-style pizza where dough is pressed into a deep cast iron or dark metal pan to cover the bottom and climb the walls, then layered with mozzarella cheese and Italian sausage before crushed tomatoes and oregano are spread across the top.
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Positioning the sauce on the uppermost layer shields the cheese from direct oven heat, preventing it from scorching while the tomato reduces and concentrates over the long bake. The sausage must be pre-cooked with onion to drive off excess moisture, keeping the thick base from turning soggy under the weight of the filling. Stretching the dough wide enough to reach the rim keeps the molten contents contained during baking. After 30 to 35 minutes at 220 degrees Celsius, the pizza requires at least ten minutes of resting before slicing so the interior sets and the layers hold their shape when cut. The dish traces its origins to Pizzeria Uno in Chicago in 1943 and has since become one of the city's defining foods.
Ingredients
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Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Step
Preheat the oven fully to 220°C.
Coat the bottom and walls of a 25 cm deep cast-iron pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil in a thin, even layer so the crust browns and releases cleanly.
- 2Control
Set a skillet over medium-high heat and cook 80 g onion with 180 g Italian sausage for 6-8 minutes.
Stir until the meat browns, the liquid bubbles disappear, and only fat remains, then cool the mixture slightly.
- 3Step
Roll 500 g pizza dough about 5 cm wider than the pan base.
Press it firmly across the bottom and 4 cm up the sides, sealing thin spots or tears so the filling cannot leak during baking.
- 4Control
Spread 250 g mozzarella directly over the dough first.
Add the cooled sausage mixture, then cover the top with 300 g crushed tomatoes and 1 teaspoon oregano, keeping the sauce layer even to protect the cheese.
- 5Heat
Sprinkle 30 g parmesan over the tomato layer and bake on the middle rack for 30-35 minutes.
Remove the pizza when the crust edges are deep golden and the tomato topping is bubbling thickly.
- 6Season
Do not cut the pizza straight from the oven.
Rest it in the pan for at least 10 minutes, then slice slowly with a vertical knife motion once the cheese and sauce settle enough to hold layers.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Chicago Deep Dish Pizza layers thick tomato sauce over mozzarella in a deep, buttery bread crust.
- Finish cue
- Remove the pizza when the crust edges are deep golden and the tomato topping is bubbling thickly.
- Avoid this
- Do not cut the pizza straight from the oven.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official cooking and food safety guidance.
This recipe
60min, 8 ingredients
Category median
55min, 8 ingredients
Based on 248 recipes
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