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Pizza Cubana | Traditional Pizza From Havana, Cuba | TasteAtlas

Cuban pizza (Pizza cubana)

(Cuban pizza)

Cuban pizza is a pizza variety that's distinguished by the dough and the sauce. The dough is a little thicker than in other pizzas and the sauce is a little bit sweeter. This is not a fancy pizza style – it's simple, comforting, and accessible.


The selection of toppings (which are baked into the pie!) usually includes ham, chorizo, pepperoni, shrimp, ground beef, lechon asado, lobster, picadillo, bell peppers, and sliced bananas, apart from the base toppings of tomato sauce and cheese, typically gouda in Cuba and a combination of gouda and mozzarella in Miami.


Once prepared, it's usually folded and eaten like a sanwich, but you can also order a picada, a Cuban way of saying sliced pizza. It is believed that this pizza style originated in Havana and was perfected at Varadero Beach in Cuba, and the inventor later moved to Miami and reopened his own pizzeria called Montes de Oca.


However, there are others who claim that the founder of Rey Pizza, a Cuban pizza chain, was the first one to create pizza cubana. Regardless of the inventor, both Montes de Oca and Rey Pizza are local institutions.