So I saw this whole Pizza Hut Venom collab trend blowing up online and thought, “Man, that looks wild!” Decided to try recreating it myself at home this weekend. Wanted that spooky, messy, comic book vibe on my pizza.
The Sauce Struggle is Real
First step: the sauce. Everyone online was buzzing about some “alien black sauce.” Scoured the grocery store aisles – no dice. Found some squid ink paste hidden in the international section. Bought it thinking, “Perfect! This’ll be black!” Got home, squeezed a tiny tube into my usual tomato base. Looked… kinda grey and muddy. And tasted… weirdly like the sea. Not great. Dumped that mess straight down the drain. Went back to basics: used a jar of good marinara but stirred in a ton of black food coloring gel. Got that nice, deep black color finally. Phew.
Cheese Situation Was Tricky
Then came the cheese. Needed white for contrast, right? Mozzarella was the obvious choice, but regular looked too plain. Saw folks using Bocconcini (those little balls) for texture. Found some! Also grabbed some creamy ricotta for extra gooeyness, thought it might look like alien goo. Used the ricotta sparingly – dollops, not spread out.
Toppings: Go Big or Go Home
Time for the fun part – toppings!
- Meat: Classic pepperoni was essential. Figured the little red discs would pop against the black sauce. Also got some spicy Italian sausage, crumbled it up raw before baking. More texture.
- “Venom” Effect: This was key. I sliced a bunch of black olives super thin. Placed them strategically on top of the cheese near the edges, trying to make them look like little symbiote tendrils creeping over the crust. Harder than it looked! Also cut up some strips of charred red bell peppers for those signature red highlights. Burnt them a bit on purpose on the stovetop first.
Couldn’t find edible white webs easily, so skipped that.
Bake and HOPE
Preheated my oven as hot as it goes (damn thing only hits 500°F). Slapped my carefully crafted black-sauce, white-cheese, tendril-topped creation onto a preheated pizza stone. Held my breath watching it through the oven window. Worried the black sauce would burn easily. Baked it for maybe… 10 minutes? Until the cheese was bubbly and the pepperoni edges curled up. Edge of the crust got nice and spotted, like leopard spots – kinda fit the theme.
The Moment of Truth… Eating It
Pulled it out. Looked seriously creepy and awesome! Took a million pics first, obviously. The black sauce held its color, the “tendrils” looked decent, the melted cheese was pulling apart nice and stringy. Taste test? Honestly, the black food coloring doesn’t taste like anything. So it was just… a really good pizza! The charred peppers added a smoky kick, and the different cheeses made it super rich. Wife took one look, called it “monster pizza,” but couldn’t stop eating it. Win! Cleanup was another story. Had black smudges everywhere – counters, hands, plates. Totally worth it.
Anyway, that was my attempt. Messy, fun, turned out surprisingly edible, and definitely photo-worthy. If you wanna try it, good luck finding the damn squid ink! Stick with the food coloring.