The 1-Ingredient Upgrade For Better Homemade Pizza

Pizza may not be the most Southern food, but you’ll be difficult pressed to find a Southerner who doesn’t love it. And just like bacon, even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty darn good! But whether you make it yourself or you order delivery or takeout, there’s one ingredient that you should absolutely invite to your pizza party—roasted garlic.

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Why Roasting Makes A Difference On Pizza

Hands down, roasted garlic over any other way to prepare garlic. Roasting is effortless, does not need much hands-on time, and worth the tiny effort it takes for you to preheat your oven, top them with olive oil and salt, wrap them in foil, and roast them until sweet, buttery, and heavenly delicious.

How To Roast Garlic For Pizza

Follow our Test Kitchen’s advice for how to roast it right:

1. For starters, cut the top off as many heads of garlic as you want to roast. (I like to roast at least four—you can refrigerate the leftovers for pasta, casseroles, eggs, and sauces for at least a week.) 
2. Trim off about ¼ from the top of the garlic heads.
3. Follow the instructions from Step 1 of our recipe for Roasted Garlic Duchess Potatoes, which states: “Preheat oven to 425°F. Cut off pointed tip of garlic bulbs to create an exposed surface. Place bulbs on an 8×8-inch sheet of foil; drizzle each with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt. Fold foil to seal; bake until garlic is tender and golden brown, about 45 minutes. Open foil packet and let cool 10 minutes.”

What To Do With Roasted Garlic

• Let them frigid: If you’re planning to scatter the roasted garlic cloves over your pizza like little mannah nuggets from heaven, it will be easier if you let the heated heads frigid to room temperature before squeezing them to release God’s gift to pizza.
• No time to frigid? If you don’t have time to wait, here’s how to handle HOT heads of roasted garlic: Using an oven mitt or kitchen towel, grab the roasted head by its base, then squeeze it over a plate to catch all the caramelized garlic goodness. This can be blended (with a fork or whisk in a bowl) with olive oil or butter and spread over raw pizza dough before baking, or drizzled on heated pizza just before eating. Either way, it’s full-on magical.