Hot Honey Pepperoni Pizza Recipe

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This hot honey pepperoni pizza walks the fine line between fiery and sweetly piquant, and the combination is brought together by notes of Thai chiles and the anise scent of Thai basil. The sweet finish and salty interlude, coupled with the crunchy crust and melty cheese you expect from a good pizza, make it feel like a meal that covers all the bases and is delightfully moreish.

Whenever an ingredient begins to trend, as hot honey has been doing for a few years now, you start seeing it everywhere: in salad dressings, utilized in various recipes, incorporated into restaurant menus, and when it's really hit it big, even on top of pizza. Sometimes, as a recipe tester and developer for At the Immigrant's Table, I often discover that the hype is overrated. But in the case of this hot honey pepperoni pizza, the excitement is more than justified. 

The combination of crisp pizza dough, salty pepperoni slices, briny pepperoncini, and sweet-but-punchy hot honey leaves you licking your fingers while also waving for a glass of seltzer. Add to it a few Thai-inspired influences, and you've got yourself a trendy recipe that lives up to the hype.

For the hot honey itself, you'll want butter, honey, Thai red chile flakes, garlic, salt, pepper, and Thai sweet chili sauce — I love the Pretty Thai sweet chili, which is less cloyingly sweet and gelatinous than other versions, but you can use your favorite. 

For the pizza itself, you'll need store-bought pizza dough, olive oil, dried oregano, black pepper, sea salt, shredded mozzarella, sliced pepperoni, pepperoncini peppers, and fresh Thai basil.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter.

Whisk in the honey, Thai sweet chili sauce, and Thai red chile flakes.

Add the garlic and simmer 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from the heat and stir in the salt and pepper. Let cool slightly while preparing the pizza.

Preheat the oven with a pizza stone or a baking sheet inside to 475 F.

Stretch or roll the dough into a 14-inch circle on parchment paper.

Transfer the parchment paper with the dough to the preheated pizza peel or baking sheet. Brush lightly with olive oil.

Sprinkle the oregano, black pepper, and sea salt over the surface.

Top with the shredded mozzarella, leaving a ½-inch border.

Distribute the pepperoni and pepperoncini evenly over the cheese.

Bake 12-15 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Remove the pizza from the oven. Drizzle the hot honey generously over the entire pizza. Scatter the fresh basil.

Serve the hot honey pepperoni pizza immediately.

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If you've been to a restaurant or opened TikTok in the last few years, you've probably encountered several recipes calling for hot honey. In recent years, hot honey seems to have been everywhere, having its own swicy (sweet and spicy) flavor moment. But is hot honey just a fad, or does it have older origins than you might think?

While hot honey as a product may be relatively new, the idea of combining honey with spicy ingredients is far from groundbreaking. In the Middle East, adding za'atar to honey is old news. In South America, tajin, a tangy, salty lime-and-chile powder combo, is sprinkled on mangoes and watermelon. In Korea, fried chicken, famously nicknamed "candy chicken," relies on the sweet and pungent condiment of gochujang for its flavor. And in fact, Mike Kurtz's famous brand of hot honey, Mike's Hot Honey, traces its origin story to a chile-infused honey condiment that the founder first encountered in Brazil.

So as you can see, hot honey isn't just a modern fad, but also the latest iteration in a long-standing tradition of combining sweet and spicy notes in one. Today, there are plenty of hot honey brands you can get in stores, some better than others. The good news, as you'll see in this recipe, is that making hot honey at home is often much cheaper and simpler than tracking down and buying a good version.

We went in a Thai direction with our spicy-sweet hot honey pepperoni pizza recipe, drawing inspiration from the prominent use of those two contrasting flavors in Thai cuisine. But if you're not big fans of Thai food, or want a different variation on the theme, we've got a few ideas to inspire your kitchen experiments.

If you wanted to stay more firmly in traditional Italian cuisine territory, you could infuse your honey with smoky Calabrian chiles and pair it with Italian basil, San Daniele prosciutto, and fresh mozzarella. For a Spanish-inspired pizza, you can combine your hot honey with smoked paprika, jamón ibérico, and oregano for a smoky, salty, herby combination of flavors.

For another adventurous take, go in a Korean direction and use sesame oil, honey, and gochujang in your hot honey, and then finish it off with perilla leaves, which have a very refreshing minty cooling effect. Or try my personal favorite: rose harissa, shifka peppers, and mint alongside merguez sausage. It's such a great combination to play around with, you'll never run out of options!

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