How many slices of pizza should i eat? When it comes to eating pizza, most people have a hard time limiting themselves to just one slice. But, did you know that there is an exact science that governs how much pizza you should eat? It’s true! Ok, well — maybe not an exact science, but there are several factors that combine together in order to give you the perfect slice of pizza (or pica za for our Italian-speaking friends).
How much pizza is ok to eat in one sitting?
A whole pizza can add a whole lot of unnecessary kilojoules, sodium and saturated fat to your diet, even if you’re choosing a healthier choice (like a veggie pizza on a thin crust), so I’d advise against the whole pie.
The other thing worth considering is that pizza on its own is rarely a balanced meal, so I’d suggest balancing it out with extra veggies on the side, like a big side salad. For the average Joe, that means two or three slices of pizza along with veggies on the side is a good place to start.
If you’re out, an easy way to do it is to split a pizza between two or three dinner buddies and order some fresh sides to go with it. If you’re at home with takeaway, I’d suggest serving yourself your slices on a plate rather than eating from the box, to help avoid overdoing it.
The Size Of The Pizza
Before we can answer the question of how many slices there are in a large pizza, we need to first determine its size. The diameter of a pizza is critical because it determines how many slices there are in the pie. A large pizza must be at least 14 inches in diameter to accommodate enough slices.
A 14-inch pizza has 21.6 square inches of crust, which can be cut into 12 slices. If the pizza is 16 inches in diameter, it will have 28 square inches of crust, which can be cut into 16 slices. An 18-inch pie has 33.5 square inches of crust and can be sliced into 20 pieces.
What Is A Pizza Slice?
To begin, we must first define what a pizza slice actually is in order to answer the question of how many slices there are in a large pizza.
To consume a pizza, the most usual method is to cut a piece. Because it’s a small piece of dough wrapped in a variety of various toppings, it’s a one-of-a-kind dish. Three to four slices of pie is a common serving size, however many individuals only eat two or one after they’ve eaten everything they can take.
A single slice of pizza is a wedge-shaped piece of the pie that’s been cut from the whole. The angle created by the two sides of the slice and the crust is generally between 30 and 45 degrees. Slices are generally 4 to 6 inches long, with the width being determined by how thick the crust is.
For example, if you cut a 12-inch pizza into 8 equal pieces, each slice will be 1.5 inches wide. If you cut a 16-inch pizza into 8 equal slices, each slice would be 2 inches wide. And so on and so forth.Let’s figure out how many slices are in a large pizza and an extra large pizza now that we know what a slice is.
Types of Toppings
It’s unlikely that everyone in your group will agree on the same pizza toppings. Some visitors may believe that fruit, such as pineapple, does not belong on a pie, while others may believe that too much meat on a pizza is unhealthy. It’s fine if your visitors have diverse tastes; just make sure you account for them when ordering the pizzas.
The first step is to find out whether any of your visitors have dietary limitations. Is anyone allergic to anything? Is there anyone who follows a special diet, such as gluten-free or vegetarian? If this is the case, make sure to accommodate them. Order meals for everyone who has dietary restrictions and set it away. This manner, other hungry guests will not devour the meal you purchased expressly for them.
The next step is to determine what kinds of toppings everyone will like. You can either ask your guests directly or try to get a feel for their preferences by looking at the menu. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to start placing your orders!
If you’re having trouble deciding on what to order, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Check out our list of the most popular pizza toppings below:
- Pepperoni
- Cheese
- Mushrooms
- Sausage
- Onions
- Ham
- Bacon
- Extra cheese
- Pineapple
- Green peppers
- Spinach
- Olives
- Anchovies
- Tomatoes
Extra cheese is a topping that can be found on many pizzas. If you enjoy your pizza with a lot of cheese, then you might want to order a pizza with this topping.
Vegetables such as peppers, onions, and olives are also common toppings. If you’re looking for a healthier option, then you might want to order a pizza with these toppings.
Anchovies are a type of fish that is often found on pizzas. If you’re a fan of this topping, then you’ll want to make sure that the pizza place you’re ordering from offers it.
Pineapple is a fruit that is sometimes found on pizzas. If you’re looking for a sweeter option, then you might want to order a pizza with this topping.
The verdict on pizza: how much is too much?
You might be surprised to hear this from a dietitian, but if pizza is your absolute favourite meal, I think eating it once a week is perfectly fine, especially if you stick to the above parameters.
A healthy diet isn’t about perfection – but instead, eating healthy wholefoods the majority of the time and balancing it out with your favourite treat foods to fill up your happy cup every once in a while. If that means a week of whole grains and tonnes of veggies is complimented with a few slices of pizza on the weekend, then that’s fine by me.
