Thin Crust vs Thick Crust Pizza: Which One Should You Choose?
This is one of those debates that never ends. Bring it up at any dinner table and everyone has an opinion. Thin crust people think thick crust is just bread with toppings. Thick crust people think thin crust is a cracker pretending to be pizza. Both sides are wrong. And both sides are right.
The truth is, thin crust and thick crust aren’t better or worse — they’re different foods that happen to share a name. Understanding what makes each one tick will help you pick the right pizza for the right moment.
What Counts as Thin Crust?
When people say “thin crust,” they usually mean one of these styles:
Neapolitan. The original. Thin in the center (about 2-3mm), with a puffy, charred cornicione (the raised edge). Soft, foldable, slightly wet in the middle. Made with high-quality tipo 00 flour from the best pizza flour brands, baked at 450°C+ for about 60-90 seconds. This is what you get at traditional pizzerias and what our Napoletana bases are modeled on.
Roman (tonda romana). Thinner and crispier than Neapolitan — uniformly thin all the way to the edge, with a crackery bite. Less puffy border. Baked at lower temperatures for longer. Our Roman style bases fall into this category.
New York style. Thin but not ultra-thin. Large, foldable slices with a crispy bottom and slight chew. The slice you grab from a counter and fold in half to eat while walking.
What they all share: the toppings are the star. You taste the sauce, the cheese, the ingredients. The crust provides structure and texture, but it doesn’t dominate.
What Counts as Thick Crust?
Pan pizza. Baked in an oiled pan, resulting in a thick, golden, almost fried bottom crust. Fluffy inside. Think Pizza Hut’s original pan pizza — love it or hate it, that’s the archetype.
Detroit style. Baked in a rectangular steel pan. Thick, airy dough with cheese pushed all the way to the edges, where it caramelizes against the pan into crispy, cheesy corners. This style has been trending hard globally.
Sicilian (sfincione). A thick, spongy, focaccia-like base topped with tomato sauce, onions, anchovies, and breadcrumbs. More bread than pizza in some ways.
Pizza in teglia. Roman-style thick pizza baked in rectangular trays. Light, airy crumb despite the thickness, thanks to high hydration and long fermentation. This is the “pizza by the slice” you find in Rome — cut with scissors, sold by weight.
What they share: the dough is a major part of the eating experience. You taste the bread, the fermentation, the texture. Toppings complement rather than dominate.
The Real Differences
Calories per slice. Let’s address this first because people always ask. A thick crust slice has roughly 40-60% more dough than a thin crust slice of the same diameter. More dough means more carbs and more calories. But you also tend to eat fewer slices of thick crust because each one is more filling. So the total intake often balances out.
Topping-to-crust ratio. Thin crust gives you more topping flavor per bite. If you love your toppings and want them front and center, thin crust is your friend. Thick crust spreads those same toppings across more bread, which mellows everything out.
Crispiness. Both can be crispy, but in different ways. Thin crust is crispy-snappy — you hear it crunch when you bite. Thick crust is crispy on the outside and soft-chewy on the inside — more of a textural contrast.
Holdability. Thin crust (especially NY style and Roman) is easy to fold and eat with your hands. Thick crust often needs a plate and sometimes a fork. For casual eating, parties, and pizza on the go, thin usually wins on practicality.
Digestibility. This is where fermentation matters more than thickness. A thick crust pizza that’s been properly fermented for 48-72 hours can be lighter and easier to digest than a thin crust pizza made with fast-rise dough. The amount of dough matters less than how that dough was made. Our teglia bases are thick but incredibly light because of the long fermentation — proof that thickness and heaviness aren’t the same thing.
When to Choose Thin
Go thin when you want the toppings to shine. A perfect Margherita with San Marzano sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil? Thin crust. It lets those three ingredients speak clearly. A Quattro Formaggi where you want to taste each cheese? Thin.
Also go thin when you’re eating multiple slices (pizza party, tasting menu), when it’s hot outside and you want something lighter, or when you’re pairing pizza with wine or beer and want the food to complement rather than fill.
When to Choose Thick
Go thick when you want the dough itself to be part of the experience. Pizza al taglio with creative toppings served on a light, airy teglia base? Thick. A Saturday night pan pizza loaded with cheese and pepperoni for the family? Thick.
Also go thick when you’re really hungry and want each slice to be satisfying, when you’re feeding a crowd (thick pizza feeds more people per tray), or when you’re in the mood for that crispy-outside-soft-inside contrast.
The Third Option Nobody Talks About
There’s a middle ground that doesn’t get enough love: pinsa romana. Pinsa is oval-shaped, moderately thick but incredibly light and airy thanks to a mix of wheat, rice, and soy flours plus extreme hydration (80%+) and 48-72 hour fermentation.
It doesn’t fit neatly into “thin” or “thick.” It’s its own thing — and for many people, it’s the best of both worlds. Light enough to not feel heavy, substantial enough to satisfy, and with a texture that’s unlike anything else. Our pinsa bases are a great way to try it if you haven’t.
Tindoro Prime’s guide to choosing between pizza base styles goes deeper into the differences and which base works best for different situations and menus.
So Which Is Better?
Neither. Both. It depends on the day, the mood, and the moment.
The real question isn’t thin vs thick — it’s whether the dough was made well. A beautifully fermented, well-hydrated thick crust will always beat a poorly made thin crust. And a perfectly crispy Roman-style thin base will always beat a gummy, under-baked thick one.
Good dough is good dough. Everything else is just preference.
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