Pizza lovers far and wide will be making the most of National Deep Dish Pizza Day.
This is just the holiday for those admirers of a thick, tasty crust filled with delicious toppings and baked to perfection!
National Deep Dish Pizza Day Timeline
Pizza Margherita Popularizes Modern Pizza in Italy
Neapolitan pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito reportedly serves a tricolor pie to Queen Margherita, helping turn a local flatbread into a celebrated dish that later inspires American pizzerias.
First Licensed Pizzeria Opens in the United States
Gennaro Lombardi receives a retail license for Lombardi’s in New York City, often cited as America’s first pizzeria and a model for later regional pizza styles.
Chicago’s Deep-Dish Pizza Is Born at an Ohio Street Bar
In Chicago, partners Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo transform an Ohio Street tavern into what becomes Pizzeria Uno, serving a new, thick-crusted pan pizza that stacks cheese and toppings beneath a chunky tomato sauce.
Deep-Dish Helps Turn Pizza into a National American Meal
Postwar prosperity, the spread of frozen pizza, and restaurant expansion from Chicago introduce hearty, knife-and-fork styles like deep-dish to diners far beyond neighborhood Italian enclaves.
Stuffed Pizza and Lou Malnati’s Refine the Chicago Pan Tradition
On March 17, Lou Malnati opens his namesake pizzeria in suburban Lincolnwood, while fellow Chicago operator Rocco Palese develops “stuffed” pizza, deep-dish’s taller cousin inspired by his family’s Italian Easter pies.
Giordano’s Popularizes a Signature Stuffed and Deep-Dish Style
Brothers Efren and Joseph Boglio open the first Giordano’s on Chicago’s South Side, adapting their mother’s stuffed-pie recipe into one of the city’s most famous takes on layered, pan-baked pizza.
Deep-Dish Inspires Other Pan-Baked Regional Pizzas
Chicago’s success with high-walled pans and lavish toppings paves the way for variations such as Detroit-style pizza, which uses rectangular steel pans and edge-to-edge caramelized cheese for a different but related thick-crust experience.
How to Celebrate National Deep Dish Pizza Day
It doesn’t take a lot of convincing to get most people excited about celebrating National Deep Dish Pizza Day! Consider these creative ideas for enjoying the day with family, friends and coworkers:
Grab a Deep Dish Pizza
On this day, get together with friends or family to visit your favourite pizza restaurant and enjoy a wonderful slice (or more) of cheesy goodness.
But remember, unlike grabbing a slice of thin, New York pizza that takes about 10 minutes to bake, deep dish pizza is an exercise in patience.
It might even be a good idea to order ahead because these pizzas are so thick that they can take up to an hour to bake in the oven!
But don’t worry–most restaurants are happy to provide appetizers such as breadsticks, buffalo wings or garlic bread to keep hungry patrons happy, as well as soft drinks or beer. Just make sure not to get too filled up before the pizza comes.
Find Restaurants Offering Deep Discounts on Pizza
Many pizzerias will be in a festive mood for this enjoyable day! And that means they may be offering coupons or discounts to their customers.
For instance, these famous restaurants serve authentic deep dish pizza and may offer a deal for the day, whether ordering in or online:
- Pizzeria Uno. The restaurant that started it all is located in Chicago as well as Colorado, New York, Michigan, Maine, Vermont, Florida, Pennsylvania and so many more states. Plus, Saudia Arabia and India! The chain has been known in the past to offer discounts all month long so it’s worth checking out.
- Giordano’s. Started in 1974, this chain boasts more than 60 restaurants, mostly in Illinois but also in Arizona, Florida, Colorado, Ohio, and even Nevada. This chain has been known to give a $5 off discount in the past.
- Lou Malnati’s American Restaurant. Serving Chicago deep dish pizza since 1971, this restaurant offers 57 locations all throughout the mid-western US (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin) as well as Arizona.
- Gino’s East. Starting in Chicago, Gino’s East has been growing since its 1966 inception and now has spots in California, Texas, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Michigan.
Try Making Deep Dish Pizza at Home
Don’t fret if you can’t get the exact deep dish pizza – a pan style pizza, thick crusted pizza or pretty much any delicious pizza will do.
Better yet, use this day to finally create that perfect pizza you’ve always dreamed of making, and invite others over to share it with!
How to Make Deep Dish Pizza
Baked in an oiled, round, metal pan (i.e. deep dish) the wheat-based dough is placed not only on the bottom of the pan but also pressed up the sides.
The pie is then filled with cheese (that’s right, it goes first!), meat and vegetables next (such as pepperoni, sausage, peppers, spinach, etc.), and then a thick layer of chunky, uncooked tomato sauce goes on top.
The order of the fillings is important because it keeps the cheese from burning since the cooking time is so long–probably around 45 minutes! But being patient is certainly worth it in the end.
Plan a Trip to Chicago (including Pizza, of course!)
In order to fully experience everything that National Deep Dish Pizza Day has to offer, a trip to Chicago is probably the best course of action. Chicago is filled with culture and fun activities for just about anyone to enjoy along with their deep dish pizza.
