This thin crust poutine pizza is topped with a thick, dark gravy, crispy french fries, and lots of melty cheese curds. If you love poutine you're really going to love this poutine pizza!
What I've done is taken one messy finger food and made it into a slightly neater, but still kind of messy finger food. You're welcome on all counts.
This is basically a whole poutine on top of a pizza crust, baked in a super hot oven until everything melts together. What's not to like?
Like most of the other pizza recipes I've shared on this site so far, this poutine pizza doesn't have a tomato sauce base. Instead, the pizza sauce is a classic, dark brown beef poutine gravy.
And while there is some mozzarella cheese, we're primarily working with super melty cheddar cheese curds. Because poutine!
If you like the umami flavors of this poutine pizza, you may also like my chicken marsala pizza which has a creamy marsala pizza sauce and tender pieces of chicken on top!
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🍟 Why I Like This Recipe
Seeing poutine on a menu always feels a bit thrilling to me. It's not so ubiquitous that you find it everywhere, but when you do it's such a delight.
Poutine is a hearty, satisfying, deeply comforting dish. A messy finger food with long strings of melty cheese curds, golden crispy french fries, and a rich gravy... it's just fun to eat.
Poutine — french fries topped with a dark gravy and cheese curds — is said to have originated in Warwick, Quebec (though a number of restaurants claim they were first!) and is considered the national dish of Canada.
When we went up to visit Montreal for a quick day trip in late 2019, I think we stopped for poutine at least three times? There are so many variations, we had to try as many as we could!
So when Jimmy and I were tossing around ideas for new pizza toppings to try, it didn't take long before one of us (ahem—Jimmy) suggested poutine pizza.
It hadn't ever occurred to me to try making poutine at home. Let alone poutine pizza! It felt very much like a restaurant/special occasion dish. But it's actually so easy! The hardest part is just finding somewhere to buy cheese curds.
Once the idea for poutine pizza had been planted in our heads we couldn't not make it. We got to testing, whisking up batches of gravy and trying different ways to prepare the potatoes.
Our first attempts involved thinly sliced, pan fried potatoes, but we quickly realized that french fries really were the way to go. Which is good news for you — you can totally just use frozen french fries on this poutine pizza.
So let's get into it!
🧀 Ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make a poutine pizza. It's basically the things you need to make poutine, plus pizza dough and some extra cheese. Because more cheese is always a good idea. See recipe card for quantities.
- Pizza Dough - Any pizza dough you like is fine. I tested this with store bought and homemade pizza dough and a homemade pizza dough like this basic thin crust overnight pizza dough is much better. If you use a store-bought pizza dough, you'll want to divide it in half or in thirds ahead of time to make it easier to hand stretch your pizza dough.
- French Fries - Your fave frozen french fries or even left over french fries from a restaurant. You can make french fries from scratch if you want to, but it's not necessary here. I really liked Alexia Foods' frozen "house cut" french fries, but any french fries you like or can get should work. I haven't tested this with thicker fries like steak fries or waffle fries, but even they should work!
- Poutine Gravy - Yes, you can use store bought gravy but again I do think it's worth taking the time to make the gravy from scratch. The gravy is such a star of this poutine pizza — and it's very easy to make!
- Beef Stock - Look for unsalted beef stock. If you don't have beef stock, chicken will work (or a blend of chicken and beef stock). But beef stock will give you that classic, dark and richly flavored poutine gravy.
- Flour - All purpose flour or any of the 1-to-1 gluten free flours will work here.
- Butter - Unsalted or salted, either one is fine.
- Corn Starch - Crucial for getting the gravy to the right thickness! Whisk it well with water before adding it so it doesn't get lumpy.
- Garlic and Onion Powder - These add some really nice flavor to the gravy. I tested a version using fresh garlic and fresh onion, but it made the gravy lumpy.
- Salt and Pepper - To taste!
- Low Moisture Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese - This is the best type of shredding, melting cheese for pizza. My cheese of choice for pizzas is Galbani's which comes packaged as a shrink wrapped brick. You don't want fresh water or brine-packed mozzarella here.
