Classic NY Cheese Slice
The iconic New York cheese slice — hand-tossed, foldable crust with low-moisture mozzarella and a cooked tomato sauce.
Recipe by Priya Patel · Published · Updated
The NY slice is more rules than recipe. Low-moisture mozzarella, not fresh. Cooked sauce, not raw. Bigger than Neapolitan, smaller than Sicilian. Bake longer at lower heat so the underside crisps without the cheese splitting. We tested this dozens of times until we hit the fold-without-cracking benchmark. The baking steel was the unlock — without it, home ovens just can't pull enough bottom heat. With it, six to eight minutes gets you a slice that would pass on Carmine Street.
Ingredients
Dough
- •4 balls NY-style pizza dough
Sauce
- •400g Crushed tomatoes
- •2 cloves, minced Garlic
- •1 tsp Dried oregano
- •1/2 tsp Salt
- •1/2 tsp Sugar
- •1 tbsp Olive oil
Toppings
- •300g, shredded Low-moisture mozzarella
- •40g, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
How to Make Classic NY Cheese Slice
Video coming soon
Instructions
- 1
Cook sauce: simmer crushed tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt, sugar, and oil for 20 min.
💡 NY sauce is cooked (unlike Neapolitan raw sauce).
- 2
Preheat home oven to max (500-550°F) with baking steel for 45-60 min.
- 3
Stretch dough to 14-16" — NY pies are bigger than Neapolitan.
- 4
Spread sauce, add shredded mozzarella edge to edge, sprinkle parmigiano.
- 5
Bake on steel for 6-8 minutes until cheese is bubbly and edges golden.
- 6
Let cool 2-3 min on a wire rack before slicing.
Tips
- →Low-moisture mozzarella is key — fresh mozz makes it too wet
- →The fold test: a proper NY slice folds in half without cracking
- →A baking steel is the #1 home oven upgrade for NY-style
Equipment
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