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Need a few easy side dishes for your pizza party? Here are the best sides to go with pizza, from Italian chopped salad to homemade ranch.

Best sides to go with pizza

Ready for a pizza night? It’s deceptively difficult to find the right sides to go with pizza. Salad is a natural, but it’s got to have the right vibe. And it can’t be so much effort that it takes away from the main event! Alex and I have pizza nights often, but it’s harder than we think to find the right side dishes to accessorize with our meals. We also try to make sure they’re not overly bread-y or cheesy: since there’s so much of that in our pizza night already.

Here we’ve compiled our best sides to go with pizza! You’ll find that even within this list, the vibes of the sides vary. If you’re going for a family-friendly with kids, try our Healthy Ranch Dressing with veggies and our Classic Cheese Pizza. For a fancy night of entertaining, go for our classy Blackberry Balsamic Salad with a Truffle Pizza. You’ll find something for everyone here.

Ready to get started?

Here are our best sides to go with pizza!

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Kale salad

Tuscan Kale Salad


  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 3 to 4 1x

Description

The best side to go with pizza is this incredible Tuscan kale salad! A dressing of lemon, garlic and Parmesan cheese transforms kale into tangy goodness.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 large bunch Tuscan kale (about 8 ounces)*
  • 1 very small or 1/2 medium garlic clove
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 lemon (3 to 4 tablespoons juice, plus zest)
  • ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • Homemade croutons (optional)

Instructions

  1. Wash and dry the kale. Then destem and roughly chop the kale leaves.
  2. Peel and mince the garlic clove. Sprinkle it with the kosher salt, then holding the blunt edge of the knife, scrape the sharp edge of the blade over the minced garlic, holding the knife at an angle and mashing the garlic into a paste.
  3. Place the paste in a medium bowl. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and fresh ground black pepper, and whisk to combine. Add the Parmesan cheese and stir to combine.
  4. Toss the dressing with the kale leaves. Serve topped with lemon zest (and additional Parmesan cheese, if desired).  If desired, serve with homemade croutons.

Notes

*1 bunch of kale makes a moderate serving size of 4: consider doubling the recipe if feeding hungry eaters.

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

  • Category: Salad
  • Method: Raw
  • Cuisine: Italian

Keywords: Sides to Go with Pizza, Tuscan Kale Salad, Kale Salad

More pizza resources

Alex and I are homemade pizza experts! Here we’ve got all the resources you need to make your own killer pizza at home:

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Meet Sonja and Alex Overhiser: Husband and wife. Expert home cooks. Authors of recipes you’ll want to make again and again.

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