17 Fruits Worth Adding To Your Pizza, Besides Pineapple

If you ask people what's the best pizza topping, you're likely going to get an impressive array of answers — including the likes of pepperoni, plain cheese, something meaty, or the infrequent spinach or broccoli. Doesn't fruit get any love?

If anything, the only fruit that people have come to associate with pizza is pineapple. Sure, it fits the bill (depending on who you ask) and offers a contrasting sweetness and tanginess, but it's not the only fruit that's deserving of a coveted spot on your pizza. In order to help give you more ideas on which fruits to try on your next homemade pizza, or which fruity additions might be worth ordering at an artisanal pizzeria, I used my own professional pizzaiolo experience and collaborated with a team of experts, including Shealyn Brand, owner of Coniglio's, Luke Jacobellis, owner of Tony's New York Pizza, and Jonathan Haffmans, executive chef at Industry Kitchen, to come up with suggestions. Not only do these toppings push the limit on what you think "pizza" is, but they unlock tons of potential for new (and delicious) flavor pairings. 

Lemons are a very interesting fruit to consider adding to pizza. While other fruits on this list are often either in the tangy or sweet camp, this one offers a bit of both. 

Shealyn Brand, owner of Coniglio's, shares that her restaurant adds thinly sliced lemons to its old-fashioned white lemon pie after it's pulled from the oven. She explains that while this addition might sound a bit odd to some people, it actually is quite delicious — rinds and all. "That pizza is very simple, refreshing, and perfect for your next pizza party at home," she says. You could also just add some freshly grated lemon zest to your pie to make it more aromatic and flavorful. Lemon is also an easy way to upgrade your frozen pizza. Another idea? Try lemons on a seafood-based pie — like a spin on the iconic New Haven white clam pie or one topped with scallops.  

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is to go to the orchard and pick up a peck of peaches or nectarines. When peach cobblers and peach iced teas get old (which never happens — I usually just have more peaches than I know what to do with), I default to adding them to my pizza. Peaches and nectarines are flavorful and have honey-centric notes, which can make them an excellent pairing for rich cheese and meats. Like several other fruits on this list, these fruits can be quite wet — as anyone who has bitten into a ripe one knows all too well — so you'll want to slice them up thinly before adding them to your pie. 

If you're looking for a luxurious take on pizza, try adding thinly sliced peaches to your pie alongside prosciutto and fresh basil. The saltiness in the meat will easily mesh with the sweetness of the fruit. For an extra luxurious bite, consider adding a burrata on top of your pie after it exits the oven.  

Pears often don't get enough time in the spotlight, especially when apple season is afoot. But these juicy and aromatic fruits are also great additions to your pizza, as they add sweetness without detracting too much from the other flavors at play. Thinly sliced Bosc pears are a great complement to a funky gorgonzola, for example, as the punchy flavor of the blue cheese will play off the sweetness of the fruit. You can also pair pears with herbs, such as thyme or sage, to offer a more flavorful contrast to the fruit's innate sweetness. 

Another top-tier topping to pair with pears is a balsamic glaze. The balsamic glaze itself is sweet and floral yet complex, which works well against the honey notes of the pears. Pears can be a bit mealy, so make sure you slice them thinly before adding them on to your pie. Luke Jacobellis, owner of Tony's New York Pizza, also recommends grilling your pears (and other fruits, like peaches) ahead of time to caramelize them and bring out more of their sweet notes. 

Figs are such a beautiful fruit. They're even tastier on pizza. They're especially delicious on a white pizza made with flavorful cheeses, as their intrinsic sweetness cuts through the richness of fatty toppings quite well. Executive chef Jonathan Haffmans says figs are "an ideal fruit to use on pizza because they are not very juicy, and juice is the enemy of pizza because no one wants a soggy slice."

Fig and prosciutto are a great pairing; the salty meat stands in excellent contrast to the ripe figs. You could also add a sprinkle of arugula to the pie after it's finished baking to lend it some bitter notes, or add an extra drizzle of honey if you want to drive home that sweetness. 

Figs also work well with very woodsy and heavy flavors, such as caramelized onions and roasted mushrooms, as well as with rich, fatty, and uniquely flavored cheeses such as goat and gorgonzola. While you can slice up the figs and add them to your pie, you could also spread some fig jam on it to ensure you get a little bit of fig in every mouthful. 

Although apple season is primarily in the autumn months, you can get your hands on this popular fruit year-round. Even after apples are baked, they will maintain their distinct crunch, offering an excellent texture contrast to the rest of the slice. You can also play with different apple varieties to get the flavor profile you're after. For something slightly tangy, opt for Granny Smith apples. Or, if you want to drive home those honey notes, consider chopping up a Honeycrisp, Fuji, or Pink Lady apple. 