How many pizza slices should I eat to lose weight?
How much pizza can I have when I’m trying to lose weight? Consider this: The average slice of cheese pizza packs about 285 calories, according to the USDA. If you’re trying to lose weight and your goal is to consume around 1,500 calories a day, eating two slices is over a third of your daily caloric intake.
Is it okay to eat pizza when dieting?
You should only choose pizza toppings, which are good for your diet. Make sure that you do not add too much cheese and bread. A thin crust is best, and vegetables and protein-rich toppings are a great way to go. You will need to eat less to lose weight, which is why the size of the pizza you make is important.
Will 3 slices of pizza make me fat?
It won’t even affect your weight. In the short term, your weight will only increase by the actual weight of the pizza, according to Angelone. (Only eating excess calories over time will contribute to fat gains, she adds.)
How many pizza slices should you eat?
How Many Slices of Pizza per Person? Account for about three slices of pizza per person. Use this as a general guideline, and be aware that some people may consume more or less. If you’re ordering pizza for a hungry football team, you might want to order more pizzas than you normally would.
Can I eat pizza once a week and still lose weight?
If you love pizza, you can work around your calorie goals so that you can still indulge in a slice or two once a week. You can also continue toward your weight loss goals by choosing healthier pizza options. For example, a large slice of cheese pizza from Hungry Howie’s has 200 calories.
America’s best pizzas
1. Frank Pepe’s, New Haven, Conn. (White Clam)
If you want to discuss the loaded topic of America’s best pizza with any authority, you have to make a pilgrimage to this legendary New Haven pizzeria. Frank Pepe opened his doors in Wooster Square in New Haven, Conn., in 1925, offering classic Napoletana-style pizza. After immigrating to the United States in 1909 at the age of 16 from Italy, Pepe took odd jobs before opening his restaurant (now called “The Spot,” next door to the larger operation). Since its conception, Pepe’s has opened an additional seven locations.
What should you order at this checklist destination? Two words: clam pie (“No muzz!”). This is a Northeastern pizza genre unto its own, and Pepe’s is the best of them all — freshly shucked, briny littleneck clams, an intense dose of garlic, olive oil, oregano and grated parmesan atop a charcoal-colored crust. The advanced move? Clam pie with bacon. Just expect to wait in line if you get there after 11:30 a.m. on a weekend.
2. Di Fara, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Di Fara Classic Pie)
Domenico DeMarco is a local celebrity, having owned and operated Di Fara since 1964. Dom cooks both New York and Sicilian-style pizza Wednesday through Sunday (noon to 4:30 p.m., and from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.) for hungry New Yorkers and tourists willing to wait in long lines, and brave the free-for-all that is the Di Fara counter experience. Yes, you’re better off getting a whole pie than shelling out for the $5 slice. Yes, it’s a trek, and sure, Dom goes through periods where the underside of the pizza can trend toward overdone, but when he’s on, Di Fara can make a very strong case for being America’s best pizza. If you want to understand why before visiting, watch the great video about Di Fara called The Best Thing I Ever Done. You can’t go wrong with the classic round or square cheese pie (topped with oil-marinated hot peppers, which you can ladle on at the counter if you elbow in), but the menu’s signature is the Di Fara Classic Pie: mozzarella, parmesan, plum tomato sauce, basil, sausage, peppers, mushroom, onion, and of course, a drizzle of olive oil by Dom.
3. Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix (Marinara)
“There’s no mystery to my pizza,” Bronx native Chris Bianco was quoted as saying in The New York Times. “Sicilian oregano, organic flour, San Marzano tomatoes, purified water, mozzarella I learned to make at Mike’s Deli in the Bronx, sea salt, fresh yeast cake and a little bit of yesterday’s dough. In the end great pizza, like anything else, is all about balance. It’s that simple.” Try telling that to the legions of pizza pilgrims who have made trip to the storied Phoenix pizza spot he opened more than 20 years ago. The restaurant serves not only addictive thin-crust pizzas but also fantastic antipasto (involving wood-oven-roasted vegetables), perfect salads and homemade country bread. The wait, once routinely noted as one of the worst for food in the country, has been improved by Pizzeria Bianco opening for lunch, and the opening of Trattoria Bianco, the pizza prince of Arizona’s Italian restaurant in the historic Town & Country Shopping Center (about 10 minutes from the original). This is another case where any pie will likely be better than most you’ve had in your life (that Rosa with red onions and pistachios!), but the signature Marinara will recalibrate your pizza baseline forever: tomato sauce, oregano, and garlic (no cheese).
