Pepperoni substitute

Best substitute

Salame piccante or hot soppressata

Use the same amount as the pepperoni you are replacing

Best for pizza

Close match

Spicy salami such as salame piccante or hot soppressata is the closest swap at 1:1. Plain Genoa or hard salami also works one for one if you add a pinch of smoked paprika and a pinch of chilli flakes to make up the missing colour and heat. Thinly sliced Spanish chorizo is a good third option, though it brings noticeably more smoke and garlic. Nothing else quite reproduces the curled, crisped cup and the orange spiced fat that pepperoni leaves behind.

Other pepperoni substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Genoa or hard salami plus paprika and chilli flakes
Different taste
Use the same amount plus ¼ tsp smoked paprika and a pinch of chilli flakes per 60g
Standard mild cured salami, corrected for the seasoning that pepperoni has and it does not.
What changes
Best for
pizza, sandwiches, when the shop only has plain salami
Prep. Lay slices on the pizza, then dust lightly with the paprika and chilli flakes so they bloom in the rendering fat.
On its own, plain salami on a pizza tastes recognisably wrong in a way people struggle to name: it is savoury and salty but the pizza stays pale, there is no warmth on the finish, and the fat that renders out is clear rather than that familiar orange-red. Scattering a little smoked or sweet paprika and a few chilli flakes over the slices before baking fixes about eighty per cent of that gap. Genoa salami is softer and wine-scented; hard salami is drier and firmer and crisps better.
3Spanish chorizo (cured, not fresh)
Different taste
Use the same amount
Firm Spanish dry-cured pork sausage seasoned with pimenton, sliced thin.
What changes
Best for
pizza, flatbreads, pasta, when you want more smoke
Prep. Peel any casing, slice 2 to 3mm thick, and add for the last two thirds of the bake so it does not scorch.
Works well and crisps beautifully, but it changes the character of the dish rather than replacing pepperoni invisibly. Pimenton is deeply smoky where pepperoni's paprika is sweet, and cured chorizo carries far more garlic, so a pepperoni pizza made with it tastes distinctly Spanish rather than Italian-American. The fat it renders is redder and more assertive. Buy the firm cured kind sold as a whole sausage; fresh Mexican chorizo is raw, soft and completely different.
4Hot capicola (coppa piccante)
Different texture
Use the same amount
Dry-cured pork neck seasoned with chilli, sliced very thin.
What changes
Best for
pizza, sandwiches, antipasto plates, a less greasy pizza
Prep. Add in the last three or four minutes of the bake, since thin slices of capicola dry out and go leathery with long heat.
A whole-muscle cure rather than a ground sausage, which changes the eating experience more than the flavour. It is silkier and more ham-like, it does not crumble, and because it holds far less rendered fat your pizza will be markedly less greasy but also less rich. It also does not curl into cups, so you lose the crisp edges. The chilli heat and cured depth are there, so the taste is in the right neighbourhood.
5Cooked crumbled Italian sausage
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, browned first
Fresh Italian pork sausage removed from its casing, browned and crumbled.
What changes
Best for
pizza, pasta bakes, kid-friendly pizza, when only fresh sausage is available
Prep. Brown in a dry pan until well coloured, drain the fat, then scatter over the pizza before it bakes.
Delicious, widely available, and honestly a different topping rather than a substitute. There is no cured tang at all, because it has never been fermented, so the flavour is straightforwardly meaty and fennel-scented instead of sharp and funky. The texture is soft crumbles rather than crisp discs. Use hot Italian sausage if you want the heat, and brown it hard so it is not damp when it goes on the dough.
6Turkey pepperoni
Different texture
Use the same amount
Lean pepperoni-style slices made from turkey.
What changes
Best for
lower-fat pizza, snacking, when pork is not an option
Prep. Add in the final three minutes of baking and consider a light drizzle of olive oil over the finished pizza.
The spicing is close because it uses the same paprika and chilli profile, so the aroma is right. What is missing is fat, and fat is doing most of the work in a pepperoni pizza. Turkey pepperoni will not render, will not crisp into a cup and will not leave a spiced slick on the cheese; instead it tends to dry out and go slightly leathery in the oven. Add it late and brush the pizza with a little olive oil to make up the difference.