Thinly sliced apples play well with a variety of different toppings. One of my personal favorite pairings is sliced apples, roasted squash, smoked mozzarella, sage, and a hot honey drizzle. The flavors are all in that autumnal camp and play off one another well. Apples also work well with bacon or pancetta, as the smoky undertones will mesh with the crunchy, subtly sweet fruit. 

Blackberries might seem more at home in a fruit salad than on a pizza, but their unique mouthfeel and tart pop make them a prime candidate for adding to your next pizza pie. There are several ways to incorporate them, whether you want to add whole pieces of fruit or create a jam or syrup out of them. 

The tartness of this fruit is a great pairing for flavorful and punchy cheeses, such as goat cheese, or creamy ones like ricotta. The tang from the cheese and the sweetness from the berries make for a great mouthfeel. Blackberries can also be paired with an array of fresh herbs, from basil to thyme, to bring out more of their herbaceous qualities. Then just adorn the fruit-topped pizza with a simple balsamic reduction to tie the flavors together and create a slice that has the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

Eggplant walks a thin line between being a vegetable and a fruit, but it definitely deserves a spot if we're using only botanical classifications on this list. The fruit doesn't really have a strong flavor on its own, but it is a sponge for the ones around it. 

The important thing to know about eggplant is that it has a ton of water. I like to slice it very thinly and salt it ahead of time so that it can sweat out some of the moisture. Baking it in the oven before adding it to your pizza can also prevent your pie from becoming too soggy. 

The one thing that eggplant has going for it, that other fruits on this list don't, is that it can be paired with savory toppings and traditional pizza ingredients. You could make a play on an eggplant parm pizza by slathering your dough in marinara sauce (bonus points if you add red wine to your sauce) and adding a sprinkle of parmesan and basil. Or opt for smoky vegetables, such as roasted red peppers or sun-dried tomatoes — just make sure not to add too many, considering that a pizza loaded up with eggplant may already be quite heavy.

Eating pomegranate seeds is one of life's simple pleasures. They offer the perfect, fresh reprieve from a heavy dish — like pizza. Pomegranate seeds are best used as a garnish and should be sprinkled on your pie after it's done baking rather than before it slides into the oven. 

You can pair these seeds with a meat-leaning or veggie-forward pie, but you may want to stay within the realm of Mediterranean-inspired toppings. Think prosciutto, salty feta, goat cheese, pancetta, and a balsamic drizzle. You can also give your pomegranate-adorned pie an extra bit of texture by adding nuts, such as toasted pine nuts or walnuts. The nutty flavor is the perfect contrast to the juicy seeds. 

If it's your first time working with this finicky fruit, fear not. Try this five-minute pomegranate peeling technique to slice into your fruit and remove the seeds without making too much of a mess. Or, save yourself the aggravation, and pick up a container of seeds from the store. 

You probably don't see the bag of table grapes sitting in your fridge or at the grocery store and immediately think of pizza — but you should. When the grapes are cooked, their flavor mellows and becomes slightly sweeter, which can enhance an array of other pizza toppings. Red or black seedless grapes will also offer a unique color contrast, helping to make your pie look as good as it tastes. 

Grapes are already pretty sweet, so you're going to want to stick to very salty, fatty, or otherwise rich ingredients for your other pie toppings. Think cheeses like gooey mozzarella, tangy ricotta, Brie, and even fontina. The roasted grapes are also in good company with herbs, such as thyme and rosemary, which can help balance out the bite and offer a herbaceous contrast. Meats such as prosciutto also make for great pairings with the grapes and rich cheeses. 

Plums often get the end of the stone-fruit stick. They are so flavorful and juicy and make great additions to a pizza — you just have to give them a chance to shine. Start by selecting a ripe plum — ones that are too hard won't give you the right mouthfeel and may be too tart. Pair them with a cheese that can contrast their brightness — like Gorgonzola, ricotta, or goat cheese — along with fresh herbs such as thyme and rosemary. Caramelized onions would also be a great fit for this pie, as their naturally sweet and robust flavor would work well with the plum's acidity.

Another unexpected pairing for plums is gouda — a cheese with hazelnut undertones. You can also amplify the nutty notes by topping your pie with toasted and chopped walnuts or hazelnuts and round out the sweetness with a drizzle of honey. 

It might seem like we're batting out of left field with a strawberry pizza, but once you try it, you'll definitely see what all the hype is about. When fruits are roasted in the oven, their sweetness intensifies, and they take on a caramelized, candy-like flavor. However, you can also add them on fresh after the pie is baked to get more of a juicy profile. When used in small doses, strawberries can be a great addition to your pizza.

One of my favorite summer twists is to substitute the tomatoes in a Caprese salad with strawberries; the same applies for pizza. Pair them with tons of basil, fresh mozzarella, and a balsamic glaze for a refreshing, easy-to-eat appetizer during the summer. You can also adorn your strawberry-topped pizza with fresh mint or a drizzle of honey to drive home that sweet-salty dichotomy and bring out the flavors of the strawberries even more. 

