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Detroit Style (ish) Tomato Herb Pepperoni Pizza. Thick crust pizza dough topped with pepperoni, tomato sauce, sweet cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, garlic, tons of melted cheese, and more pepperoni. The key to a good Detroit-style pizza is crispy cheesy edges. As soon as the pizza comes out of the oven top it with fresh basil, slice, eat, and enjoy. Trust me, every last bite of this pizza is delicious and will leave you wanting more.
I love pizza day. I’m talking about an old-school-style pizza day. They were my favorite when I was in school! Pizza day was always more chill for some reason. I don’t know if the teachers planned it that way or what, but pizza day was the best.
My school served up the classic cheese and pepperoni pizzas…with the best chocolate chip cookies for dessert. It was always a day to look forward to. Anytime I’m making pizza, it’s a good memory.
But Detroit-style pizza is extra special. I’m from Cleveland, which means Detroit was not far away. We heard about Detroit pizza all the time. Unfortunately, we never tried it. But I’ve always been curious about it so I wanted to recreate it.
Detroit-style pizza is rectangular with a thicker crust It’s usually made with sauce, pepperoni, and tons of cheese that goes all the way out to the edges. Often the pepperonis are pressed into the dough. And it’s baked in a metal rectangular pan. Yes, it even has its own pan that’s specific to just this pizza!
Back when the pizza was first introduced in 1946, at a former speakeasy called Buddy’s Rendevous, automotive drip trays were used. There just weren’t any pans high enough to accommodate this thick-crusted pizza. These specially sized pan helps to create the classic crispy cheesy crust.
If you don’t have a Detroit-style pizza pan, as I do, a metal rectangle cake pan works great too.
Details
Either make your own pizza dough or use store-bought. Either way, make sure the dough is at room temp. Add olive oil to your pizza pan, then push the dough into the bottom of the pan.
Cover the pan and let it sit for a bit. The dough will rise slightly.
Make sure to preheat the oven to the highest setting possible. Cooking the pizza in the bottom half of the oven at a super high temperature creates that crispy crust that everyone loves so much.
Meanwhile, I mix some garlic, fresh basil, oregano, and chili flakes. This blend is really going to season the pizza and make the flavor delicious.
When the dough is ready, layer on the toppings! The traditional layering process is pepperoni, then vertical lines of pizza sauce, then cubes of cheese.
We love our pepperonis to be crispy, so I did a slightly different order.
Start with pepperoncini, a sprinkling of the herb mix from above, then smooth on the sauce, and add the cheese. It’s traditional to use cubed brick cheese, which is similar to a dry whole milk mozzarella. Many places will also add cheddar to the mix.
I do cubes of mozzarella, provolone, and cheddar. The cubes melt wonderfully over the dough. Make sure to arrange the cheese all the way out to the edge of the dough. What happens is the cheese melts down along the sides of the pan and creates the crispy cheese crust that’s essential to this pizza.
After the cheese, I add a handful of fresh in-season cherry tomatoes, more herbs, and then lots of very thinly sliced pepperonis.
Bake the pizza in the bottom half of the oven until the cheese is bubbling and becomes crispy around the edges.
As soon as the pizza comes out of the oven, use a spatula to lift it out onto a cutting board. Slice it, top with basil, and eat. This one is meant to be eaten hot, so enjoy every last bite!
Family and friends will LOVE this pizza with its crispy cheesy crust, tomatoes, pepperonis, and herbs. The cheese in the middle is super melty too! Oh, and don’t skip out on the honey on top (it’s mine and Asher’s favorite). It makes every bite real good!
Looking for other pizzas? Here are a few of my go-to’s.
Cauliflower “Pepperoni” Cheese Pizza
Pull Apart Roasted Garlic Pizza Dip Sliders
Sheet Pan Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Peach Burrata Pizza with Honey Balsamic
Lastly, if you make this Detroit Style Tomato Herb Pepperoni Pizza, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Detroit Style Tomato Herb Pepperoni Pizza
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 585 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound pizza dough, homemade or store-bought
- 4 cloves garlic, grated
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh oregano, chopped
- 1 teaspoon crushed fennel seed
- chili flakes
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 tablespoons pepperoncini, chopped
- 2 cups marinara sauce
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups cubed brick cheese or whole milk mozzarella
- 1/2 cup cubed provolone cheese
- 1/2 cup cubed cheddar cheese
- 8 ounces pepperoni, sliced
- honey, for serving
Instructions
- 1. Position an oven rack in the bottom half of the oven. Preheat the oven to 500° F.2. Drizzle the olive oil in 9×13 metal cake pan (or a Detroit-style pizza pan). Put the pizza dough in the pan and gently stretch it out to fit so the dough almost reaches the corners. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 30 minutes. 3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the garlic, basil, oregano, fennel, and a pinch each of chili flakes, salt, and pepper.5. To assemble. Gently press the dough until it covers the entire pan. Layer on half of the pepperoni slices, then the pepperoncini. Spoon on the tomato sauce. Sprinkle over half of the herbs. Top with cheese, then tomatoes, then the remaining herbs, and more pepperoni.6. Bake until bubbly and a crispy cheese crust has formed, 10 to 15 minutes. Using a spatula, loosen the edges and slide on to a cutting board. Slice into squares and serve with fresh basil and honey.
Where is your pizza dough recipe? 🙂
It’s in the HBH Super Simple Cookbook:)
Made this last night. I was a bit skeptical as it looked like a lot of oil in the pan. Magically it came out perfect, crispy and gooey. I was lazy and used a disposable pan which I know is not ideal, yet it still came out great. I had fresh marzano tomatoes on hand so used those. I cut them in have and squeezed out some juices based on other comments. Another HBH winner for an easy weeknight meal!
