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Quick, convenient, and delicious, pizza checks all the boxes when you’re looking for a satisfying meal that often is affordable and easy to find. While some fans may obsess about the toppings, true pizza aficionados know it’s really all about the crust.
Whether you like your pizza loaded with mozzarella and pepperoni, or prefer a more innovative ingredient combination—pineapple, barbecue chicken, fancy cheeses—an amazing pizza starts with a great base.
Even though there are tons of pizza chains out there, not all make a remarkably tasty crust. That’s why we took a deep dive and rounded up some pizza chains that make pizza crusts so good you’ll want to order from them over and over again. Many of these crusts are made fresh, using high-quality ingredients. Sometimes they even come stuffed with mouth-watering additions like melted cheese and pepperoni.
If you’re craving a fresh hot pie that is well made from the bottom up, check out one of these chains that puts real effort into making a great crust.
Nothing hits the spot quite like Domino’s. A popular favorite since it came onto the scene in the 1960s, Domino’s is known for its delicious handmade crust that strikes the perfect balance between texture and flavor.
At the beloved chain, you can expect fresh, never frozen, highly customizable dough: If you want some crunch, go for the thin crust option. If you’re interested in a crust with some zing, try its hand-tossed pizza crust brushed with a garlic-oil seasoning blend. Domino’s even offers a gluten-free pizza crust for the wheat-averse.
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Amazing appetizers, vegan menu options, Southern-style stone-baked pizzas—what’s not to love about Mellow Mushroom? The buzzy chain, which started in the 1970s, bakes every pizza to order so you know it’s going to be delicious. One of the best parts of each pie? The lip-smackingly good crust is made from a combination of high-protein, unbleached wheat flour and Appalachian spring water. In fact, people are such big fans of this crust that there are several copycat recipes floating around online.
If you’re looking for a spot with tons of different crust options, look no further than Papa John’s. Started over three decades ago, the incredibly popular pizza chain has over 5,000 locations across 45 countries, so you’re most likely never too far away from one.
Here, you can choose from multiple crust offerings. There’s the original crust, which is prepared fresh, never frozen, and made with only six ingredients. There’s also a thin crust, which has some crunch, as well as a gluten-free option. For those who like to go big or go home, there’s even the Epic Pepperoni-Stuffed Crust, which is filled with pepperoni and melted cheese, and the XL New York-Style Crust, which is an oversized pie that is crispy on the outside but perfectly chewy on the inside.
Delicious crust is the name of the game when it comes to Jet’s Pizza, the Detroit-style pizza joint that started in Michigan over 40 years ago. Known for being a cut above the rest, the restaurant makes its light and airy crust from an exclusive, proprietary blend of flour milled just for Jet’s. After the dough is prepared, it’s kneaded and hand-pressed into thick steel pans, which makes a big difference—what you get is a pillowy crust that’s the perfect golden-brown color.
Like Papa John’s, Jet’s also has many different crust options to choose from. For instance, you can choose from a Detroit-style deep dish crust, which comes in five sizes, and a New York-style crust that’s both wide and foldable. There’s also a hand-tossed round crust, which is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside; a thin-crust option, a gluten-free option, and a cauliflower crust, which is seasoned to perfection.
Founded in 2008, Mod Pizza is not only famous for its welcoming staff and speedy service but also for its amazing pizza, which begins with a great crust. For starters, the Seattle-based chain offers various crust styles, including original, gluten-free, and cauliflower. Its Mega Dough option, the restaurant’s thickest crust yet, uses wholesome, high-quality ingredients, like King Arthur-brand flour, sea salt, water, and yeast.
If you stop by Mod Pizza, be sure to try out one of its innovative pie options, like the Lucy Sunshine, which comes topped with dollops of red sauce, artichokes, and melted mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, and the Calexico, which boasts mozzarella, gorgonzola, chicken, jalapeños, red sauce, and hot Buffalo sauce. The restaurant even serves a salad pizza, a customizable pie piled high with greens, veggies, and warm asiago.
Founded in 2011 by a husband-and-wife team, Blaze Pizza is known for its airy, thin-crust pies. The secret? Setting the dough. Co-founder Elise Wetzel told Mashed that the trick is to make the dough fresh, then refrigerate for 24 hours before using. The result is a dynamic, fermented dough that is more flavorful than most.
It should come as no surprise that Blaze is so laser-focused on the quality of its dough. Wetzel and her husband, Rick, are also the founders of Wetzel’s Pretzels, the popular soft pretzel chain you may have encountered in airports, shopping malls, and theme parks.
