The best deep dish pizza in Chicago

Pequod’s has two locations (Morton Grove and Lincoln Park), making it easy to get your fix of its popular pan pizza. With a substantial crust and generous selection of toppings, you can’t go wrong with any combination of ingredients. The pan pizza has a “halo,” made from sprinkling cheese edge-to-edge and baking it until it’s crisp and brown. Our favorite part of this pie is the sauce—refreshingly bright and undoctored, it tastes like fresh tomatoes.

Art of Pizza has a stand-out pie, and whether you order an entire 12-inch pizza to go or stop in for a slice, you’re sure to get the authentic Chicago pizza experience. The cracker-like crust at Art of Pizza is typical of many of deep dish joints, but with the crisped golden crust you can only get from a well-seasoned pan, they do it best here.

Tucked in a cozy basement space in Lincoln Park, this pizzeria has only a handful of tables and a large tourist draw, so you may want to avoid the wait at peak hours. Instead of the traditional deep dish or pan, these pizzas are actually pot pies, built bottom-up in a ramekin and baked with the crust on top. Served tableside, the pie is flipped upside-down and the fillings slide into the resulting bread bowl crust. Overflowing with a sausage-laced bolognese sauce and lava-like cheese filling, this is pizza to the extreme. You can’t provide a better spectacle for out of town guests requesting a Chicago pizza.

After closing nearly two years ago, this iconic pizza parlor reopened earlier this year, much to the delight of its longtime fans. Burt’s still takes phone orders ahead of time (highly recommended), but it has done a gut rehab of the building, adding a bar with several draft taps. Fill your pie with a hodge-podge of ingredients including sausage, onions, mushrooms, banana peppers and fresh spinach. From the city, a relatively quick Metra ride will get you there in a jiffy, making Burt’s a must on any pizza lover’s deep-dish checklist.

If you told anyone the pizza was "heart healthy" while they were chowing down on the stuffed spinach pizza at Bella Bacino's, they'd call you a liar. But it's true—it's been deemed as such, and it's a pretty damn good pie to boot. Filled to the brim with spinach, cheese, herbs and optional mushrooms (you should add them), the 'za is a great option for Loop workers and tourists alike.

With a crazy amount of locations, Giordano's is one of the easiest spots to grab deep dish 'za in the city. And it works—it's been around since 1974 serving deep dish pies you really don't need more than one slice of. With a sweeter leaning crust and mounds of stringy melty mozzarella, whatever you stuff inside this beauty is sure to satisfy.

Lou Malnati's has dozens of locations across the city and suburbs, and it's one of Chicago’s classic choices for deep dish. It’s easy to see why Malnati’s stands out among its competitors. The trademark buttery crust (literally trademarked, they call it Buttercrust™) is somewhat reminiscent of crispy Italian breadsticks and holds in the cheese and toppings. Like most traditional deep dish pizzas, the bright red sauce is applied liberally to the top of the cheese. We recommend adding sausage, a thin patty of seasoned meat that covers the entire pizza, ensuring that every bite contains the perfect balance of crust, cheese and toppings.

Uno’s pizzeria is one of the quintessential choices for deep dish and a contender for originator of the style (no one can pin down the exact creator of the ubiquitous pie). The original location has been at the corner of Ohio and Wabash since it was founded in 1943. The crust at Uno’s is curiously different, with a dense and crumbly texture that lacks the crunch found at other pizzerias. Otherwise, these pies are textbook Chicago deep dish, from the thick piles of sliced mozzarella to the crushed tomato sauce on top.

This Chicago institution pizzeria/brewery serves up cornmeal crust, making it a tad less greasy, but the tangy tomato sauce makes up for what you'd be missing in the crust. We're fans of the margherita, but the spicy "Chi-talian Stallion," with Italian beef, roasted sweet peppers and giardiniera is a solid pick, too. Throw it back with one of the spot’s house-brewed beers.

This by-the-slice spot melded with a deli makes for a great speedy stop when you just want a single slice. It's thinner than many of the pies on this list, but the two rotating daily specials are always a good pick and they're filling nonetheless. Seating is limited, but if you're just looking for a quick slice, this is a great place to go.

This North Side pizza spot is a great joint for locals to catch a game with the family—and also to grab a good tomato-y slice of 'za. It takes about 30 minutes to make, so order some bruschetta while you wait. This deep dish's flaky crust is rolled with a bit of the cheese inside for an extra bite of mozzarella after you've gotten through the bulk of the pie.