- Cheese Curds - The shining star of any good poutine! You really can't have poutine without it. You can find cheese curds at Target and Wegman's, or you can even order them online from places like Murray's Cheese. Depending on where you live they may be easy or difficult to find. I would recommend calling ahead to ask if your grocery store has them.
🥣 Instructions
As with all my pizza recipes, I recommend using a baking steel to get perfect pizzas at home. Make sure your oven is preheated to 500F for at least an hour with the baking steel (use code TPK10 for 10% off!) inside before you plan to bake the pizza.
Generously flour your pizza peel with semolina or semolina and all purpose flour to make it super easy for the pizza to slide off the peel.
If you don't have a pizza peel you can use the back of a baking sheet. Just slide the pizza off the sheet and onto the baking steel.
Make the Poutine Pizza Sauce — aka Poutine Gravy
The gravy needs to be warm when you use it, but you don't want it to be super hot either. It's best to make the gravy first and give it a little time to cool down before assembling the pizza.
Making gravy is very easy! The most important thing is that you have a good, sturdy whisk and keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.
First, melt the butter in a small sauce pot. Once the butter melts, whisk in the flour all at once. Keeping whisking well as the flour toasts and turns a dark golden brown color. This can take a few minutes. Give it time.
Add the beef stock, onion powder, and garlic powder. Whisk well to make sure the thick flour mixture is evenly incorporated into the stock.
Then, in a small container, whisk together corn starch and water. Pour the corn starch "slurry" (I didn't come up with the name, I'm sorry) into the gravy and whisk well. Bring it to a low boil, then reduce to a simmer and stir until thickened.
Add more cornstarch slurry if needed to adjust thickness. Whisking the corn starch into water before adding it to the gravy prevents clumps. Never add corn starch directly to the gravy!
Finish with salt and pepper to taste. Then remove from heat to cool until ready to use.
Prep the French Fries
Once the gravy is made and set aside to cool, heat up the french fries. If you're using frozen fries, follow the instructions on the bag. If you're using leftover fries from a restaurant, take them out of the fridge so they can come to room temperature.
The pizza oven is so hot that even though the pizza only cooks for a few minutes, it'll be plenty of time to heat up the fries!
How to Hand Stretch Pizza Dough
Whether you're using homemade pizza dough or store bought, you'll want to divide the dough and shape it into rounds several hours (or the night before) before you plan to stretch it.
![[gif] picking up round flat pizza dough and letting gravity pull it down as it rotates through my hands](https://thepracticalkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/hand_stretch_pizza_dough_2.gif)
![[gif] stretching pizza dough by rotating it across the back of my hands](https://thepracticalkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/hand_stretch_pizza_dough_3.gif)
Stretch the pizza dough as big as you want it (I usually do about 10-12"). Then arrange it on a wooden pizza peel dusted with semolina flour. It's time to make poutine pizza!
🍕 Poutine Pizza Assembly
The first layer you put down on the pizza crust is the poutine gravy. It should be warm enough to spread easily but not so hot that it starts cooking the pizza dough on contact. A thin layer of gravy is more than enough.
The second layer is the shredded low-moisture whole milk mozzarella cheese. Normally I'm all about a thiccccccck layer of mozzarella on my pizza, but the cheese curds are so melty that you really don't need a lot of mozzarella here. Its job is mostly to help provide even cheese coverage.
Next you'll want to put down a layer of fries. It's okay if some of them overlap, but do try to get a fairly even layer.
Finally, top the whole dang thing with cheese curds! The cheese curds are super melty and will spread out a lot so I should probably caution you that "less is more." But... they're so delicious that you should honestly just follow your heart.
Give the pizza a careful shake on the peel to make sure the dough isn't stuck M anywhere. Then slide it onto the baking steel.
Bake it for 3-5 minutes, then broil for 30 seconds to get some nice browning on top.
Once the pizza comes out of the oven you'll give it a final drizzle of gravy and top it with a garnish of chopped fresh parsley or chives.
📖 Substitutions & Variations
If you know how to make the recipe fit a certain diet, let the reader know here. Don't fake it - only provide guidance on topics you have actual experience with.
