If pepperoni has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 88 recipes to try it in.

What is pepperoni?

Pepperoni is a cured, dry, spiced salami, an American take on the southern Italian salame style. It is made from a blend of pork and beef, seasoned heavily with paprika and chili for its signature red color and gentle heat, then fermented and dried until firm enough to slice thin.

Despite the Italian-sounding name, the pepperoni you know is an American invention. Order pepperoni in Italy and you may get sweet peppers (peperoni), not the sausage.

It is fully cured and ready to eat straight from the package, which is why it works cold on a sandwich or hot on a pizza without any extra cooking.

Cooking With Pepperoni

Pepperoni earns its keep on pizza, where the heat of the oven draws fat and spice out of each slice and into the cheese below. Classics like Frozen Bread Dough Pizza and Favorite Impossible Pizza Pie lean on exactly that.

Thin slices laid flat will curl up at the edges as they bake, forming little crisp cups that pool with rendered orange oil. That cupping is a feature worth chasing. You get more of it from natural-casing pepperoni cut on the thick side.

Off the pizza, it carries any dish that wants a quick hit of salt and spice. Stir chopped pepperoni into a soup like Judi's Pizza Soup, fold it into Antipasto Bread, or layer it into a Deli Stuffed Calzone.

You can also crisp slices in a dry skillet over medium heat for a couple of minutes per side until they firm up. Drain them on paper and use them like bacon bits, or save the rendered fat to cook eggs.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Pepperoni is built for mozzarella and tomato, the holy trinity of pizza, but it also plays well with sharp provolone and briny olives on an antipasto board or in Antipasto #1.

The biggest mistake is treating it as a neutral meat. It is loud, salty and spicy.

That punch overpowers delicate flavors, and the dish around pepperoni rarely needs added salt.

The second mistake is piling it on raw and thick on a slow-baking dish, where it never renders and stays greasy. Slice it thin, or pre-crisp it, so the fat has somewhere to go.

A pool of orange oil on your pizza is normal. Blot it with a napkin if you like, but it is just the paprika-stained fat doing its job.

Substitutes

The closest swap is any spicy dry salami, like soppressata or a hot Calabrese, sliced thin. They bring the same cured chew with their own spice profile.

For the pizza role specifically, sliced spicy salami or even chopped spicy Italian sausage (cooked first) covers the heat and fat. Chorizo, especially the Spanish dry-cured kind, gives a smokier, paprika-forward result that leans a bit different but works.

In a pinch, plain salami plus a pinch of red pepper flakes and smoked paprika mimics the flavor, though it won't crisp into cups the same way.

Buying and Storing Pepperoni

You will find it three ways: a whole stick at the deli, pre-sliced in a sealed pack, and the small diced cups sold for pizza. Sticks let you control thickness and tend to cup better; pre-sliced is convenient but often thinner and more uniform.

Look for a deep brick-red color and a firm, dry feel. Sweating or sliminess on pre-sliced pepperoni means it is past its best.

An unopened sealed pack keeps in the fridge to its printed date. Once opened, rewrap it tightly and use sliced pepperoni within about a week. A whole stick, being drier, lasts several weeks refrigerated.

Pepperoni freezes well for a month or two, which makes a stash of slices handy for last-minute pizza night. Thaw in the fridge before using.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Food group: Pepperoni is a member of the Sausages and Luncheon Meats US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

意大利辣味香肠

British (UK) term

Pepperoni

en français

pepperoni

en español

pepperoni

How much does pepperoni weigh?

Amount	Weight
15 slices 1 serving	29 grams
1 ounce	28 grams
3.527 ounce	100 grams

Related

Sausages and Luncheon Meats

Recipes using pepperoni

There are 88 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 88 recipes

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