How Much Cheese For Pizza Topping? (Let's Find Out) 2024

Last updated on September 11th, 2023 at 02:11 pm

When making pizza for personal consumption, you’d want to get all the ingredients right to make something you’ll enjoy eating.

Also, as a pizza operator, a lot of pressure would be on you to always deliver the standard pizza to your customers.

That results in your search for the right amount of cheese to use as a topping for your pizza.

This article will educate you on how much cheese and sauce you can use for any size of pizza.

The amount of cheese you can use as topping for your pizza depends on your preference for personal consumption. However, calculating the surface area and density number will guide you on how much cheese to use as a topping. You’ll also need to consider what your consumers order when you’re into pizza making for commercial purposes.

How Much Cheese for a 16-Inch Pizza?

The amount of cheese you can use on a 16-inch pizza is approximately 11 ounces.

You can get this value by multiplying the surface area in square inches of your pizza and its density number.

Hence, a 16-inch pizza having a surface area of approximately 201 and a density of 0.0530785 would need 11 ounces of cheese.

First, make dough balls of different weights and calculate the surface area of the dough weight you choose.

To get the surface area of your pizza dough, multiply the value of pi by a square of half the diameter of your dough.

So, a 16-inch pizza would have 201 square inches by multiplying the Pi value, which is 3.14, and a square of 8.

The next thing you’ll have to do is to know the dough density number of your pizza dough.

In doing that, you’ll need to multiply the weight of the dough ball you used for your pizza and its surface area.

If you multiply the answer you get by the surface area of the dough, you’ll get the exact ounces of dough you require.

So, to know how much cheese you’ll need for your 16-inch pizza, follow the same calculation.

How Much Cheese and Sauce for a 12-Inch Pizza?

This section will tell you the standard amount of cheese and sauce you’ll need for a 12-inch pizza.

This information is important because it prevents you from using too much or too little topping for your pizza.

#1. How Much Cheese for a 12-Inch Pizza?

To know how much cheese you’ll need for a 12-inch pizza, you’ll need to have a couple of parameters in check.

The weight of the dough ball you’d want to use and this case, let’s go with an 11-ounce of dough.

You’ll also need your pizza dough’s surface area and diameter.

Knowing the density number is important because you’ll use it alongside the surface area to calculate the quantity of cheese to use.

Say you’re using an 11-ounce dough ball to make your 12-inch pizza; you’ll need to calculate the cheese density number.

The surface area of your cheese, depending on the surface area of the pizza crust, will be Pi times the square of R.

The value of Pi equals 3.14, and your R is half of the pizza’s diameter, half of 12.

Therefore, the square area is 3.14×36 (6×6), giving you 113 Square inches. The density of your cheese is also the same as the pizza crust of 12 inches.

To get that, divide the weight of the dough, which is 11 ounces, by the square area, which is 113. That’ll give you 0.0973451 ounces of cheese per surface area.

Hence, how much cheese to use is by multiplying the square inch and the density number.

That means you’ll need 113×0.0973451, which is 10.99 ounces of cheese for your pizza topping.

#2. How Much Sauce for a 12-Inch Pizza?

The same calculation you use in calculating how much cheese to use for your pizza topping applies here.

However, in this case, you must already know the ounce of sauce you have to apply to the formula.

So for a 5-ounce sauce, divide it by the surface area of the 12-inch pizza, which will give 0.0442478.

That’ll be the density number of the sauce and multiplying it by the surface area of 113 gives 5 ounces.

Hence you’ll need 5 ounces of sauce as a topping for your 12-inch pizza.

How Much Cheese Can I Put on a 14-Inch Pizza?

The amount of cheese you spread on your 14-inch pizza depends on your preference if you’re making it for your consumption.

On the other hand, if you’re making the pizza for sale, the amount of topping would depend on the consumer’s specification.

In any case, I’ll use the cheese topping calculation of the 12-inch pizza.

Hence, the first thing to do is to calculate the surface area and the density number of your 14-inch pizza.

The surface area is a product of multiplying the Pi (3.14) by a square of R (half of the pizza diameter = 7).

That becomes 3.14×49 (7×7) which gives 153.86 surface area of your 14-inch pizza.

The next thing to do is to calculate the density number of your cheese, which is the same as that of the pizza crust.

To get that, divide the weight of the dough ball you’re using for your pizza crust by the 14-inch pizza surface area.

In this case, we’ll be using 11 ounces as our pizza weight, which means that 11 will divide by 153.86 to give 0.0714936.

To know how much cheese to use, multiply the square inch of surface area by the density number.

That means the density of the cheese you’ll need for your 14-inch pizza is 0.0714936 ounces per square area.

Therefore, 153.86×0.0714936 will yield 11 ounces of cheese as topping for your 14-inch pizza.

However, you can decide to use a lesser cheese weight, say 7 ounces, for your topping.

Here, you’ll use the density number of a 12-inch pizza to calculate how much cheese to use for a 14-inch pizza.

So, 113 Square areas of a 12-inch pizza dividing seven will give a 0.0619469 density.

Using that density number for your 14-inch pizza will give you 9.5 ounces of cheese by multiplying 153.86 by 0.0619469.

What Cheese Is Best for Pizza Topping?

When deciding what cheese to use as your topping, you’ll most likely want something that looks appealing and melts well.

The single most common cheese that meets those specifications is Mozzarella cheese.

The mozzarella cheese has a good melting property, giving you good cheese coverage.

It also has the right amount of moisture that gives a bubbly brown look and allows heat tolerance for your pizza.

Also, mozzarella has a good flavor that combines milkiness and a rich distinct mild taste.

Mozzarella cheese also gives your pizza a good flawless base. However, to get all of these qualities right, I’ll advise you to buy the whole mozzarella, not the one that comes in shreds.

However, there are other cheeses you can use for your pizza topping if the mozzarella is out of reach.

Cheese Type	Characteristic Features
Provolone	Good cheese, but you’ll need to combine it with the mozzarella cheese to harness its properties. However, this cheese lacks moisture and so goes hard when you leave it for a long time without use.
Cheddar	Cheddar cheese, unlike mozzarella, will burn when exposed to heat. The heat will separate the fat from the solid of the pizza, giving it an unpleasant look.
Parmesan	This cheese has a hard consistency and will leave your pizza burning even on mild heat.
Ricotta	This cheese is special because it has a creamy, light, and refreshing taste.