Pizzas are canvases for customization and experimentation — if a food exists, someone’s probably put it on pizza. This rule is especially helpful when you want to boost your pizza’s nutritional content. By itself, cheese pizza isn’t a protein bomb. Meat is a common addition for more oomph, but you can also go plant-based by garnishing your pizza with nuts, seeds, or other crunchy toppings. This provides both texture and nutrition beyond protein, as nuts and seeds are high in healthy fats, fiber, and vitamins.
The good news is that there are as many options for these garnishes as there are kinds of pizza out there. If you’re sticking to Italian-inspired toppings, reach for sunflower seeds, pistachios, or almonds. A pesto pizza would be delicious with extra pine nuts on top, but you can also use chopped walnuts, a common sub for the former nut in pesto. For a more substantial bite, add some crispy roasted chickpeas coated in Mediterranean seasonings.
Ideas for regional experimentation and toasting your garnishes
Let your imagination run wild from there, using the general geographic origin of your flavors as inspiration. Chopped peanuts or a sprinkling of sesame seeds would be great on any Asian-inspired pizza. For a pizza with Latin American flavors, cashews and pepitas are native to the region, and you can give your barbecue chicken pizza additional Southern influence by topping it with chopped pecans. If you dig Indian flavors, try out a chaat pizza with pomegranate seeds and nylon sev that’s made from chickpea flour as the toppings.
You can garnish any already-baked pizza, but if you’re cooking either a fresh or frozen one yourself, consider tossing the nuts and seeds on during the bake. This will give them a delicious, toasted quality and increased savoriness. Nuts and seeds move from perfectly toasted to burnt and bitter quickly, though, so err on the side of caution. You might start by adding the topping halfway through your pizza’s cook time and adjusting your future pies from there based on the results — they probably won’t need more than 10 minutes. If you want more control and don’t mind an extra dish, toast your nuts or seeds for a few minutes in a skillet on the stove while your pizza cooks (or try toasting them in the microwave).
