Margherita Pizza in the UK: what it is, how to order it, where to find it
Quick answer
A Margherita is the plainest and most revealing pizza: tomato, mozzarella, basil and olive oil on a thin base. Named for a nineteenth-century Italian queen, it is the pizza that tells you whether a kitchen has a proper oven and good ingredients, because there is nothing to hide behind. In the UK it is the benchmark order at any pizzeria that claims to be Neapolitan.
Calories and nutrition
- Calories
- 800
- Protein
- 32 g
- Carbs
- 90 g
- Fat
- 30 g
- Salt
- 3.5 g
700–950 kcal
Portion: One 12-inch Margherita, about 250 g.
Buffalo mozzarella is slightly higher in fat; a Roman thin-crust is lower in carbohydrate.
Estimates for a typical portion, based on standard UK and USDA food composition data. Actual values depend on the recipe and the restaurant.
What makes a real Margherita
The Neapolitan version has a thin, soft base with a puffed, charred rim (the cornicione), a light smear of San Marzano tomato, torn fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil and a thread of olive oil, baked in 60 to 90 seconds in a wood oven at around 430°C. It comes out soft and slightly wet in the middle, eaten with a knife and fork or folded. The Roman style is the opposite: thin, crisp and cracker-like all the way across. Neither is better; they are different traditions, and a good UK pizzeria commits to one.
How to spot a good one
Look for a wood or a proper deck oven, a dough that has been left to prove for a day or two (ask; good places are proud of it), and buffalo mozzarella offered as an upgrade. The base should have leopard-spotting underneath and a blistered rim. A pale, uniform, bread-like base means the oven was not hot enough. Chains bake at lower temperatures on par-cooked bases and the difference is obvious once you have had the real thing.
Margherita versus the loaded pizza
The instinct in Britain is to add toppings, but the Margherita is the test order precisely because it is bare. If a pizzeria's Margherita is excellent, everything else will be; if it needs three toppings to be worth eating, the base is the problem. Order it first at a new place.
Where it is done well in the UK
Proper Neapolitan pizzerias have spread far beyond London in the last decade, and most cities now have at least one wood-oven place taking dough seriously. The list below is drawn from our directory: areas with the most Italian restaurants and pizzerias by name.
How to order it
Order a plain Margherita first to judge a pizzeria. Upgrade to buffalo mozzarella if offered. Eat a Neapolitan pizza straight away, before the middle goes soggy. Do not ask for it well done unless you like it crisp; the soft, wet centre is the intended texture.
Where it's done well
UK councils with the most margherita pizza specialists, by restaurant name, in our directory.
Restaurants near you
Search by postcode or use your location to find restaurants likely to serve margherita pizza near you.
Make it at home
Serves 2 · 90 min
Ingredients
- 250 g '00' flour
- 160 ml water
- 5 g salt
- 2 g fresh yeast (or 1 g dried)
- 150 g San Marzano or good tinned tomatoes, crushed
- 125 g fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella, torn
- fresh basil leaves
- extra virgin olive oil, salt
Method
- Mix flour, water, salt and yeast into a rough dough, knead for ten minutes until smooth, and leave covered for 8 to 24 hours until doubled and slack.
- Divide into two balls, rest for another two hours.
- Heat the oven as hot as it goes with a pizza stone or steel inside for at least 45 minutes.
- Stretch each ball by hand to a thin round, leaving a thicker rim; do not use a rolling pin.
- Spread a thin layer of crushed tomato seasoned with salt, tear over the mozzarella, and bake for 6 to 8 minutes until the rim is blistered.
- Add basil and a thread of olive oil out of the oven.
A home oven cannot match a wood oven, but a preheated stone or steel at maximum heat gets close. The long, slow prove is what makes the base digestible and flavourful.