What is the most bizarre ingredient you’ve tried on a pizza? Pineapple? Anchovies? How about pickles?
Rhino’s Pizzeria & Deli in Webster, New York recently gained notoriety for serving a dill pickle pizza with garlic sauce and mozzarella cheese. The internet is awash in disgusting contributions to culinaria these days that challenge good taste. When I came across a video of Rhino’s making their pickle pizza, I almost ignored it. But my recent experimentation with tarts and a love for pickles gave me pause for a closer look.
Rhino’s will sell you their secret garlic sauce but have not shared the recipe. I’ve not had the opportunity to visit Rhino’s to experience their pizza creation. After watching their video, I think I came close to reproducing my own version of the garlic sauce to create a delicious dill pickle pizza. The recipe is a bit quirky in that I measure dough ingredients in metric grams (something I picked up during my sourdough bread baking days) and switch back to U.S. measurements for other parts of the pizza.
When rolling the dough, I folded layers with a few drops of olive oil to promote some rise in the absence of a leavening agent.
I used a combination of minced and pulverized garlic cloves in olive oil with salt, pepper and dill weed to make the sauce. I sliced refrigerated whole dill pickles to top the pizza and added dashes of more dill weed.
The garlic, dill, olive oil, acidic juices from the pickles and the crunchy pickles themselves really taste great together on an airy, crisp crust with melted mozzarella. I made a fresh herb buttermilk dressing for dipping the pizza slices. The creamy dressing complements a dill pickle pizza like no other kind of pizza. Paul poured a 2016 Barter & Trade Sauvignon Blanc made by Field Recordings Winery in Paso Robles, California with grapes sourced from Colombia Valley in Washington State to pair with the pizza.
Despite initial and reasonable hesitation, my adventurous taste testers Paul Linxwiler and Kim Gullett confirmed my hopes for this recipe with good reviews. Thanks for being my guinea pigs for this experiment.
If you try this recipe, let me know how your pizza turned out in the comments — especially if you’ve sampled Rhino’s dill pickle pizza!
Dill Pickle Pizza with Garlic Sauce
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 250 grams of all purpose flour
- 100 grams of water
- 25 grams of oil
- 5 grams of salt
Sauce:
- 1 head of garlic (3/4 of cloves minced + 1/4 of cloves pulverized with mortar and pestle)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp dried dill weed
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
Toppings:
- 4 large whole chilled pickles
- 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 tsp dried dill weed
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425F with a rectangular baking stone on the middle rack.
- Combine and mix water, oil and salt in a measuring cup on a scale. Pour flour into KitchenAid mixing bowl and make a hole in the center of the flour in the bowl. Pour in water and oil mixture and gently fold flour from edges of the bowl with a soft spatula toward the center until the dough begins to form and doesn’t stick to the edges of the bowl. Mix dough with dough hook attachment for about five minutes. Form dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap to restore at least 30 minutes.
- Combine all ingredients for sauce into a jar and shake vigorously. Set aside.
- Thinly slice pickles.
- Press dough ball into a rectangular shape with hands on a clean kitchen counter. Press with rolling pin until double in size. Spread a few drops of olive oil to rolled surface and spread with fingertips then fold the dough onto itself. Roll again and repeat olive oil application. Fold once again. Roll the dough very thinly until it can reaches the 12″ x 18″ dimensions of a heavy duty baking sheet. Place dough on a piece of parchment paper on a heavy duty baking sheet.
- Add garlic sauce in a circular motion with a spoon until it covers dough surface. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over sauce. Distribute pickles over cheese and dash dill weed over the cheese.
- Bake for 15 minutes on the baking stone in the oven. Remove and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Place at the Table 
Ordered Rhino’s Garlic Sauce and made a dill pickle pizza. Will be doing that Pizza again! May even do it for thanksgiving when kids are home from college.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Surprisingly good!!!!
LikeLike
I’m curious, did Rhino’s list the ingredients on their sauce container? Could you tell what was in it?
LikeLike
https://www.etsy.com/listing/647699291/rhinos-famous-garlic-sauce?ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1
LikeLike
Don’t you want some yeast in the dough?
LikeLike
You could add yeast, but I used the ingredients from an Alsatian tart recipe I liked. Saves time too
LikeLike
Thanks – the crust might as well be an adventure too!
LikeLike
If you like a crispy crust, this is one way to get there.
LikeLike
Tried this recipe tonight and WOW it was fantastic! I’ve never been to Rhino’s, but this is a great recipe. I will probably make it again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Hannah. I made again a few weeks ago. It’s a winner. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
LikeLike
What kind of dill pickles did you use? Kosher? Any particular brand better for baking?
LikeLike
For my first attempt with this recipe, I used chilled Farm Ridge Foods whole half sour dill pickles. I later used chilled Whole Clausen Dill Pickles. Both kinds produced good results. I prefer slicing whole chilled pickles to room temperature and/or pre-sliced dill pickles because they have a firmer and crisper texture.
LikeLike
I can’t wait to make this pizza, but first, I just had to thank you for making the recipe easy to find and read on the site without a thousand ads causing it to jump all over the place. It’s rare to find recipes online like this these days! Looking forward to trying the pizza. Thanks for sharing 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hope you enjoy it!
LikeLike