How Much Cheese Does Costco Put On Its Pizza?

One of the reasons that Costco food court pizzas can be assembled in under three minutes is the innovative machinery they use. The pizza press, auto saucer, and slicer allow pizza assembly that is both accurate and efficient. However, it's the employees (and not the machinery) who truly give Costco pizza its magic, as they are the ones who add the perfect amount of cheese to each pepperoni and cheese pie. If you have ever marveled at the sheer beauty and intoxicating aroma of a freshly baked pie from the food court, you may have also wondered how much cheese is on each Costco pizza.

In one Reddit thread under the r/Costco subreddit, one user posted photos of instructional posters hanging in their local food court that outline how each pizza is to be assembled. The diagrams indicate 24 ounces of cheese should be evenly spread on each cheese pizza and 14 ounces on each pepperoni. We called Costco's corporate office and spoke with a representative who verified that the food court uses 24 ounces of cheese for each cheese pizza and slightly less for its pepperoni pizzas. The hefty amount of Costco's pizza cheese blend (which includes mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan) explains why its cheese pizzas have about 710 calories per slice, while pepperoni slices contain around 650 calories.

Costco employees use a pizza press machine to form pre-made balls of pizza dough into 18-inch rounds. These perfect circles of dough are then put onto a perforated baking sheet, and a dough docker is used to create small holes in the crust to prevent bubbles from forming while it bakes. Next, the pizza is moved to the food court's auto saucer machine. This amazing machine distributes 10.5 ounces of sauce evenly onto each pie, after which an employee carefully measures out and weighs the appropriate amount of cheese and sprinkles it on by hand.

For pepperoni pies, employees meticulously place 60 slices of pepperoni at equal distances across the pizza before baking. After the piping hot pizza is removed from the oven, the tool Costco uses to slice pizza — a metal pizza slicer — allows a Costco pizza chef to cut 12 perfectly even slices in each pie. Afterward, the pizza is either placed into a pizza box for customers picking up a whole pie or placed on the rack for those who order by the slice at the food court.

One Costco pizza can serve at least 6 to 12 people, which is why we consider it the best bang for your buck at the food court. If you're ordering for yourself and know that you can't finish an entire 18-inch pie alone, it's easy enough to cook Costco pizzas at home. That way, one pie can last for multiple meals. All in all, when you factor in how many slices are in a Costco pizza, the amount of cheese on each, and the highly affordable $9.95 price tag, Costco pizzas are a great value.