What is Pepperoni?

Pepperoni is Pepperoni is an Italian-American dry-cured, fermented sausage of pork and beef seasoned heavily with paprika and chilli, sliced thin and used mostly as a pizza topping.

Cooking tips

If your pepperoni or its substitute makes the pizza greasy, lay the slices on a paper towel in a dry pan over medium heat for a minute a side before topping. You keep the flavour and colour but shed a lot of the fat, and the slices crisp better in the oven.
Slices tucked under the cheese stay soft and juicy and flavour the whole pizza from the inside; slices on top of the cheese curl, char at the rim and go crunchy. Neither is wrong, but if you were hoping for the crisp cupped edges, they have to go on top and they have to be small in diameter.
That cupping effect comes from small-diameter sticks in natural casing, which shrinks in the oven and pulls the slice into a bowl. Large-diameter deli salami and pepperoni in synthetic casing stay flat no matter what you do, so do not blame your oven.
Pepperoni is already salty and already spicy, and so are most of its substitutes. Taste your sauce and hold back on both salt and chilli flakes until the topping is in place, especially if you have moved to hot soppressata or chorizo.
For pasta sauces, dice the pepperoni or its stand-in and start it in a cold pan with a little olive oil over low heat. Rendering slowly pulls the paprika-stained fat out into the oil, which is what carries the flavour through the whole dish; a hot pan just seizes and scorches it.

Frequently asked questions

Is pepperoni just a kind of salami?

Yes. Pepperoni is a dry-cured fermented salami, invented by Italian-American butchers, that happens to be heavily seasoned with paprika and chilli and sliced thin. That is why plain salami is such a workable substitute and why the fix is mostly a seasoning fix rather than a whole different ingredient. It also explains the name: it comes from peperone, the Italian word for capsicum or bell pepper, which is why ordering pepperoni pizza in Italy gets you a pizza covered in peppers.

Can I just leave the pepperoni off?

You can, and the pizza will be fine, but understand what leaves with it. Pepperoni contributes four things at once: salt, rendered fat, chilli heat and a fermented tang that plays against the sweet tomato. Drop it and the pizza tastes noticeably flatter and less savoury. If you are going without, compensate by salting the sauce a little more firmly, adding chilli flakes or a spoon of Calabrian chile paste for the heat, and finishing with a drizzle of good olive oil and grated hard cheese for the fat and umami.

What is a good vegetarian substitute for pepperoni?

Commercial plant-based pepperoni slices have improved a lot and are the easiest answer, since they are seasoned the same way and crisp reasonably when added in the last few minutes. Failing that, the honest approach is to stop trying to imitate the meat and instead cover the jobs it does: thin rounds of roasted red pepper or spicy Calabrian chile paste for heat and colour, mushrooms browned hard for savoury depth, and a scatter of smoked paprika in a little olive oil brushed over the crust. Do not expect it to read as pepperoni; expect it to read as a good spicy pizza.

Is pepperoni the same as salame piccante?

They are close cousins rather than identical twins. Salame piccante is the southern Italian hot salami that pepperoni was modelled on, and it is the single best substitute. The differences are that salame piccante is usually more coarsely ground, gets its heat mainly from chilli rather than a paprika-heavy blend, and is often drier and firmer. Swap one for one and the only adjustment worth making is easing back slightly if the recipe assumed mild American pepperoni.

Why did my substitute not curl and crisp like pepperoni does?

Almost always diameter and casing rather than the meat itself. The cups form when a small-diameter sausage in natural casing is sliced thin: the casing contracts faster than the meat in the oven and tugs the edges upward. Wide deli salami, capicola and anything in a synthetic casing will lie flat and simply dry out. If the curl is what you are after, buy a narrow stick of salami in natural casing, slice it about 2mm thick, and put the slices on top of the cheese rather than under it.

Related substitutes

More meat & protein substitutes

Pepperoni substitute

Other pepperoni substitutes

2Genoa or hard salami plus paprika and chilli flakes

3Spanish chorizo (cured, not fresh)

4Hot capicola (coppa piccante)

5Cooked crumbled Italian sausage

6Turkey pepperoni