4. Una Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco (Margherita)
When Anthony Mangieri, pizzaiolo for the East Village’s Una Pizza Napoletana, closed in 2009 “to make a change,” move West, and open somewhere he could get “a chance to use his outrigger canoe and mountain bike more often,” it was the ultimate insult to New Yorkers. You’re taking one of the city’s favorite Neapolitan pizzerias, defecting to a temperate climate, to people who denigrate New York’s Mexican food? So you can canoe and mountain bike? Traitor! Good for Mangieri, and good for San Franciscans, who inherited one of the country’s best Neapolitan pies (if only Wednesday through Saturday, 5 p.m. until they’re “out of dough”). A thin crust with chewy cornicione, a sauce that’s tart and alive, an appropriate ratio of cheese … you could almost imagine yourself at the pantheon to pizza in Naples: Da Michele, a place where the pizza is poetry and pizza poetry is on the wall. Mangieri harkens that same ethos on his website — check out the pizza poem “Napoli” — and delivers the edible version to his patrons. There are only five pies, all $25 (a $5 hike since last year), plus a special Saturday-only pie, the Apollonia, made with eggs, parmigiano-reggiano, buffalo mozzarella, salami, extra-virgin olive oil, basil, garlic, sea salt and black pepper. But when you’re this close to godliness, you don’t need extras. Keep it simple with the margherita (San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, extra-virgin olive oil ,fresh basil, sea salt, tomato sauce) and know the good.
5. Pizzeria Mozza, Los Angeles (squash blossoms, tomato, burrata)
Renowned baker and chef Nancy Silverton teamed up with Italian culinary moguls Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich to open Osteria Mozza, a Los Angeles hot spot where the famous clientele pales in comparison to the innovative, creative fare. The pizzeria, which is attached to the main restaurant, offers a variety of Italian specialties, from antipasti to bruschetta, but the Neapolitan-style pizzas steal the show. Their list of 21 pies ranges from $11 for a simple aglio e olio, a classic cheese pizza, to $23 for a more unique pie with squash blossoms, tomato, and burrata cheese — a delicious and simple pizza that transports through the quality and nuance of its ingredients. So it’s no surprise that Batali and Bastianich have taken a stab at duplicating the success of this model pizzeria, opening in Newport Beach, Singapore (!), and soon, San Diego.
6. Roberta’s, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Margherita)
Say Roberta’s is in the new class of restaurants that has fanned the flames of the Brooklyn vs. Manhattan debate, call it a great pizza joint, recall it as a frontrunner of the city’s rooftop garden movement, and mention that Carlo Mirarchi was named a Best New Chef by Food & Wine, and you’d still be selling it short. Roberta’s is in Bushwick six stops out of Manhattan on the L, and it’s one of the city’s best restaurants (it even serves one of the city’s hardest-to-score tasting menus). In Bushwick! Pizza may not be the only thing at Roberta’s, but its Neapolitan pies are at the high end of the debate about the city’s best (and according to an interview with the blog Slice, inspired another great pizzeria on this list, Paulie Gee’s). Yes, some of them have names like “Family Jewels,” “Barely Legal,” and – after disgraced New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Wiener – “Carlos Danger,” but you can afford not to take yourself seriously in an environment where Brooklyn hipsters and everyone else tolerate each other when your pizza is this good. As much as the Amatriciana and the Bee Sting (when Roberta’s goes mobile) may tempt, the Margherita (tomato, mozzarella, basil) is Roberta’s pizza Lothario.
7. Sally’s Apizza, New Haven, Conn. (Tomato Pie)
Sally’s Apizza is a New Haven classic, operating from the same location where they opened in the late 1930s in New Haven’s Wooster Square. Their pizza is traditionally thin-crust, topped with tomato sauce, garlic and “mozz.” The pies look pretty similar to what you’ll find down the street at Frank Pepe, which any New Haven pizza believer will note is because the man who opened Sally’s is the nephew of the owner of Pepe. The folks at Sally’s will be the first to tell you that Pepe makes a better clam pie, but their tomato pie (tomato sauce, no cheese), well, they have the original beat there.
8. Flour + Water, San Francisco (Margherita)
Although this San Francisco restaurant claims to specialize in house-made pastas, their pizza is formidable. Baked in a wood-fired oven, the thin-crust pizza at Flour + Water blends Old World tradition with modern refinement, according to chef and co-owner Thomas McNaughton. Pizza toppings vary depending on what’s in season, making each dining experience unique, but Flour + Water’s textbook Margherita is amazing. Heirloom tomatoes, basil, fior di latte, and extra-virgin olive oil … if only the simplicity implied by the restaurant’s name could be duplicated in pizzerias across the country.
