I LOVE pasta carbonara! So when I think of Pancetta, I think of how it contributes in such a marvelous way to any dish. And one of my favorites on a charcuterie board is coppa. So when I think of pancetta coppa pizza, I picture a pizza where every bite has the extraordinary flavor of both. It’s no longer just a pizza, it’s now the pinnacle of the Italian pork pizza experience!

What Is Pancetta Coppa?
To begin, let’s break down what Pancetta and Coppa are and how they contribute to the rich tapestry of Italian cured meats.
The North and South Meet in the Middle – Pancetta and Coppa
Pancetta and coppa are rather like stories of Italy’s culinary history – but blended. Pancetta, with its origins in the northern and central regions, and coppa, popular in the south, reflect the diverse tastes and traditions of Italian cooking (although both are found throughout Italy today, generally with regional variations in their preparation).
Their use in pizza, a dish that is generally believed to have originated in the central Italian port town of Naples, showcases the innovation and adaptability of Italian cuisine.
This pizza is like Italy’s pork melting pot!
More on Pancetta and Coppa

Pancetta: This Italian pork belly bacon is cured with salt and spices which can include pepper, fennel, nutmeg, and other herbs. Like many Italian salumes (cured meats), pancetta and coppa are both made from whole cuts of meat rather than from ground meat (such as the way pepperoni or spopressata is made).
Unlike bacon, which is typically smoked, pancetta is cured with salt and a blend of spices, then rolled into a log and air-dried and it’s typically available in two forms: arrotolata (rolled) and stesa (flat). Its tenderness and fatty (fat = flavor) savory flavor are the highlight and it is used both as a cooking ingredient to add depth to dishes (especially pasta sauces) or enjoyed thinly sliced as part of an antipasto platter.
This results in a savory flavor that’s less intense than traditional bacon. When it’s cooked, pancetta releases a beautiful aroma and adds a depth of flavor to any dish, including pizza (or pizza sauce, if you’re willing to break some rules!).

Coppa: Also known as capocollo (or coppata, or capicola, or even the slang “gabagool” – which finally explained the name of an album by one of my favorite bands, The Pickle Mafia)…

Okay, sorry about the tangent! Let’s just say there are a lot of different names for the same Italian cured meats – you might enjoy this article if you’d like to know more.
Coppa is another type of Italian cured meat made from a whole cut of pork – but this cut is from the shoulder or neck (specifically, the muscle running between the neck and the 5th rib of the shoulder). According to Wikipedia, the name capocollo comes from combining the words capo (head) and collo (neck). I’ve read that capocollo refers to a cooked version, but I don’t believe that’s universally true.
The cured version we’re talking about is seasoned with salt, wine (seemingly almost always red), garlic, and a variety of herbs and spices before curing, creating a rich and slightly spicy taste when compared to many other cured meats (including the pancetta) – but often still milder than others.
Coppa is most often found sliced very, very thinly on a charcuterie board, but like any other cured meat, it can be found as whole if you look hard enough. But in this case, we’re using the Boar’s Head sliced.
So What Is Pancetta Coppa?
Pancetta Coppa (or Pancetta Coppata) is the pork belly rolled with the neck – commonly with the pancetta wrapped around the coppa or vice versa. It is salted, tied, and cured for at least two months. As described by Furlotti.com (which offers three variations of Pancetta Coppa), “the result is a special product which joint the taste of pancetta to neck: the color is bright red, the texture is soft and the taste is typical.”
And while finding pancetta coppa rolled together isn’t very easy in the US (in fact, let me know if you find a source!), there’s nothing stopping you from sourcing both separately and combining them on your pizza!
And How To Make Pancetta Coppa Pizza?
In essence, the pancetta and coppa are going to be our feature toppings and it could be on any pizza. Because of the fat content, it’s going to be ideal to put the meat at the top of the pizza so the fat can render nicely and we can get just a bit of crisp in the meat. This will be especially nice if we’re cooking the pizza at a high temperature.
Therefore, for our pancetta coppa pizza, we’re going to stay Italian and use our AVPN Neapolitan pizza dough. You could of course still keep it Italian with a Roman or Sicilian style pizza dough too! And store-bought will still be a lovely canvas for this delicious meat.
However, I find that the chewy crust of the Neapolitan topped with a light layer of simple tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella creates the perfect canvas for our pancetta coppa pizza.
So, it’s kind of like a spruced up Margherita pizza – basil optional!
Ingredients for Pancetta Coppa Pizza
Okay, we’ve covered the basics:
- Pancetta coppa (depending on how much you want, you might go with about 4 ounces)
- Tomato sauce (we like a simple Mutti, like their organic sauce)
- Mozzarella cheese (Buffalo cheese is especially traditional but doesn’t melt as well as cow)
- Basil (optional – just make sure to add it after cooking)
How to Make Pancetta Coppa Pizza
Follow the directions for making and stretching your favorite dough. As mentioned, we really like our AVPN Neapolitan pizza dough recipe for this.

