Stand out in the crowded pizza market with cheese blends

Cheese is the holy trinity component that brings the pizza together, providing that rich creaminess and stretch that is a quintessential pizza quality. Mozzarella has long been the industry standard for pizza cheese. It’s the stretch, creaminess and mild flavor that has made mozzarella the preferred pizza cheese. But, for those who want to go further and create a more robust cheese experience, blending cheese varieties transforms pizzas to uniquely original flavor profiles.

Proprietary custom cheese blends can separate a pizzeria from its competitors, whether it’s a two-, three or four-cheese combination. But you can’t just mix and match cheeses and call it a success. You need to explore the intricacies of cheese varieties for the melt, texture and flavor you are looking for with your specific pizza.

We’ve tapped some of the brightest minds in pizza kitchens to get their takes on cheese blends. Chris Decker, founder of Truly Pizza in Dana Point California, is also our masterful pizza recipe creator with his “On Deck” column in Pizza Today. He also ranks among the Top 100 Best Pizza Chefs in the World, according to Top 50 Pizza. Rico Lunardi owns Pittsburgh-based Slice on Broadway, which is home to the 2025 World’s Best Cheese Slice Champion at the International Pizza Challenge during Pizza Expo. Marisol Doyle owns Leña Pizza in Cleveland, Mississippi. She also ranks among the Top 100 Best Pizza Chefs.

Where to start with cheese blends

Testing is paramount when trying any dynamite new cheese combination.  You have three options when creating a cheese blend. You can:

• Choose available cheese blends already created by your cheese supplier.
• Work with your cheese provider to create a signature blend.
• Create a custom, in-house blend.

Lunardi found his go-to cheese blend, a 50/50 mozzarella/provolone, through his cheese provider. “In our region, people like that little sharpness the provolone adds, and it balances out beautifully with the creaminess of the mozzarella,” he says. “It also performs really well when reheated, which is important for slices. If you go more East Coast, like New York, you’ll find shops leaning toward straight mozzarella. For us, the 50/50 blend hits that perfect note of flavor, melt and consistency for our customers. We tested different combinations, but our decision was really about matching the palate of our market. Pittsburghers appreciate a little extra depth of flavor, so we knew provolone needed to be in the mix. We also put a lot of emphasis on performance – how it melts on a hot pie, how it holds on to a slice, and how it reheats later. Once we found the ratio that gave us that sharpness without overpowering the base mozzarella, we stuck with it.”

For Decker and Doyle, they prefer to work with cheese blends created in house. “We have the ultimate cheese blend on our Truly White, and that’s my favorite,” Decker says. “We put a little bit of everything on it, fresh and whole milk mozzarella, caciocavallo, Romano, two ways (grated baked into pie, and hand grate post oven finish) and stracciatella. We put 2 ounces each of fresh and whole milk mozzarella and the caciocavallo. The Romano is a dusting for both applications, and it turns out to be around two ounces of stracciatella that we position right at the cornicione, to ensure there is a nice creamy bite at the end.”

Using 100-percent mozzarella works well for many of Lena’s Neapolitan wood-fired pizzas. Where Doyle gets more adventurous with cheese blends is with pizza specials. She has used 50/50 mozzarella/provolone blends and really enjoys incorporating 50/50 mozzarella/fontina, creating a very creamy pizza cheese. “It has a little bit of nuttiness that I like, and they also complement each other really well,” she says.

Finding that perfect cheese blend on your specials menu

A pizza special is a good place to start when testing new cheese blends. Who knows? You may find your signature blend creating a pizza special.

Doyle’s concept is centered around specials, with new menus dropping weekly. Recently, she debuted a new four-cheese pizza featuring mozzarella, fontina, Parmesan and gorgonzola (40/40/10/10). Instead of mixing at once, Doyle tested layering a mix of the four cheeses followed by more fontina and mozzarella over the top to ensure an even bake.

When it comes to cheese pairings, Chris Decker finds that he doesn’t decide. “Our pizza toppings do,” he says. “The perfect cheese pairing for our fall/winter potato pizza is a blend of fontina and hay-smoked provola. It is like a nice warm hug the way those two cheeses partner with the potato.”

While Lunardi doesn’t stray too far from Slice on Broadway’s mozzarella/provolone blend, he has experimented with blends for competitions. “Recently, I made a great pizza for a competition in California,” he notes. “I combined mozzarella, aged white cheddar and fontina. The mozzarella gives that buttery stretch and full coverage, the cheddar sneaks in underneath with a sharpness and caramelized bite, and the fontina melts down into these little nutty, rich pockets. Together, they create layers of flavor in every bite. Each cheese does its own job, but as a blend they elevate the whole pizza.”

Experiment with cheese blends in your pizza kitchen

Often, the cheese blend is dependent on your pizza style and your customers’ preferences. Here are some other cheese blends to try:

• 60/40 Fresh Mozzarella/Parmesan

• 60/40 Brick/Gorgonzola

• 60/30/10 Mozzarella/Fontina/Cheddar

• 70/30 Mozzarella/Feta

• 50/50 Mozzarella/Smoked Mozzarella

• 50/25/25 Mozzarella/White Cheddar/Provolone

• 60/20/10/10 Mozzarella/Fontina/Asiago/Parmesan

• 60/20/10 Mozzarella/Ricotta/Parmesan

• 70/30 Mozzarella/Brie

Don’t forget to play with the percentages and try your own variations. Think Gruyere, Gouda, burrata, Muenster, Taleggio, Havarti, goat cheese, Pecorino Romano, Grana Padano, etc. Your blend can be as wild as your imagination.

Denise Greer is Editor-in-Chief at Pizza Today.

Read the November 2025 Issue of Pizza Today Magazine

This month, we are diving deep on all things cheese. Learn how the fluctuating commodities market can impact the price you pay for mozzarella and other block cheeses. Then, find out how operators are using craft beer cheddar, gorgonzola and plant-based cheeses made from cashews, coconuts, peas and other bases to create pizzas that are visually and gastronomically stunning. Round out your education for the month by brushing up on pizzeria art, SOPs and winter squash.

Check out the full Digital Edition – Pizza Today November 2025.