- Instead of cheese curds - While it's not truly a poutine pizza without the "squeak" of cheese curds, I did try this with some other cheeses to see if I could find something that came close. The best dupe I could find for the cheese curds was this alehouse cheddar created by the Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company in partnership with Harpoon Brewery. If you can't find that cheese, look for other soft, mild cheddars. To mimic the chunkiness of cheese curds, cut it into cubes instead of shredding it.
- Instead of beef stock - Instead of beef stock you can use chicken stock, or a combination of beef and chicken stock. You'll end up with a lighter colored gravy, but it will still work.
- Make it vegetarian - Use a vegetarian or vegan poutine gravy like this vegan poutine gravy from Minimalist Baker.
- Loaded Poutine Pizza - Layer up the fries, gravy, and cheese for a loaded poutine pizza. Gravy --> Mozzarella --> Fries --> Cheese Curds --> More Fries --> More Mozz/Cheese Curds. Just remember the heavier the pizza is, the harder it is to slide off the peel and onto the baking steel.
🔪 Equipment
Here's what you'll need to make this poutine pizza.
- Baking Steel - This quarter inch sheet of steel is SUPER efficient at retaining heat. Preheat it for an hour at 500F and you can come really close to perfectly replicating the 700F+ temperatures of a true wood fired pizza oven at home. It's so hot you can cook your pizza in about 4-7 minutes. If you don't have a baking steel, you will likely need to extend the baking time of your poutine pizza.
- Box grater - To grate the low-moisture whole milk mozzarella you'll want to use the large holes on a box grater. I've linked my favorite OXO grater — it has a little container that clips onto the base so it collects all the cheese for you!
- Pizza peel - A wooden pizza peel will make it much easier to launch your pizza into the oven and get the pizza out when it's done!
- Sturdy small whisk - As per usual when it comes to whisks, I swear by GIR for sturdy and efficient whisking. This is a fairly small batch of gravy and the GIR mini whisk is perfect here.
- 1 quart sauce pot - A one quart sauce pot is the perfect size for making this small batch of poutine gravy.
⏲️ Storage & Reheating
Wrap any leftover poutine pizza in aluminum foil. It will store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat poutine pizza in a 350F oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
This small batch poutine gravy recipe makes enough for at least 4 poutine pizzas. You can freeze any leftover gravy for up to four months. Defrost in the fridge, then microwave and stir well before use.
👩🏻🍳 Practical Tips
- You can make the poutine gravy up to a week in advance. Refrigerate until ready to use. Reheat in the microwave or in a small sauce pot on the stove just until warmed through.
- Homemade pizza dough can also be made in advance. Store in the fridge or freezer. If frozen, defrost overnight in the fridge.
- Use the back of a spoon to spread the gravy on the pizza. The curved back helps the sauce glide on the pizza dough without snagging or tearing.
- Semolina flour (or a blend of semolina flour and all purpose flour) is the best way to coat your pizza peel before you put the dough down. Semolina flour is rounder and slightly coarser and helps the pizza glide off the peel and onto the baking steel.
- Have leftover gravy, fries, and cheese curds but no pizza dough left over? Make poutine! Heat the fries and gravy and toss them together in a bowl. Top with cheese curds, drizzle with more gravy. Let the heat from the gravy and fries soften and melt the cheese curds.
💭 Recipe FAQ
Absolutely! Shredded pork, chicken, even duck or braised short rib would be great on a poutine pizza.
A baking stone or pizza stone is your next best option. Make sure to preheat it for at least an hour prior to baking. If you don't have a pizza stone, a preheated inverted sheet pan can work but isn't as good at retaining heat. Your pizza make require a slightly longer baking time.
Absolutely! You'll want to use a different type of pizza dough — I recommend King Arthur Baking's Cheesy Crispy Pan Pizza dough which is the same dough I use for my chicken marsala pizza. You could also use focaccia dough! Follow the instructions for baking from those recipes instead of from this one.
Yes! Depending on where you live a true poutine gravy may be hard to find but you can find canned poutine gravy and poutine gravy mix available online. If you can't find a true poutine gravy, look for a darker gravy like a brown gravy. Poutine gravy is quite thick, so you may want to use slightly less water than recommended for the gravy mixes!
