Chicago's defining pie, built upside down in a cast-iron pan: an inch of buttery cornmeal crust holds slabs of mozzarella, fennel-sausage and chunky tomato.

Pizzeria Uno on Ohio Street served the first deep-dish in 1943 under owner Ike Sewell and original cook Rudy Malnati Sr., whose family later launched Lou Malnati's. The pan-baked, cheese-on-the-bottom architecture was a deliberate break from the East Coast slice, designed to function as a meal rather than a snack. By the 1960s a parallel tradition (stuffed pizza, with a second layer of dough above the cheese) appeared at Nancy's and Giordano's. Across the city, tavern-cut thin (square-sliced) has always outsold deep-dish two to one with locals, but deep-dish is what the postcard sells and what the visitor expects.

4 editor picks for Chicago deep-dish pizza in Chicago, ranked by editorial score. All Chicago signature dishes · Chicago deep-dish pizza across every city.