It's National Pizza Day—Check out these 15 gadgets and services to have the perfect pizza right at home
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Buckle up, as today is National Pizza Day! It's the perfect excuse to eat a tasty pie oozing with cheesy goodness. Whether you’re looking to take your homemade pizza game to new heights, in the market for a new recipe or just want to order delivery, we’ve got you covered with 15 gadgets and services to check out in honor of this delicious day.
►More: Step up your frozen pizza game with these shippable options
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When is National Pizza Day 2023?
The cheesy holiday that is National Pizza Day falls annually on February 9th. Many restaurants offer discounts and freebies in honor of the special day every year.
1. A pizza stone for restaurant-quality pizza at home
If you like to cook at home or simply want to try baking your own pizza pie, a pizza stone is a necessity for yielding restaurant-style cheese pulls and crispy crusts. A pizza stone is a simple slab that allows your pizza pie to absorb as much heat as possible from your oven—some are made from ceramic, while others are made from cast iron or steel.
We've tested plenty of pizza stones, firing up our ovens and baking many pizzas to find the best one out there. Several slices later, we found the Lodge Pro-Logic Cast Iron Pizza Pan to be the best pizza stone you can buy. This cast iron pan can be used across ovens, stovetops, grills and even campfires, allowing for the perfect crisped crust. Plus, it includes built-in loop handles that make it easier to take in and out of an oven.
►National Pizza Day 2023: The most popular pizza styles in the U.S.
2. A rolling pin for the perfect pizza base
A good homemade pizza requires a good start—that means well-kneaded and evenly-rolled dough. A rolling pin will do just the trick in achieving the optimal crust.
We've tested several rolling pins on the market and found the J.K. Adams Plain Maple Rolling Dowel to be our favorite. It's a simple wooden dowel, but perhaps that's what makes it so good. This no-frills rolling pin makes it easy to apply just the right amount of pressure you want creating even, non-lumpy dough that's easy to shape.
3. A pizza cutter for easy, precise slices
Nobody likes picking up a slice of pizza only to find it's still halfway attached to the pie. That's why any household needs a good pizza cutter that'll cut through anything from a thin New York-style slice to Chicago deep dish level thickness.
Out of all the pizza cutters Reviewed has tested, we found the Progressive International Artisan Pizza Wheel performed the best out of all the rest. In testing, it sliced through our thickest pizza with its sharp, stainless-steel blade. The cutter itself is easy to maneuver with a comfortable and balanced handle.
4. A pie from your favorite local pizza shop, delivered to your door
If you haven't heard of Goldbelly yet, you're in for a treat (pun intended). Founded in 2013, Goldbelly is a food delivery service that connects customers with their favorite local restaurants across the country, packaging and sending their iconic dishes straight to your door.
One of our Reviewed staffers tested Goldbelly, using it to order pizza from their favorite hometown pizza shop. Even after being frozen and shipped cross-country, the local pizza was just as good as they remembered—a testament to how Goldbelly really gets it right when it comes to enjoying local eats from a completely different region.
5. A comically-small countertop pizza oven
Wish you could make homemade pizza, but don't have the time, space or budget to build a pizza oven? This absolutely adorable countertop pizza has come to the rescue.
Dubbed "The World's Funnest Pizza Oven", the Pizarette Countertop Pizza Oven can cook up miniature homemade pizzas for the whole family. Made with a beautiful handmade terracotta dome, this tiny yet mighty oven can cook small pizza pies in 10 minutes or less.
We tested out the Pizzarette to see if it was worth the hype and it was fun to use, easy to clean and delivers on its promise for fresh pizza in a jiffy.
6. Or, a complete outdoor pizza oven if you're really into pizza
Hear us out: If your favorite food is pizza, perhaps an outdoor pizza oven is worth the investment. Pizza ovens don't have to be anything ultra-extravagant—there are several portable models out there that are affordable, easy to pack away and capable of creating restaurant-quality pizza right at home.
From our lab testing, we found Solo Stove Pi Pizza Oven to be our top pick. This lightweight pizza oven heats quickly and cooks perfect pizza.
For a solid option that's less pricey, the Ooni Koda pizza oven is our best value choice. This gas-powered Koda hooks up to a standard propane tank and makes pizzas almost as perfectly as the oven by Solo Stove does. Its thin, streamlined profile also makes it easy to store when you're not using it.
6. A cheese grater for fresh, quality cheese
When making yourself a pizza pie at home, skip the bag of shredded cheese and shred fresh cheese yourself. All you need is a block of your favorite cheese—mozzarella, cheddar, provolone or even something fancier like gorgonzola or goat cheese—and a good grater for fine, even shreds of cheesy goodness. Of course, you can't forget the additional topping of freshly grated Parmesan when the pizza's ready to be served.
Our top pick for a grater is the Microplane 4-Sided Stainless Steel Multi-Purpose Box Grater. Unlike traditional stamp-style grate models, the blades on this Microplane grater are etched into the metal using a special chemical process. This results in super-sharp, fine edges for precise grating and slicing. We tried shredding parmesan with this grater and received a pile of perfectly airy and fluffy Parmesan. The grater even has removable blades that you can throw into the dishwasher when you're ready to clean up.
7. A meal kit delivery service that'll bring pizza ingredients to your door
You may want to make a pizza home, but you're not quite sure where to start. Or perhaps you don't want to run out and grab all the necessary ingredients. That's where a meal kit delivery service can come in handy, with which all of the ingredients you need can be delivered right to your doorstep.
