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Inspired by a patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Cheeto pizza is a unique and remarkably delicious spin on classic cheese pizza. With perfectly baked pizza dough, savory pizza sauce, and gooey mozzarella cheese, topped with cheesy, crunchy Cheetos and finished off with an optional cheesy garlic-butter sauce on the crust. Serve it with a drizzle of hot honey to really put it over the top!

A slice of cheese pizza topped with crunchy Cheetos, being pulled away from other slices of pizza.

🧀 What is Cheeto Pizza?

Cheeto pizza is exactly what it sounds like, but also SO much more delicious than it sounds. Chewy pizza dough topped with savory pizza sauce, gooey mozzarella, and a dusting of crushed Cheetos, then finished off with a layer of whole Cheetos for an added crunch. It’s SO, so good. I may have eaten… a lot of it.

Where Did Cheeto Pizza Come From?

This is not a dish of my own creation. No, all of the credit belongs to Della, a patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the culinary team at St. Jude’s Kay Kafe.

At St. Jude, you’ll find children from all over the world in various stages of treatment for pediatric cancer. Treatment plus homesickness often means patients lose their appetites or develop strong cravings for unique or familiar foods. The culinary team doesn’t hesitate to go above and beyond, preparing and creating a variety of meals and dishes at their patients’ request. They’ll even get in touch with a patient’s family back home to get the exact mac and cheese recipe grandma uses so they can recreate it! Anything to make sure the kids have foods they can and want to eat.

A few years ago, one St. Jude patient, Della, had to have a blood transfusion on her birthday. The staff threw her a birthday party, and instead of a birthday cake, Della had an extra special request – a Cheetos pizza. Of course, the culinary team delivered!

I was so moved by the story and the incredible Kay Kafe team that I couldn’t help but create my own version of Della’s Cheeto pizza in her honor as we team up with St. Jude this week for their 48-Hour Giving Blitz.

St. Jude's interior courtyard at their Memphis hospital campus.

Exterior of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN.

🏥 About St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Located right here in Memphis, TN, St. Jude is the leader in the fight against childhood cancer. Their mission? “Finding cures. Saving children.” Plain and simple. They have the best survival rates in the WORLD for some of the most aggressive forms of childhood cancer.

Not only do they devote their resources to studying and treating cancer and other life-threatening diseases, but they share everything they discover so that doctors and scientists worldwide can use and build on that knowledge, saving thousands more children.

The majority of St. Jude’s funding comes directly from individual contributions. Those donations make it possible for St. Jude to treat any child – regardless of race, religion, or family’s ability to pay – without ever billing the families for treatment, travel, housing, or food.

A large round cheese pizza topped with bright orange crunchy Cheetos, cut into triangle-shaped slices but still together as a whole pizza.

🍕 What Makes This Recipe So Good

I know, a Cheeto pizza sounds a little odd at first. Trust me on this, though. It’s AMAZING. It doesn’t feel like you’re sitting down with a pizza and a bag of Cheetos. Instead, it’s like you took a classic cheese pizza, doubled down on the cheesiness, and gave it a crunchy boost. The way the textures blend – the doughy crust and the gooey mozzarella and the crunchy Cheetos – it’s unbelievable.
It’s honestly really fun to make, especially if you’ve got kids. Seriously, tell them that for dinner tonight, you’re making cheese pizza topped with Cheetos. They may not even believe you! You could really get them involved by letting them help stretch the dough, spread the sauce, sprinkle the cheese, crush the Cheetos… Dinner and a memory!

👩🏼‍🍳 Chef’s Tips

When you’re topping the pizza dough, you’ll want to work quickly, especially if you’re using a wet dough. The moisture in the dough can make the cornmeal wet, which will make the dough stick to the parchment paper or the peel even if you dusted it really well first.
Cheeto pizza or not, I’ve never been able to get a pizza peel to cooperate with me. I don’t even bother with it anymore. Instead, I just slide the pizza and parchment paper onto the hot baking sheet directly! The pizzas always turn out perfectly baked, and I skip the potential pizza peel frustration.
The oven needs to be very hot, so be sure it’s fully preheated before you put the pizza in to bake. You’ll need to preheat the baking sheet or pizza stone at the same time – don’t cook the pizza on a cold pan or stone!