America’s 10 Most Outrageous Pizza Toppings

Now more than ever, no food is immune to excess.

ByABC News
September 15, 2014, 5:25 AM

— -- Now more than ever, no food is immune to excess. Doughnuts have been turned into burger buns, lobster rolls are adorned with with caviar, and hot dogs get topped with foie gras. Pizza, of course, is no exception. Read on to learn about the most outrageous pizza toppings in America.

America’s 10 Most Outrageous Pizza Toppings (Slideshow)

When you get down to it, you can technically call any flat bread with stuff on it “pizza.” But for today’s purposes, we’re narrowing that definition a bit, culling from our list of the recently- announced 101 Best Pizzas in America . These are  real pizzas, not just gimmicks meant to attract tourists or the especially gluttonous. Sure, these pizzas are outrageous, but they’ve been constructed with an eye for balance and harmony. They’re not just outrageous for the sake of it, they’re also delicious. They  work.

So what exactly makes a pizza outrageous? First, it needs to deviate from the norm. There was once a time when chicken was considered an outrageous pizza topping, but today it’s available at just about every New York slice joint. But being different isn’t synonymous with being outrageous, which is more difficult than it appears. You can open up a can of tuna and dump it onto a plain pie, but nobody’s going to want to eat that. At the end of the day, an outrageous pizza needs to be different, unexpected, creative, a little outlandish, and so tasty that when a customer goes out on a limb and orders it they’re rewarded with a flavor combination they’ve never experienced before, one they want to return to again and again.

So if you’re looking for a cheese pizza with caviar and gold leaf on it, you won’t find it here. These pizzas weren’t slapped together for publicity; they were created by chefs who were looking to redefine what a pizza could be, all while keeping an eye on balance and deliciousness. At the same time, there’s no denying that there’s a sense of fun here, too, because at the end of the day, eating an outrageous pizza should be a really good time.

Additional reporting by Arthur Bovino.