Meal delivery services also offer unique recipes and twists on classic dishes, like Sunbasket's mini rosemary-potato pizzas with fresh mozzarella and mushrooms (sounds good, right?). We've tested several meal kit delivery services, and while Sunbasket ranked as our best meal kit for vegetarian options, our best overall choice is Home Chef.
Our testers were impressed by Home Chef's high-quality ingredients that come in labeled bags and user-friendly recipe instructions that yielded top-notch results. Home Chef offers plenty of pizza kits to make at home, including a Pizza Bianca with zucchini ribbons and rosemary, as well as a Neopolitan Pizza Margherita with arugula salad.
8. A can opener for your pizza sauce needs
While you could make your own pizza sauce at home, buying pre-made sauce in a can is probably just as delicious. You could also get fancy and find canned goods that'd make great additional toppings like pineapple—but, we're not here to debate whether or not it belongs there.
If you've got canned goods, you'll need a solid can opener. We've tested out many can openers and found the EZ-DUZ-IT can opener is the best one we found on the market. It's nothing fancy, which is exactly what you want in a can opener. It easily pierces through lids, stays attached to edges and makes its way around the can without a hitch. Not to mention, it's just over 15 bucks, making it an affordable addition to the kitchen.
9. A vegetarian, gluten-free pizza to enjoy at home
If you want to enjoy a fresh slice of pizza without gluten, the Banza Supreme Frozen Pizza is a delectable alternative that our reviewer says is "lightyears" beyond any cauliflower crust pizza.
Instead of pizza dough, this pizza's crust is made from chickpea, a protein-packed legume. As for toppings, their Margarita pizza includes cheese and basil.
10. A baking sheet for sheet pan pizza
A pizza pie doesn't always have to be circular. With a baking sheet, you can create thick and crispy square sheet pan pizza right at home. It's perfect for those nights when you just want a quick and easy frozen pizza meal, too.
Our favorite baking sheet we've ever tested is the Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker's Half Sheet. It's large and mighty—fitting a dozen cookies with ease—but surprisingly lightweight, making transferring to and from the oven much easier. Most importantly, it distributes heat evenly, promising a straightforward baking experience every time.
11. A pizza peel for easy oven removal
You're at the home stretch and it's time to remove your pizza from the oven—one tool to make this step a whole lot easier is by having a pizza peel on hand. A pizza peel can work beyond pizza, helping you transfer pies and cakes in and out of the oven with ease.
This gourmet pizza paddle from Amazon is 12-inches wide and 14-inches long with a 10-inch handle, giving you plenty of space to transfer your pizza without risking burning yourself or dropping the pizza. Reviewers love how handy this tool is, noting that the peel also provides a great surface for assembling your pizza before it goes in.
12. A humble cast iron skillet for delicious deep dish pizzas
If you don't have a pizza oven, a pizza stone or a Pizzarette in your kitchen, you can also use your handy dandy cast iron skillet to whip up a hot, crispy deep dish pizza without hassle.
Our favorite cast iron skillet we've tested is the Lodge Chef Collection 12-Inch—it's great at getting nice and hot, is surprisingly lightweight for easy oven removal and has exceptional nonstick properties, which is important for dishing out pizza straight from the skillet.
13. A stand mixer for exceptional homemade dough
Take your homemade pizza to the next level with homemade dough. Don't worry if you've never done it yourself before—it's actually quite easy and will be a fun activity before dinner.
Grab your essential ingredients (flour, water, yeast, etc.) and get mixing with one of our favorite stand mixers, the KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart.
This iconic KitchenAid mixer can do it all. It's able to do anything from beating super chunky cookie batter to kneading a double batch of bread dough into a smooth ball. The mixer is durable, the motor is quiet and there are plenty of unique attachments—such as a pasta maker—to try.
14. An immersion blender for fresh, homemade pizza sauce
While canned sauce still makes for a yummy pizza, there's something about homemade sauce that really takes pizza to the next level. There are plenty of no-cook pizza sauce recipes out there that only require you to blend a couple of flavorful ingredients.
An immersion blender, also known as a hand blender, combines the power of a full-sized blender, the portability of a hand mixer and the convenience of a food processor all in one. This trusty kitchen tool can be used to blend up small-batch recipes like soups, sauces and dressings with ease (and with fewer dishes to wash).
Our favorite immersion blender is the Breville Control Grip—it's got a powerful motor and comes with helpful attachments like a food processor add-on. The shallow, bell-shaped blending head design also prevents the tool from suctioning to the bottom of blending cups and scratching pots or pans.
15. A good quality knife for slicing and dicing toppings
What's a good pizza without great toppings? To finely chop up favorite toppings like pepperoni, sausage, red onions, garlic, banana peppers and black olives, you'll need a good knife to help you through it. Beyond pizza-making, having a quality set of knives is essential for any kitchen, no matter if you're a cooking novice or an expert chef.
Our top choice for a good chef's knife that can tackle anything from chopping veggies to slicing meat is the Zwilling Pro 8-Inch. This hefty knife performed like a workhorse in our testing—it features a well-balanced blade that can cut through thick items like butternut squash just as easily as it can make precise cuts on more delicate foods like tomatoes. It's comfortable to hold and easy to maneuver, which is key for longer prep times in the kitchen.
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This article originally appeared on Reviewed: National Pizza Day 2023: Best products and services for homemade pie
