Pizza Hut adding new pizzas to its menu — and they’re topped with plant-based meat

Pizza Hut announced Tuesday that it’s temporarily adding two new pizzas to its menu, both topped with plant-based Italian sausage.

That makes it the first national pizza chain to offer a vegetarian “meat” topping.

Pizza Hut says it partnered with Beyond Meat for the Italian sausage-substitute, which is described as a “bold” and “savory” alternative to the chain’s traditional Italian pork sausage.

Beyond Italian Sausage is made with ingredients including garlic, onion, paprika and fennel seeds.

The meatless topping is available on two pizzas:

• The Beyond Italian Sausage Pizza — a cheese pizza topped with Beyond Italian sausage crumbles.
• The Great Beyond Pizza — a pan pizza topped with Beyond Italian sausage crumbles and veggie toppings including tomatoes, red onions and bell peppers.

Both pizzas are also available on thin, stuffed and hand-tossed crust, Pizza Hut said.

“I’d challenge anyone to go try the new Beyond Pan Pizza and tell the difference. I shared it with friends and family, and they couldn’t,” David Graves, chief brand officer for Pizza Hut, said. “The Beyond Italian Sausage is rich, juicy and has the signature Pizza Hut flavors — pizza lovers everywhere are going to love it.”

The two pizzas are available at Pizza Hut locations nationwide, but they won’t be around forever. The limited edition pizzas are only available while supplies last — so once they’re gone, they’re gone.

You can order the Beyond pizzas in-store or for delivery, carryout or curbside pickup, the chain said. They’re also available at select Pizza Hut Express locations.

Pizza Hut is the latest restaurant chain to add a plant-based meat option to its menu. Others include Burger King, White Castle and KFC.

McDonald’s said Monday that it plans to test the McPlant, a burger made with a plant-based meat patty, in some markets in 2021.

You can find your nearest Pizza Hut here.

Pizza Hut is headquartered in Plano, Texas, and has 18,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries.

This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 12:40 PM with the headline "Pizza Hut adding new pizzas to its menu — and they’re topped with plant-based meat."