Yes! Store bought pizza dough is not as flavorful and also has a lot of yeast in which makes it super bubbly. Bubbly might seem like a good thing, but it means the pizza has a hard time relaxing once it's stretched. Even if you stretch it quite thin, you're going to end up with a much thicker pizza crust than if you use a homemade pizza dough with a longer fermentation time. Store bought pizza dough totally works and is very convenient, but I do think you'll be much happier with the finished pizza if you use a homemade pizza dough.
Cheese curds are a baby cheddar cheese — where normal cheddar cheese is aged, cheese curds skip the aging process. Their texture is often described as "bouncy" or "squeaky" (though the squeakiness is most noticeable when the curds are freshest). They're super soft, great for melting, and are also delicious fried!
📖 Recipe
Poutine Pizza (with Frozen French Fries)
Ingredients
Poutine Gravy
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ⅛ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup beef stock
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 1-2 tablespoons corn starch (start with lesser amount, add more if needed)
- 1-2 tablespoons water (equal amount, mixed with corn starch)
To Make One Poutine Pizza
- 1 overnight thin crust pizza dough (200-250 grams)
- ⅓ cup low-moisture, whole milk mozzarella cheese (grated)
- 2-3 cups french fries
- ½ cup cheddar cheese curds
- 1 teaspoon parsley or chives (chopped)
- ⅓-½ cup poutine gravy (from above)
Instructions
- Preheat baking steel in 500°F oven for 1 hour prior to baking. Remove pizza dough from the refrigerator at least 60-90 minutes prior to stretching.
Poutine Gravy
- In a small bowl whisk together lesser amount of corn starch and water. Set aside.
- Melt butter in one quart sauce pan over low heat. Add flour and increase heat to medium. Cook flour and butter, stirring frequently, as it bubbles and darkens in color. You're looking for a rich, dark golden brown color.
- Whisk in the beef stock, garlic powder, and onion powder. Whisking constantly, bring to a low boil. Whisk in the corn starch slurry. Bring back to a low boil as the gravy thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Whisk together more corn starch and water and add as needed to adjust consistency.
- Remove the gravy from heat and set aside until ready to use. It will continue thickening as it cools.
Poutine Pizza Assembly
- Cook frozen french fries according to package directions. Grate mozzarella cheese and set aside.
- On a well floured counter top, hand stretch pizza dough into a 10-12" circle. Dust a pizza peel with semolina flour and arrange pizza dough on the peel.
- Dollop about ¼ cup of the poutine gravy onto the crust. Use the back of a spoon to spread it around in a thin layer. Add more gravy if needed to get even coverage — this is not a precision project. Follow your heart.
- Top with shredded mozzarella cheese, followed by french fries, then top with cheese curds. Again, follow your heart. The cheese curds melt a lot, so just... be aware of that. But for real, follow your heart.
- Give the pizza a gentle shake on the peel to make sure the dough isn't stuck anywhere. If it is, carefully lift and dust more flour underneath the stuck bit.
- Launch the poutine pizza on to the baking steel. Bake for 2 minutes, then rotate, and bake 2-4 minutes more. Finish with 30 seconds under the broiler (if your oven has a broiler) for a blistered, browned top.
- Remove from the oven, drizzle with additional poutine gravy and garnish with chopped chives or parsley. Slice, and serve immediately.
RECIPE NOTES
- Caution: The gravy gets VERY hot in the oven. Be careful on first bite!
- If you don't have a baking steel, a baking stone or pizza stone is your next best option. Make sure to preheat it for at least an hour prior to baking. If you don't have a pizza stone, a preheated inverted sheet pan can work but isn't as good at retaining heat. Your pizza make require a slightly longer baking time with both of these options.
- Semolina flour (or a blend of semolina flour and all purpose flour) is the best way to coat your pizza peel before you put the dough down. Semolina flour is rounder and slightly coarser and helps the pizza glide off the peel and onto the baking steel.
YOUR NOTES
Food safety
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
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