9. Motorino, New York City (Brussels Sprout)
Some spaces are cursed. Others? Blessed. When Anthony Mangieri shuttered Una Pizza Napoletana at 349 East 12th St. and headed West, Mathieu Palombino took over the lease, renamed the space Motorino, and the East Village pizza scene hardly skipped a beat. Motorino offers a handful of spirited pies, including one with cherry stone clams; another with stracciatella, raw basil and Gaeta olives; and the cremini mushroom with fior di latte, sweet sausage and garlic. But contrary to every last fiber of childhood memory you hold dear, the move is the Brussels Sprout pie (fior di latte, garlic, Pecorino, smoked pancetta and olive oil), something both Hong Kong natives and Brooklynites can now attest to since Palombino opened (and reopened) his Asian and Williamsburg outposts earlier in 2013.
10. Al Forno, Providence, R.I. (Margarita)
On South Main Street in the heart of Providence, R.I., Al Forno offers a quintessential Italian dining experience for those who can’t afford the flight. Husband-and-wife owner-chefs George Germon and Johanne Killeen received the Insegna del Ristorante Italiano from the Italian government, a rare honor for Americans, attributable to their informed passion for pasta along with their invention of the grilled pizza. The restaurant bakes their pies in wood-burning ovens as well as on grills over hardwood charcoal fire. Their most notable grilled pizza? The Margarita. It’s served with fresh herbs, pomodoro, two cheeses and extra-virgin olive oil.
Here’s What Happens to Your Body If You Eat Pizza Every Week
Pizza is one of the most popular foods in America. It’s a feel-good food that is easy to grab-and-go for a price that’s just right. When you’re hungry, you can usually find a pizzeria to grab a slice for a few bucks. You can also stash frozen pizza in your freezer and pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes—and dinner is done in a flash.
But what if you’re including pizza in your diet regularly—is there such a thing as too much pizza? What are the potential benefits and drawbacks to your body and overall health?
1
Your risk for heart disease may increase
If you love pizza and balance a slice weekly with vegetables like a salad, it can certainly be a part of a healthy diet. However, if you start eating three or four slices (or more!) on a regular basis that is where your diet can have health consequences.
One slice of plain cheese pizza can weigh in at approximately 400 calories—more if you top it with pepperoni or other high fat toppings. Pizza also tends to have hefty amounts of artery-clogging saturated fat from the cheese and processed meat, which can increase your risk for heart disease. The 2015–2020 dietary guidelines for Americans recommends no more than 10% of your total daily calories coming from saturated fat. One slice of store-bought pizza can have approximately 20% of the daily recommended amount of saturated fat. Eating numerous slices regularly can push your saturated fat intake way over the recommended limit. Over time, this can lead to a higher risk for high disease.
2
You could quickly gain weight
With approximately 400 calories per store-bought slice, eating two or three slices of pizza will end up adding 800 to 1,200 calories to your day. Opt for pepperoni and that can increase the calorie-count even more. Given that a person should be consuming a diet of 2,000 calories on average, the plain slices add up to between 40 to 60% (or more!) of your daily calories—and that’s without the other two meals and any snacks. Over-consuming calories regularly leads to weigh gain over time.
3
Your diet may lack fiber
The 2015–2020 dietary guidelines for Americans recommend that half of the grains we eat should be whole. Pizza crust tends to be made from enriched wheat flour and doesn’t contain much fiber. If you’re eating pizza regularly and filling up on refined grains, you’re likely not getting the recommended amount of whole grains in your diet. Getting enough fiber in your diet helps maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract and has other benefits such as helping to lower the risk for colon cancer and helping to reduce high cholesterol. Craving pizza?
4
You may have an increased risk of cancer
Piling your pizza with high-fat processed meats like pepperoni, bacon, and sausage, can increase the risk for certain forms of cancer, especially if you eat pizza often. If you’re craving pizza, you’re better off swapping those high fat meats for some fiber-filled vegetables instead.
5
You may reap more benefits of lycopene
Lycopene is a phytonutrient, or natural plant compound, that tends to be higher in processed tomato products like tomato sauce compared to fresh tomatoes. Eating pizza regularly means that you’re taking in lycopene, an antioxidant that may help protect our healthy tissues from damage from substances known as free radicals. Research also shows that lycopene may help reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer, and macular degeneration (a condition that leads to poor eyesight as you age). In conclusion, your pizza toppings can play a big role in how healthy your pizza is.