Papa Murphy's Pickles

Papa Murphy's Pickles are high in histamine. Pickled cucumbers sit high on histamine lists, and the vinegar in the brine adds to it, so this topping lands high even though a fresh cucumber would not.

Why papa murphy's pickles are rated high

The cucumber is not the problem here. What changes it is the curing: these cucumbers are held in a brine of water, vinegar, salt, alum, and calcium chloride, and pickles as a category rate high for people with histamine intolerance. The vinegar is a second, moderate contributor on its own. It is worth being precise about the mechanism, because a lot of pages get this wrong. Vinegar pickling is not the same as fermentation, and simply salting or acidifying a vegetable does not by itself build histamine. Genuinely fermented sour pickles, the salt-brined kind, are a different and more intense case. But brined and cured pickles are still rated high, and reactions to them are common enough that they land firmly in the avoid column.

What changes your risk

• The pickle is the carrier — the cucumber slices themselves are what the high rating attaches to. Nothing else on the pizza softens it, and there is no gentler version of this topping.
• Vinegar counts separately — the brine's vinegar is its own moderate contributor, and any brine that travels with the slices onto the pizza comes with them.
• How many slices — this is a topping, so a pizza covered in pickles is a much bigger dose than a few scattered slices. Portion is the only real lever once you have decided to order it.
• Time in the brine, not time on the counter — the level was set during curing, before the slices ever reached the store. Cucumbers are low in protein, so sitting in a prep cooler is not what builds this up.
• Baking does not undo it — cooking kills bacteria but does not remove histamine that has already formed, so a hot pizza is not a lower-histamine pizza.

Lower-histamine alternatives

There is no lower-histamine version of a pickle, and Papa Murphy's does not offer the fresh cucumber as its own topping, so the honest answer is to build around it instead. The lower options here are Onion Mix if you want that sharp savory bite on the pizza, Zesty Herb Blend if what you actually miss is the tang and punch, and Chicken for a lower protein topping. Do not treat a lighter scatter of pickles as the safe compromise: it is still a high food, just less of one.

How to lower the risk

Papa Murphy's is a build-to-order counter, which works in your favor: you choose the components before the pizza is assembled, so simply not adding pickles is straightforward. Build with Onion Mix and Zesty Herb Blend if you want the pizza to still taste sharp and seasoned, and pick Chicken as the protein. If you are eating a pizza someone else ordered, pulling the slices off helps some but not entirely, since brine spreads to whatever it touched.

Common questions

Are pickles high in histamine?

Yes, pickles rate high, and that includes the vinegar-brined kind on a Papa Murphy's pizza. The curing process is what pushes them up, since a plain fresh cucumber would not rate that way.

Are vinegar pickles better than fermented ones?

Vinegar pickling is a milder process than true fermentation, and salt-brined sour pickles are the more intense case. That said, both land high, so it is a distinction worth understanding rather than one to build an order around.

Does baking the pizza reduce the histamine in the pickles?

No. Heat can kill bacteria but it does not break down histamine that has already formed, so baked pickles are just as high as unbaked ones.

What can I put on the pizza instead?

Onion Mix gives you a comparable sharp bite and Zesty Herb Blend covers the seasoning, both of which are lower options at Papa Murphy's. Chicken is the lower protein topping.