One Canned Ingredient Can Add A Touch Of Gourmet To Your Next Pizza

You don't need to shell out for the most expensive or fresh ingredients to make your homemade pizza special; there are plenty of great canned and jarred ingredients that will work wonders. Most meats you'll be topping your pizzas with a better off cooked fresh, but canned vegetables are a true secret weapon, with some of the most popular pizza toppings like olives coming as prepared canned versions that will save you both time and money. And while roasted red peppers, pickled jalapenos, and more are great toppings that make a homemade pizza feel gourmet, few are as perfect for pizza — or as versatile as — canned and jarred artichokes.

Pre-made artichokes are sharp little flavor bombs that seem tailor-made for pairing with pizza. While there are plenty of great things about them, the key is their flavor profile. Canned artichokes' briny, lightly-acidic taste is great for cutting against the richness of the cheese and fat in pizza. They also bring a touch of vegetal lightness, despite being meaty and satisfying by the standards of other veggie pizza toppings. Jarred artichokes are especially good because they are often seasoned and packed in oil, which adds even more flavor with zero effort on your part. Precut, bite-sized, and tender, they can go from can to topping to oven and carry a pizza all by themselves, but they also pair well with many of the other most common pizza toppings.

Canned artichokes are a fantastic anchor topping for a veggie pizza. With such a pungent, briny flavor, they are great for balancing out veggies with complementary flavors. Mushrooms and artichokes are a perfect starting point, as mushrooms' meaty, earthy flavor really benefits from working with canned artichokes' salt and brightness. The acidity of marinated artichokes also helps balance bitter flavors, making them a good pairing with spinach, arugula, or eggplant. Those combinations of bitter and briny are particularly suited to white pizza sauces with ricotta or garlic cream, where both sides will help make up for the lack of sharpness from the missing tomato sauce.

But you don't need to limit your canned artichokes to partnering with other vegetables. A true gourmet pairing is artichoke and prosciutto, which mixes the deeply savory cured meat with a vegetable that can actually stand up to it. If you prefer a more classic, easy meat topping, canned artichokes go best with crumbled sausage. Those two are also wonderful when paired together with the sweetness you get from cooked onions. And finally, don't sleep on pairing canned artichokes with spicy toppings. Dotting your pizza with hearty and fiery 'nduja is a surprising pairing that feels like it comes straight from your local wood-fired pizza spot. But really, do whatever you want; canned artichokes are probably up for it.