- The Art Institute of Chicago. Ranking as the second largest art museum in the US, it boasts a collection of more than ¼ million works of art. (For lunch, Giordano’s is just a 10 minute walk away–but don’t forget to order ahead.)
- The Chicago Theatre. Catch a play or comedy act here in this landmark Baroque theater built in 1921. (Then grab a pizza at Lou Malnati’s, only a 15 minute walk past the Merchandise Mart.)
- The Bean (Cloud Gate). An art installation in Millenium Park along the lakefront of Chicago, its surface is shiny and reflective, creating a magical effect as it bounces light from and onto the world around it. (Giordano’s is basically just across the street from the park–only a five minute walk.)
- Grant Park. Grab a free summer concert or simply enjoy a walk along Lake Michigan. (A different Lou Malnati’s location is just about a ten minute walk from here.)
Fun Facts about Pizza
20% of Americans believe that pizza should be eaten with the hands and not with a fork. (Although, with deep dish pizza, this is likely to end up with more than the average mess!)
Only 2% of Americans say they have gotten into heated debates over which is better: New York Style (thin crust) or Chicago Style (deep dish).
And at least 16% of Americans say that they don’t have a preference either way–they just love pizza any way they can get it.
Facts About National Deep Dish Pizza Day
Layered “Upside-Down” Construction Protects the Cheese
Chicago-style deep-dish pizzas are assembled in reverse order from many other pizzas: cheese goes directly on the dough, toppings sit on top of the cheese, and a thick layer of tomato sauce finishes the pie.
This arrangement is not just a gimmick. Because deep-dish bakes much longer than a thin crust, the sauce on top insulates the cheese from direct oven heat, helping it melt slowly without burning while the thick crust cooks through.
Deep-Dish Dough Behaves More Like Pastry Than Bread
Traditional deep-dish dough is richer than standard pizza dough, often using more fat and sometimes corn oil to create a tender, biscuit-like crumb instead of a chewy, airy structure.
Compared with classic Neapolitan-style dough that relies on high hydration and gluten development, deep-dish dough is mixed to be sturdier and less elastic so it can be pressed up the sides of a pan and hold heavy fillings without collapsing.
Stuffed Pizza Evolved from an Italian Holiday Pie
What many people think of as “extra deep” deep-dish is actually a related style known as stuffed pizza, which appeared in Chicago in the 1970s.
Restaurateur Rocco Palese modeled his stuffed pizza on scarciedda (also called pizza rustica), a savory Italian Easter pie from southern Italy that encloses layers of cheese and meats between two sheets of dough, showing how immigrant holiday dishes can morph into new regional specialties.
Chicago’s Deep-Dish Rivalry Helped Define U.S. Regional Pizza Styles
By the mid‑20th century, Chicago’s heavy, knife-and-fork deep-dish stood in stark contrast to New York City’s wide, foldable slices, and that rivalry helped cement the idea of distinct American regional pizza styles.
As food writers and travel guides highlighted the contrast, “Chicago-style” and “New York-style” became shorthand for two opposing philosophies of pizza: a hearty, casserole-like meal versus a portable street food.
Detroit-Style Pizza Took Cues from Pan-Baked Deep Crusts
Detroit-style pizza, which became popular in the mid‑20th century, shares an ancestry with Chicago’s deep pies in its use of a pan and a thick, high-hydration crust, but it developed its own engineering tricks.
Baked in blue steel automotive parts trays and topped with cheese to the very edges so it caramelizes against the metal, Detroit-style pizza illustrates how industrial materials and pan-baking techniques can shape a city’s signature crust.
Deep-Dish Pizza Helped Turn Pizza into a Sit-Down “Full Meal”
When deep-dish first appeared in the 1940s, pizza in the United States was still largely seen as an inexpensive snack associated with Italian-American neighborhoods.
By framing pizza as a substantial, knife-and-fork meal loaded with cheese and toppings, Chicago’s deep-dish operators appealed to middle-class families looking for a hearty restaurant dinner, helping shift pizza from ethnic street food to a mainstream sit-down entrée.
Americans Eat Pizza at Remarkable Scale
Deep-dish is just one slice of an enormous national appetite: government and industry analyses have found that on any given day about 13 percent of Americans eat pizza, and average annual consumption is roughly 23 pounds of pizza per person.
That level of demand supports thousands of independent pizzerias and large chains, turning regional specialties like Chicago deep-dish into nationally recognized comfort foods.
National Deep Dish Pizza Day FAQs
History of National Deep Dish Pizza Day
It might be a good idea to start talking about deep dish pizza by taking some time to acknowledge Pizzeria Uno’s founder, Ike Sewell, without whom this day wouldn’t exist.
In fact, without him, the deep dish pizza wouldn’t exist–and that would be a very sad world.
Sewell is credited with creating the spectacular deep dish pizza in 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
This wonderfully tasty pizza, also known as Chicago-style pizza, is characterised by a superb buttery crust that can be as high as 3 inches tall along the edges, combined with generous amounts of flavoursome sauce, delectable toppings and cheese.
Once the idea for deep dish pizza caught on in Chicago, it was only a short time before it became a trademark of the city–and in doing so it became the exact opposite of its rival pie: thin crust pizza from New York.