Topping the Pancetta Coppa Pizza
While you could combine your pancetta coppa with any other toppings and a large variety of them, let’s face it – you didn’t get such delicious (and rather pricy) meat to hide it behind a bunch of other unique ingredients, regardless of how fun they might be.
Therefore, we recommend sticking with the basics – simple tomato sauce, mozza cheese, and MAYBE some basil.
For the sauce, I recommend either making it yourself (I suggest our authentic Neapolitan recipe) or perhaps use Mutti’s premade passata, which is basically just pureed tomatoes and salt.

Again, due to the high fat content of the pancetta and coppa, we recommend adding these last so that the direct heat of the oven renders out the fat.
Should I Cook the Pancetta First?
We cover this in our Pancetta Pizza recipe too but frankly, this is up to you. Pancetta is cured, and unlike regular bacon, you should be able to eat it without cooking it – but trust me, that’s not the best choice. Handling techniques could have exposed the meat to bacteria (which is not good) and besides, rendering out the fat will make this SO MUCH BETTER.

However, do you need to pre-cook the meat before putting on the pizza?
This is more up to you. I rather like pre-cooking the meat about halfway and drain off some of the excess fat. Pancetta in particular has a lot of fat and I just don’t think my pizza (or my arteries) need that much. But it really is up to you to decide.
What about the Coppa?
On the other hand, Coppa is so typically so thinly sliced that it will cook very quickly on top of your pizza and I wouldn’t recommend pre-cooking it unless it is cut very thick.
Alternatives to Pancetta Coppa Pizza
As mentioned, you can certainly mix things up with different pizza crusts. And while it might no longer be an actual “pancetta coppa pizza” after, you can play a little with the meats.
So let’s recap that finding coppa wrapped in pancetta here in the US is probably not going to be easy. In fact, even finding coppa and to a lesser degree pancetta might be tricky in some areas.
There are variations on the names for coppa. Coppa is a dry-cured neck muscle that goes by a variety of names in Italy. If you find capocollo, coppata, capicola, or gabagool, you’ve found your coppa!
Even with all the names, it still may not be available in your neighborhood. These are some alternatives you can try:
- Substituting prosciutto for coppa. Thinly sliced prosciutto is quite similar to coppa, but doesn’t use wine and the same spices in the curing process. Prosciutto will often be more lean since it comes from the hind leg muscles rather than the neck muscles. Coppa is generally more marbled.
- Substituting soppressata for coppa. Soppressata can be a solid substitute for coppa in our pizza. Although soppressata can be made from a variety of meat cuts (not just the neck and shoulder), is made from ground meat instead of a whole cut, and is typically a coarser salami, it maintains the spicy flavor nuance found in copa.
- Substituting sgrassatella for coppa. This is generally also hard to find, but thinly sliced sgrassatella is quite a lovely alternative. Sgrassatella is again more lean, coming from the pig’s diaphragm muscle. It has a really nice meaty texture and flavor, but is less complex and without the spice.
Substituting bacon for pancetta
If you go this route, to be more traditional, use non-smoked bacon. A little dusting of nutmeg and maybe some fennel before dicing into 1/4″ cubes will make a pretty decent substitute. Cut the bacon when it’s very cold with scissors to get the right size.

