8 Unexpected Toppings That Will Instantly Upgrade Frozen Pizza

While there are plenty of ways to elevate frozen pizza, including everything from using a pizza stone to brushing the crust with herby butter, the toppings will always be the star of the show. And when you're working with even the cheapest frozen pizza, you're not working with substandard freezer food but a blank template.

Any unexpected topping should fulfill at least one of two main goals (but preferably both): adding one of the five basic flavors or a sensational texture. Sour, sweet, salty, bitter, and umami are all easily achievable with a range of toppings, but texture can be a bit trickier. You may need to prep your toppings beforehand to achieve the ideal mouthfeel, which can be challenging when you also have to account for the pizza's cooking time.

Even more important, an unexpected topping should add some uniqueness to your meal. Standard additions like pepperoni or extra mozzarella are wonderful in their own right, but creative additions give a dash of sparkle to a frozen pizza that can make you excited to eat it. Fortunately, there are very few things that simply don't pair well with pizza, so feel free to get a little wild with your combinations and find what suits your taste buds.

If your frozen pizza has plenty of salt already, why not try balancing it out with some sweet fruit toppings? Fresh peach slices only need about 10 minutes in the oven to caramelize their sugars into a sinfully sweet topping that pairs well with rich mozzarella. Balsamic vinegar keeps the peaches from becoming overly sweet and dominating your meal's flavor profile while reducing to a lovely, syrupy consistency that melts into your cheese.

Arugula adds just a touch of bitterness to a frozen pizza, and you can cheaply source the exact amount you need by visiting a salad bar. If you like extra bitterness, opt for larger leaves. If, however, you want to tone down the bitterness but keep some leafy greens, use smaller, younger leaves or sprinkle them on top before you put your pizza in the oven.

If you have a plain cheese pizza in serious need of bulk and flavor, why not accomplish both goals at once with some leftover barbecue? Pulled pork, smoked chicken, and even chopped up rib meat is a great way to add taste from your meat's spices while still creating a hearty meal. Feel free to add a drizzle of barbecue sauce before you cook your pizza and finish it off with a sprinkle of red onion and cilantro for some truly dynamite flavors.

If you're looking for something extremely easy, look no further than combining the two quintessential college foods: ramen and frozen pizza. These little flavor bombs are absolutely loaded with salt and taste, so you'll only need a quick, even sprinkle over a cooked pizza to upgrade its flavor. Any of the packets from the cheapest ramen are great, but try using the best Maruchan ramen flavor, soy sauce, for a truly umami-packed meal. Sprinkle on the crushed noodles (yes, dried) for a delicious bit of crunch in every bite.

Looking for a little bit of acid but don't want the sharp tartness of pickled veggies? Try green tomatoes! They have the same fresh flavors as red varieties but trade a touch of sweetness for a bit of sourness, providing a nice flavor that can cut through the heartiness of other toppings like extra cheese or sausage.

Pork cracklins are deliciously rich in pig fat but maintain a truly insane level of crispiness. Whereas other fried toppings like pork rinds or fried onions may absorb too much oil and lose their crunchiness, pork cracklins have been fried twice and maintain their texture. If your frozen pizza has an especially thick and fluffy crust, these are a great way to quickly add a touch of crunch to your meal.

While prepping toppings can create enough work to defeat the convenience of a frozen pizza, why not use the time it spends in the oven to create something quick, easy, and delicious? Frying sage in butter is a cinch that only requires a few minutes to create something delicious and herbal to round out a cheese pizza. Just drop a handful of leaves into a pan with plenty of butter, let them cook until dark and crispy, then toss them over the pizza while it cools.

When it comes to extra cheese with extreme meltability, it doesn't get any better than queso. Drizzled over a frozen pizza before it cooks, queso loses much of its moisture to mimic the texture of the other melted, non-liquid cheeses. However, when spooned over a cooked pizza, you get a melty, deliciously rich ingredient that's as good for dipping as it is for topping.