Hey Janet,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for sharing your review and making this recipe. Love to hear that it was a winner! xxT
Delicious! I’ve been on a HBH pizza kick lately, though I usually use my own dough recipe.
Hey Ashley,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for sharing your review and making this recipe. Love to hear that it was a winner! xxT
I made this last night. It turned out really good! The cubed cheese worked well. Next time I will use only mozzarella and cheddar. My partner didn’t like the provolone addition (I did though). Excellent recipe!
Hey Emily,
Awesome!! Thanks so much for your comment and making this recipe. So glad it hear it was enjoyed! xTieghan
Ok this pizza is in the oven right now and my kitchen smells divine!
Lol I hope it’s delicious!!
Good flavor, although the dough was a bit soft and undercooked, and stuck to the bottom of my casserole dish. It was also very juicy, possibly grease from cheese. It came out more like lasagna, even cooking over for a little more than 15 min.
I probably won’t try this one again.
Hi David,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear it wasn’t enjoyed. xTieghan
This was so good! I was worried it wouldn’t cook through and be doughy, but it was amazing. My only tweak is I wouldn’t add salt to the herb mixture next time. I felt there was enough salt with the pepperoni and found it to be a little salty. Looking forward to adding this to our pizza night.
Hey there,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks for giving the recipe a try and your comment, love to hear that it was enjoyed!! xTieghan
Sounds like your oven wasn’t hot enough.
Yum! Made this for some friends tonight and we all loved it. You are right, the honey is the magic finish. Great job Tieghan!
Hey Larissa,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks for giving the recipe a try and your comment, love to hear that it was enjoyed!! xTieghan
This was fantastic! Whole family loved it. Thanks so much for the recipe! It will be on repeat at my house.
Hey Alison,
Awesome!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear that it was enjoyed. Have the best weekend! ?xxT
The toppings are very tasty . Mine just got very juicy . Could it have been the tomatoes? Any suggestions to avoid this?
Hey Linda,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try! It should have been the tomatoes, what kind did you use? Next time you could bake the tomatoes first and then add them to the pizza! xx
When I make my Detroit style pizza i learned from a chef friend @heyemilyann who is CO also, to use a combo of low moisture mozzarella and MontereyJack. It is delicious,! As you mentioned you must bake until those sides are brown & gooey.
Love receiving your emails.
Thanks so much for sharing Theanna! Let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
The description says the pizza has a thick crust, but the link on “homemade pizza dough” in the ingredients goes to a whole wheat thin crust recipe (for the spinach artichoke pizza). Is this the right link? Thanks!
Hi Gabby,
Thanks for pointing that out, I removed the link:) I used my recipe from the HBH Super Simple cookbook, store bought is also great! Let me know if you give the recipe a try! xx
Would be even better if you have is recipe for pizza dough ?
You must have missed the link to a pizza dough recipe in the ingredients list in this post. Also, you can search for “pizza dough” on this website and find pizza dough recipes. Or you can look in the HBH Super Simple or Every Day cookbooks and find pizza dough recipes. But, I am assuming your real objective is to find a pizza dough recipe.
Hi Debbie,
My pizza dough recipe is located in the HBH Super Simple cookbook:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
This version is most definitely my fav Detroit-style pizza. If you have ever been to Jet’s or really any other pizza joint in the Detroit area, they have this base version with whatever your fav toppings might be. I’m so excited to try this!! Tieghan—could you please bring a sampling of yours over to my son in Denver??. He is the ultimate pizza connoisseur!
I will post a pic (if I can figure out how to do that?) this evening when I make it. Thank you for all of your amazing talent!! You are my absolute ‘go to’ for meal ideas
LOL thanks so much Marie:) Let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! I bet your son could even make this recipe, it’s so easy! xTieghan
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As you can see—it was awesome!! Just my husband and me for dinner. Had to stop ourselves from eating the whole pie
Hi Marie,
Awesome!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear that it was enjoyed. Have the best weekend! ?xxT
Made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious! While the Pizza cooked I blistered the tomatoes and we added them after the pie was cooked it was perfect!
Hi Mona,
Happy Monday! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for making it and sharing your feedback!! Have the best week:) xx
As someone that doesn’t know what detroit style pizza is, how you would describe it? How does Tiegan’s differ? Thanks!
Detroit Style Pizza is made in a high sided pan. Google it & it will show you what type of pan to buy.
They do not put any meat on it, & they put stripes of sauce on it, not all over.
It’s very simple & basic.
Crispy crust!!!
Hey, born and raised in the D. This ISN’T anything like Detroit style pizza.
It’s her version…if you don’t like it, don’t make it. ?
A quick “googling about” shows you that it very much is.
The award for least helpful comment on a recipe goes to? Looks DELISH Teighan, can’t wait to give it a try on our next pizza night.
Also born & raised in Detroit. Tieghan’s is similar to a Detroit style pizza, but in a true D style pizza the sauce actually goes on top of the cheese (as a quick google about will confirm). There’s some debate about whether pepperoni or cheese goes first, but sauce is ALWAYS last.
I think everyone’s point is this is close enough and Tieghan is not claiming it’s exact to tradition. It’s very much similar, and the fresh tomatoes on top, which cook down nicely is a variation of the sauce on top. She puts her own twist on things which is better than reinventing the wheel in the exact same manner every time.
People can still choose to put the sauce on top if they want to.
Googling about showed me that sauce placement seems to be a matter of preference. Not everyone adheres to strict tradition – thank God.