She Put Potato Chips on Pizza but Waited Until After Baking: There’s a Reason

Potato chips don’t seem like an obvious pizza topping, especially when melted cheese and a crisp crust already provide plenty of texture. But one restaurant recipe adds crushed kettle chips across the finished pizza, creating a crunch that wouldn’t survive the same way if the chips went into the oven with the cheese.

Chef Ann Kim, known for her Minneapolis restaurant Pizzeria Lola, uses this technique on her Perfect Pickle Pizza. The recipe combines fermented dill pickles, mozzarella, Fontina, charred onion, and homemade ranch dressing before finishing with crushed potato chips and fresh dill.

The unusual part is the timing. The pickles and cheese bake with the crust, while the ranch and chips wait until the pizza comes out. That keeps the final toppings from losing their contrasting textures during cooking.

Pickles and two cheeses go into the oven first

The recipe begins with pizza dough that rests in the refrigerator for 24 hours, allowing it to develop flavor before baking.

Once the dough reaches room temperature, it is stretched into a 12-inch round and placed on a floured pizza peel.

Whole-milk mozzarella and Fontina cover the base, followed by thin slices of fermented dill pickles and pieces of charred yellow onion.

The pickles bring acidity that cuts through the richness of the cheese, while the onion contributes browned, sweet notes.

Pat the pickle slices dry before adding them to the pizza. Excess brine can introduce moisture that interferes with a crisp crust.

Bake the pizza on a preheated stone or baking steel at 500–550°F (260–288°C) for approximately five to seven minutes, until the cheese melts and the crust browns.

The baking surface needs about an hour to preheat so it can transfer enough heat to the underside of the dough.

The potato chips go on after the pizza comes out

Once the pizza leaves the oven, drizzle ranch dressing across the melted cheese and pickles.

The dressing combines crème fraîche, buttermilk, chives, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, and white wine vinegar.

Sprinkle crushed kettle-cooked potato chips over the top, followed by chopped fresh dill.

The chips add a crisp texture against the soft cheese and warm crust, while the ranch provides a cool, creamy contrast to the salty pickles.

Adding the chips before baking would expose them to moisture from the toppings and intense oven heat, which could change their texture.

Waiting until the pizza is finished preserves their crunch and keeps the dressing from baking into the cheese.

The original recipe uses half a cup of crushed kettle chips across two 12-inch pizzas, along with half a cup of fermented dill pickle slices.

The finished pizza brings together several contrasting elements: melted cheese, sharp pickles, charred onion, creamy ranch, and crisp potato chips.

The chips aren’t there to replace the crust or the cheese. They create a separate layer of crunch, and adding them after baking keeps that texture intact.