Pancetta Coppa Pizza Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Wood-burning pizza oven This is ideal for a classic Neapolitan style pizza, but use what you've got!
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Pizza Cutter
Ingredients
- 1 Pizza Dough ball (8-9 ounces) (Refer to our recipe for making AVPN Neapolitan dough)
- 3 Tbsp Flour (Semolina is ideal, AP is good, but any flour will be fine for this)
- .25 Cups Tomato sauce (Refer to our recipe for making your own sauce from canned tomatoes or try Mutti brand sauce)
- 2.5 Ounces Mozzarella You can use fresh grated or fresh sliced
- 2 Ounces pancetta
- 2 Ounces coppa (about 6 thin, large slices or 10 smaller slices)
Instructions
- Preheat your pizza oven to ideally about 800°F to 900°F.
- Pre-cook your pancetta. Cook on medium for about 4 minutes until it just begins to brown – you don't want to over cook it since it will cook again in the oven.If you're being health conscious, you can dab the pancetta with paper towel to remove some of the liquid fat.Set aside.
Prepare the Dough
- If you are using a pre-made dough ball, give it at least 30 minutes to come to room temperature.
- Put 2 tablespoons of flour on your work surface
- Put 1 tablespoon of flour and the cornmeal on the pizza peel.
- Begin stretching your pizza dough on your work surface. With 8 ounces of pizza dough, you should be able to make an 11" to 12" pizza, depending on the dough. True Neapolitan pizza will leave about a half inch outer ring slightly taller than the center.
Prepare Before Putting the Dough on the Peel
- If you are using regular mozzarella, I suggest using freshly grated – do this now.If you are using fresh mozzarella, remove your mozzarella from the water, dry with a paper towel, and chop into slices or strips.
- Check your pizza oven temperature. Add more wood if necessary. Do not proceed to the next step if your oven is not ready.
Apply the Toppings
- Transfer your dough to the pizza peel.
- You will want to quickly apply your toppings and get the pizza into the oven before the dough sticks to the peel.
- Apply the tomato sauce to the center of the pizza. Use a spoon to spread the sauce out from the center in a spiral pattern but keeping the sauce off of the outer ring.
- Distribute the mozzarella cheese evenly over the pizza.
- Distribute the cooked pancetta evenly over the pizza
- Distribute the sliced coppa over the pizza. You can cut it into smaller slices if you prefer.
Cooking with an Outdoor Pizza Oven
- Check the pizza oven temperature again. If you have an infrared thermometer, check for the hottest part of the pizza stone.
- Launch the pizza into the oven on the hottest part of the stone without being in the flames.
- Before rotating the pizza, make sure that Rotate the pizza one quarter turn every 30 seconds. Generally, the pizza will be done in 3 minutes or less. So watch it closely!
- Remove the pizza from the oven and let it rest for about 3 minutes.
- Cut and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you are going to cook this in a conventional oven, you’ll want the highest temperature you can get the oven to.Â
- If you have a pizza stone (or pizza steel), that’s going to help a lot in getting the most authentic crust. If not, a pizza pan (or cookie sheet) will still turn out a great pizza.
- You can either start the pizza on a pan (or cookie sheet) and transfer it to the stone after about 15 minutes (when the crust is firm enough to be safely transferred). At this point, turn off the oven and let the pizza cook on the stone for another 5 minutes. Remove and let rest on a cutting board for another 5 minutes before cutting and serving.
- Alternatively, you can start by launching the pizza directly to the pizza stone in your oven. This is more tricky and you might want to practice with some dough with no toppings!
Nutrition

Todd’s cooking skills have revolved around the grill since about age 12, when he developed a love for grilling and took over for Mom at the BBQ. He worked at Wendy’s and at Earl’s Tin Palace (a restaurant chain in Canada) but never really did any sort of baking…until he and Heather started making pizza together! Now he’s often making dough in the mornings and pizza in the evenings.