Chocolate-stuffed dates are a delectable treat, but what about dates on pizza? You might not think this would be a good fruit to add to your pie, given that dates are soft and chewy. But their flavor, which can span everything from caramel to molasses, makes them a super sweet and tasty addition to a variety of pizzas. 

Medjool dates are easy to find in a grocery store and make a great topping for Mediterranean-inspired pizzas and flatbreads. Pair them with mozzarella and fresh arugula for the perfect balance of fattiness and pepperiness. Or opt for caramelized onions and prosciutto for a deeply flavorful slice. Dates would also be an excellent match for ricotta, seeing as how the fresh cheese would offer the perfect contrast to the caramelly, sticky texture of the fruit. Just be sure to pit your dates and chop them up finely before adding them to your pie to ensure that you get a little bit of flavor in every bite. 

I'm not a big fan of pineapple — on pizza or, frankly, on anything. But, if I'm baking a pie that needs that tropical vibe going on, I reach for mango instead of pineapple. Ripe mango is just firm enough to offer a pineapple-like bite on a pizza without that super acidic tang. I personally find the mango's flavor to be more approachable than the pineapple's, so it's good to know that Hawaiian pizza haters have another option to turn to. 

You can essentially use mango anywhere you'd use pineapple — be it with ham and bacon, on a barbecue or teriyaki-inspired pie, or alongside spicy sausage. Its sweetness is a great contrast to heavy and spicy flavors, including pickled jalapeños, hot honey, and seasoned meats. You can also pair it with a fatty cheese, such as ricotta or burrata, to supplement the mouthfeel and cut through the fruit's richness. 

Cantaloupe — on a pizza? This pairing certainly defies all odds, but once you try it on your own pizza, you may find that it actually works quite well. 

This fruit is very wet, so in order to make it work on a pizza, you'll need to slice it very, very thinly — like by taking a vegetable peeler or a mandoline to it. You can also put the fruit on the grill for a little bit to soften and caramelize it. It's a fabulous match for prosciutto, as the sweetness of the melon will contrast the saltiness of the meat. Pair it with an olive oil or white sauce base and add a sprinkle of arugula or toasted pine nuts to bring out more peppery or fatty undertones. The sweet-savory combo can be paired with a basic mozzarella cheese, or swapped with something more rich, like burrata or ricotta. 

Persimmons are a really beautiful and underutilized fruit. Fuyu persimmons have the flavor of an apple that's crossed with a peach and packaged in the body of a tomato. The fruit's firm skin and soft flesh make it a great textural addition to pizza, and it turns out that its flavor is conducive to a tasty pie, too. 

You can add slices of persimmons to your pizza raw if you want to experience their flavor at its fullest, or tuck them underneath other toppings, like goat or blue cheese, prosciutto or pancetta, and caramelized onions or shallots. They also can be matched with the same herbs that you would use for an apple-topped pie — such as thyme, rosemary, and sage. These spices will help mellow out the persimmons' sweetness and also offer a woodsy, herbal bite. Finish your pizza pie with a drizzle of honey (hot or regular).

Quince might trip you up if you've never worked with it before; it's kind of like a cross between a pear and an apple. The important thing to note is that you can't eat it raw (I mean, you can, but your teeth and taste buds will just hurt). But, when it cooks in the oven with the rest of your pizza components, you'll find that its flavor mellows out perfectly. 

Quince should be cooked before adding it atop your pizza, seeing as how it's difficult to tell whether the fruit will soften with the short amount of time that your pizza will need to bake. You can poach, roast, or bake the fruit before slicing it up and adding it to your pie. You can also use quince paste as a base for your pizza. 

Since quince is very aromatic, it works well with strong and mild cheeses alike. Try a Spanish Manchego and finish your pie with a drizzle of honey. Or, opt for a creamy Brie or goat cheese instead. 

I was a vegan for almost seven years, so I might be more familiar with jackfruit than most. But you have been missing out if you're just hearing about it now. This stringy, fleshy fruit is one of the best meat substitutes for barbecue. It can add a unique texture to your pizza, too. You're most likely to find jackfruit in cans at your local Asian ethnic market, though some online retailers also sell it. 

Once you've removed the jackfruit from the can, give it a good rinse with water to remove the brine before seasoning it and cooking it so it softens. Once the bulbs have had enough time on the stove, they should be easy to break apart. The jackfruit itself doesn't have a ton of flavor, but you can easily add your own seasonings to shift its flavor in a certain direction. For example, you can try a play on a vegetarian barbecue chicken pizza with jackfruit, caramelized onions, and a drizzle of barbecue sauce — and add a sprinkle of pickled red onions for a tangy bite.