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Have you ever noticed that some single-use kitchen items just don’t work as well as advertised? When you read that, did pizza cutters come to mind? Unless you’re a pizza expert or happen to have a really fancy pizza cutter, you’ve probably gotten frustrated slicing a pie at home. Maybe you gave up on your pizza cutter altogether and grabbed a knife instead—you’re not alone.
If so, we have good news: A handy tool has entered the chat. The next time you heat up a frozen pizza or craft one from scratch, do yourself a favor and reach for kitchen shears instead.
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Why You Should Slice Pizza With Kitchen Shears
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Whether you should slice your pizza with kitchen shears or a pizza cutter depends on a number of factors, from the type of pizza you’re cooking to whether you’re serving yourself or a group. All pizzas are not created equal. Are you making a Neapolitan-style pie with a thin crust, or something with a denser crust, like Detroit style? While you could probably get away with either tool for a thin-crust pizza, you might have an easier time cutting a soft, thick crust with shears.
If you’re dealing with a smaller or pre-made pizza, such as a heat-and-serve pie from the freezer aisle, go for the kitchen shears—they’re able to cut through a variety of toppings, and make cleanup even easier. You also don’t have to worry about using a cutting board or globs of cheese sticking to your shear blades.
“Kitchen shears do a better job of breaking through the different textures of the crust and preserving the puffy crust structure,” says Kevin Maxey, chef and owner of Pendolino in Sandy Springs, Georgia.
Shears are also safer for cutting pizza, especially if there are children around. Yes, it’s still possible to cut yourself with kitchen shears, but the likelihood pales in comparison to a pizza cutter’s rolling blade. But make sure to keep both pizza cutters and kitchen shears away from kids.
There is a time and place to use a pizza cutter, though. If you’re dealing with hot pies fresh from a restaurant-grade oven, for example, a cutter makes more sense than kitchen shears. Using shears still requires putting a hand on your pizza, and the last thing you want to do is touch a piping-hot pizza.
“I think that if you were making pizza at home, [shears] might be OK because home ovens only get up to their broiling point,” says Griffin Dangler, chef at Lloyd’s Pizza & Bar in Atlanta, Georgia. “We cook all of our pizzas at 600 degrees, so the moment that that pie is coming out and we’re cutting it, especially on our busiest days when we’re pushing out hundreds of pizzas, grabbing the pizza with a glove and using cheers, that might actually be less safe.”
Find the Best Kitchen Shears
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