By Jim Mirabelli, NEPA Pizza Review
Pagash pizza is a unique carb-laden treat that’s popular during the Lenten season in Northeast Pennsylvania (NEPA). It continues to grow in popularity year after year, with more pizzerias offering it in a wider geographic area. Additionally, some pizzerias are offering the traditionally seasonal treat all year round!
If you are a NEPA resident or have ever lived in NEPA, chances are you have heard of Pagash pizza. If you haven’t heard it called this, you might know it by “pierogi pizza” or “potato pizza” or simply “Pagach” as well.
This pizza is very popular in Northeast Pennsylvania due to large Polish and Catholic populations combined with a hefty number of pizzerias in the 570. During the Lenten season, many Catholics don’t eat meat on Fridays and sometimes not at all, so many pizzerias have created a meatless menu item that has been around for years. Yet its popularity continues to grow in the area.
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Cali’s Don Tomaso Peatza / Instagram
So what’s in a Pagash pizza? The concept seems pretty simple: pizza crust, potatoes and cheese. But the types of Pagash made in NEPA are quite diverse. Some are round, some are square. Some have a single crust, some have double. Some are topped with onions, some have onions chopped up and mixed in, and some don’t even include onions. Some Pagash look like giant stromboli filled with potatoes and other gooey goodness, while some appear to be an open-faced white pizza with some potato under the cheese!
If you’re looking in the right places, you can also find a tasty Pagash pizza outside of the NEPA region. For example, Nice Guys Pints and Pies, located in Cape Coral, Florida, put it on the menu for Lent 2023 (see photo at top), as did Wagner’s Pizza Bus, a food truck that serves up more than 30 regional styles in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Want to try making your own Pagash pizza? Here’s how to do it!
This article originally appeared on the NEPA Pizza Review website and is republished here with permission. Click here to read the original story.
