If you’ve never grilled pizza before, now is the perfect time to try it! And if you have grilled pizza before, now is definitely time to do it again. This is my FAVORITE way to make homemade pizza because no matter how hard I try, most homemade pizza tastes, well, slightly homemade, even in the best of circumstances. This is because most of us don’t have the kind of equipment needed to bake pizza crusts quickly and evenly, so frequently taste a lot like bread instead of pizza crust. But if you have a grill, you can replicate individual-sized pizzas from your favorite brick- or wood-fired pizza restaurants! This is amazing party food because everyone can get exactly the pizza they want in just a few minutes.
Dough:
You’ll need pizza dough. Obviously. You can use any pizza dough- whatever you normally use to make pizza at home. Here is a great recipe for homemade dough and another for Neapolitan Pizza Crust (which is perfect for the grill.) If you’re planning on serving more than a few people, but even if you’re not, I highly recommend making the dough ahead of time and freezing it into individual crusts to prevent the dough from over-rising, especially on a hot summer night.. You could also buy dough. Many grocery stores, clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club, and bakeries sell fresh, raw pizza dough.
Toppings:
I suggest going a little lighter than normal on the toppings for a few reasons.
- It will keep the pizzas easy to work with and easy to move around, etc.
- The toppings will cook faster and be sure to be done if they’re not piled on heavy.
- (And probably the biggest reason)–the grill adds so much flavor and texture that you don’t want (or need) to overpower it. Grilled pizza works great sauce-less, or try it with this pizza sauce, bbq, pesto, or garlic alfredo.
- Some great toppings include…
- Meats like pepperoni, Canadian bacon, bacon bacon, pancetta (Italian bacon), smoked pulled pork, grilled chicken, hamburger, Italian sausage, etc.
- Fruits and veggies–traditional things like bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, fresh basil (don’t add this until your pizza has cooked!) and pineapple (we know this is controversial, but it’s popular for a reason), but try some other, less traditional things like roasted red peppers, pepperoncini, and stone fruit like cherries or peaches (I’m dreaming of a peach/bacon pizza with alfredo sauce).
- Shredded mozzarella cheese is a classic, but other great options are dollops of ricotta, fresh mozzarella balls or slices, pepper jack, or smoked gouda.
Let’s Do This!
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- First, you need to preheat your grill. This is an important step. The rack needs to be nice and hot so the dough will start cooking immediately and the overall temperature needs to be hot in order to act like an oven when the lid is closed. I set my gas grill to medium-high heat and shut the lid.
- Get all of your toppings ready. You have to move very quickly while on the grill so everything needs to be prepared and easy to grab. If you’re making a single pizza or using all the same toppings, set up a platter with everything you need and keep it next to the grill, but if you’re having a party, provide bowls or small paper plates and let people pick out what they’d like on their pizza and then hand it to you when it’s their turn.
You’ll need
- Your toppings (cut, sliced, shredded, etc.) including sauce.
- Olive oil and a brush to brush it on (this is a great way to use our flavored olive oils!)
- A spoon to spread on sauce.
- A large spatula or pizza peel to flip the pizza
A Few Notes on Dough…
- You want this dough as thin as you can roll it–not any thicker than 1/4″ inch, but thinner if you can.
- Throw all of your preconceived pizza notions out the window. You don’t need to make round pizza. The irregular shaped dough is part of the rustic beauty of grilled pizza. No rules! We’re all wild and crazy.Like we said before, it’s easiest to make several small pizzas, especially if you’re trying this for the first time. If you want to go big, don’t go much larger than 2 9-10″ pizzas. I like to do 4 small pizzas. You get a good 6-8″ pizza that will easily feed one very hungry adult or a couple of hungry kids. Another benefit of doing several smaller pizzas is that you can try out a bunch of different topping combos. Everyone loves having their own!
- When your dough is flattened out, drizzle a little olive oil on one side and brush it around. If you’d like, sprinkle it with a little garlic or onion salt.
- Now comes the fun part. Toss that puppy (oil side down) straight on the grill and then shut the lid immediately. You’ll want the heat to stay inside so it acts like an oven and cooks the dough. The timing all depends on the heat of the grill and the thickness of the dough. But it usually only takes about 5 minutes or less. Have a spatula handy to lift up the dough and check it. You’ll want to see nice brown grill marks, but avoid burning it. If you can tell that your dough is cooking too fast and too hot, you may want to use indirect heat. For a gas grill with multiple burners, turn off the burner directly under the pizza, but leave the others on. For a charcoal grill, move the charcoal to one side of the grill and place the pizza on the other side.
These only need a few minutes–Check the bottom for nice grill marks and make sure it’s dry to the touch before flipping. Right before you flip it, brush a little olive oil on the uncooked side.
As soon as you flip the crust, grab that tray with your toppings and put them on the cooked side right away. Shut the lid again and leave it shut. The second side cooks pretty fast. If the bottom of your pizza is done, but the top still needs to cook, you can place it on an upper rack if you have one.
Take a peek at the bottom crust and as soon as it’s done and your cheese is all melty, grab a spatula and pull it off. You can place these right onto people’s plates or onto a large cutting board and let everyone snag their pizzas.
The only thing left to do is sit back and let everyone tell you how this is the most amazing homemade pizza they’ve ever had!
Questions & Reviews
I think this is my absolute fave of all the best bites recipes. We make this all the time. Everyone is happy – quick fix time, individualized to what each person wants, and totally amazing flavor. I have even convinced my non-cooking family members that it's worth it. I have to confess to screwing up the first few crusts, but once you get the hang of flipping the dough onto the grill rack, it's really easy. Thanks for opening up my pizza world :).
