The Flavorful Drizzling Oil Your Homemade Pizzas Deserve

Brushing the surface of pizza dough with oil before popping it into the oven can help yield that perfectly crisp exterior and chewy middle you expect from pizza crust, but adding oil as a finishing touch can also turn up the dials of flavor on a basic slice. Though pizza oil may sound fancy, it is essentially infused olive oil that can help you make better-tasting homemade pizza in the comfort of your own kitchen. When you put kitchen scraps to good use and make an infusion out of shallots and garlic or create a concoction with basil and oregano, your flavorful creations can complement the ingredients already on your pie or amplify the flavors of the pizza recipe you've made for yourself. Even a simple homemade margherita pizza recipe can be transformed with a bonus swirl of flavorful oil.

If you don't want to wait for ingredients to infuse, you can mix olive oil with your choice of ingredients such as onions, black pepper, and rosemary in a pan and cook for four or five minutes. Once the mixture is cooled to room temperature, you can get to pouring. Alternatively, you can find pizza oil in some stores and online. Though some brands can be pricey — over $30 for a bottle — customers who take the splurge gush over the taste.

For lovers of all things heat, chili, peppercorns, paprika, and jalapeño can be added to oil infusions, but olive oil isn't the only oil that can be used to make your pizza oil. Experiment with truffle oil or avocado oil or any of the finishing oils you tend to reach for in your home. Even if you don't make pizza from scratch, an elegant swirl of pizza oil can help transform the pre-made or frozen pizza you pick up from the store.

Plus, pizza oil by no means is reserved for pizzas. Once your pantry is stocked with ready-to-pour pizza oil, the flavorful finisher can quickly be used in other food recipes. Finish flatbread recipes, like our triple cheese French onion flatbread or a Calabrian chile spicy flatbread recipe, with a drizzle or add the oil to your next sourdough avocado toast recipe. If you do end up infusing pizza oil for yourself, you may want to make more than what you think you'll need, as you can also use the flavorful addition as a final flourish to crown quickly-made plates of pasta.