Made these for dinner last night YUM! I did a "test pizza" first though before putting all the dough on the grill (which was a good idea because I burnt it the first time!) You really do need to move quickly if the grill is super hot! I grilled chicken, pineapple and peppers to put on the pizza along with BBQ sauce, feta and mozarella it was awesome! Thanks for the great tips!
YAY! i LOVE pizza… like no other food.. and I have Wanted to grill it- since I saw Bobby Flay do it! Thanx for the tutorial. (not that it is hot enough here in Wash to avoid my oven, but I will still try it!)
I gotta try putting less stuff on when I make homemade pizza. I make it on a pizza peel while my stone is heating in the oven, and then when I try to slide it off onto the stone (even though I have LOADS of corn meal on the peel) stuff sort of goes everywhere. Ugh.
I love this grill idea. This would fix everything.
bhttp://damselindisdress.wordpress.com
One thing I had to find out the hard way is that if you're going to err temperature-wise, err on the side of too low (but I would say no lower than the medium setting on your grill). You can always cook it longer, but once it's burned, it's burned.
Shannon- make Scott put on a pink apron and make a fruit salad while you man the grill tonight! lol
I didn't put on an exact temperature because I don't think grill thermometers are all that accurate. I set mine to medium-high. A real pizza oven is really hot- like 500 degrees or higher, so hot is good. The only problem is that the grates can get so hot that they can burn the bottom. That's why you have to kind of eyeball it. Or use that tip about using indirect heat. Medium-High heat should be good. Time depends on the size of your pizza, but usually about 5 minutes or so for each side. Just keep peeking at the bottom to make sure it's not burning, but it's browning and you'll be good!
I think I could just eat my computer screen for lunch and be good. This I must try. I love pizza. My whole family loved your Stuffed Pizza Rolls. They were so awesome.
I've been wanting to try grilling pizza but wasn't sure how to do it. Your post is perfect and now I can go for it!
I always use your dough recipe and make pizza in the oven but I have yet to try it on the grill. Possibly tonight. Quick question.. I didn't see it mentioned how hot you want your grill? Low, med. or high. Scott usually does all the grilling so I would be stepping out of my comfort zone. So I do need tips. Do I keep the lid open or do I close it? When you say till the dough is crisp I understand that but how much time are we talking? A few minutes. 10 min.? See I really don't grill. Ha Ha! TIA
I'm making a pact with myself this summer to grill pizza. This has been on my to do list for years and I still haven't tried it. Yours looks awesome!
For deep dish pizza, you should try this: http://www.chewonthatblog.com/2009/02/09/step-by-step-homemade-chicago-style-pizza/
The pizza bases look great, will definately be trying them soon!
http://www.chocolate-cake-recipe.org.uk
Sweet! I'm so glad you reposted this as a tutorial. I tried it twice and it was seriously a disaster. But we still ate it! ha ha.
This is perfect timing. We've been talking about grilling pizzas for a couple weeks. Now we just have to get rid of the stomach flu and we'll be heatin up the grill. Thanks!
This post is perfect timing for me, as we have pizza on the grill planned for Friday night this week. I will take your steps to heart in crafting our dinner. Thanks!
Best,
Casey
Editor
http://www.tastestopping.wordpress.com
We love grilled pizza! Great post!
This looks so good and I think I'm going to try it, thanks!
My husband and I grill pizza all the time…and it’s fabulous. If you’re watching your calories, you can spray the dough with Pam instead of using the oil. It’s of course not quite as good, but still yummy! I just found your site…fun blog!
I have been gone for a long time, so I had some catching up to do as far as trying the new recipes that you post, but this pizza was amazing I used pesto fresh tomatoes from our garden some cheese and turkey pepperoni (so that it would have a little meat for my husband) and we loved it. I am not sure I will ever go back to making it in the oven. Thanks for the great lesson!
Tried it last night, and YUM! Unfortunately, our grill ran out of propane before they finished cooking (bummer) so we finished ’em in the oven, but they still had the yummy BBQ flavor. Thanks for the recipe!
Hey thanks! I was just talking to Kate the other day about grilling pizza and I haven’t done it yet so I’m glad I saw this! Thanks ladies!
Erika, your comments always make me do a double-take, because I know another “Erika and Ryan” lol. When you said you didn’t know us I was like, what are you smoking, we’re good friends IRL! Haha. Thanks for the comment and the shout-out!
This looks so stinkin’ good! I can’t wait to try it. You girls rock, that’s all I have to say. I don’t know you personally, but really enjoy your website and your personalities. I put a plug in for your website on my blog because it is that amazing! Keep up the good work! http://www.erikaandryan.blogspot.com
This looks so stinkin’ good! I can’t wait to try it. You girls rock, that’s all I have to say. I don’t know you personally, but really enjoy your website and your personalities. I put a plug in for your website on my blog because it is that amazing! Keep up the good work! http://www.erikaandryan.blogspot.com
Ooh, I may just try this tonight!
By the way, because I make homemade pizza fairly frequently, I went to my local restaurant supply and bought a wooden pizza peel. Best. Investment. Ever!
Again, I can say from multiple personal experiences that this is the best pizza! And I am not usually a pizza fan… I love the garlic cream sauce, personally 🙂
bar none, best pizza ever…
It’s so beautiful! And I’m sure yummy. I just want to reach through the computer screen and grab a piece. Too bad we have already packed our BBQ. Definitely after the move I’m giving this a try.
Wow, looks delicious! We are going to try this one for sure!
Looks fabulous!! Pizza is a staple here. I think this just may be what’s for dinner tonight.
YUM!
I like your new look. I’ll keep checking on yall.