If you’ve never grilled pizza before, you’ll be delighted. Follow the step-by-step guide and our BBQ Pizza Recipe for the best pizza you’ve ever made at home!
In this recipe
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The smart way to grill pizza
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Homemade pizza dough recipe
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Make instructions ahead of time
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The best pizza toppings
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Grilled pizza sauces
When I first heard about making pizza on a grill, all I thought was, why would anyone want to do that?
Now that I’ve made it more than a few times several reasons come to mind, the first being who would want to heat up an oven to 450F or more on a hot summer day?
When you use a grill to cook pizza, you can keep the heat out where it belongs. Grills also mimic a wood-fired oven better than your traditional indoor oven.
Whether it’s charcoal or gas, the smoke from the grill gives your pizza a great flavor that you just can’t get with a regular oven.
It’s easy too! No, the pizza dough will do Not fall through the grill grates. Provided you’ve heated up the grill properly, your batter will form a nice, lightly browned crust.
CONTINUE READING:
How to grill pizza the smart way
The trick is to cook the plain batter on one side on the grill first. Then remove, flip, brush the grilled side with sauce and toppings, and return the pizza to the grill for final cooking.
Need a homemade pizza dough recipe?
This is a quick guide to the grilling steps. I’m assuming you already have takeout pizza dough, but if not, we have a great recipe here on our homemade pizza post.
Make instructions ahead of time
- Dough: Make a double batch of dough, let it rise, then divide it, wrap it in plastic and freeze it. Then when you want pizza for dinner, take the dough out of the freezer and put it in the fridge before you go to work, and when you get home, take it out of the fridge and put the dough on to reheat fire up the barbeque.
- Crusts before grilling: Simply spread out the batter and lightly grill both sides. Let the crust cool on a wire rack so the heat and steam on the underside of the crust don’t soak it. This way you can prepare several hours in advance. Then, when you want to grill again, coat the crusts with sauce, add toppings, and grill.
The best pizza toppings for grilled pizza
Any topping you put on oven-baked pizza can go on grilled pizza, but since the grilling time is only 2 to 3 minutes after the topping is applied, many toppings will still be raw when the pizza is done. For veggies, that’s fine if you don’t mind it being super crispy, or you can cook them before putting them on the pizza. But for meat, that’s a problem. Any meat you put on this grilled pizza needs to be pre-cooked.
Whatever toppings you choose, take them lightly or your pizza will end up being heavy and soggy.
Winning sauces for grilled pizza
Store-bought sauce works well, but if you want to make your own we have recipes!
- Quick and easy red pizza sauce
- Roasted Garlic and White Pizza Sauce
- Quick Pizza Sauce (Part of our Homemade Pepperoni Pizza recipe)
- simple tomato sauce
More homemade pizza recipes to try
- Homemade pizza and pizza dough
- Spicy sausage pizza
- Grilled Vegetable Pizza
- Cauliflower Crust Hawaiian Pizza
- Chicago style deep dish pizza with Italian sausage
From the editors of Simply Recipes
How to grill pizza
Make pizza dough from scratch with our pizza dough recipe. Alternatively, you can find ready-made pizza dough in the frozen section of your local supermarket.
ingredients
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Pizza dough (If using our pizza dough recipe, note that it makes enough dough for 2 pizzas)
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Extra virgin olive oil
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all purpose flour or cornmeal to dust the baking sheet or pizza peel
pizza toppings
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Tomato sauce
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Herbs
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Cheese (mozzarella is the best)
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onions, thinly sliced
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tomatoes
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Mushrooms
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pepperoni
method
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make dough:
You can either make your own pizza dough or use prepared pizza dough. Both will work.
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Prepare the grill and toppings:
Prepare the grill for high direct heat. Prepare a small bowl of olive oil to grease the grill grates and brush the pizza. Prep the toppings ready to go on the pizza – tomato sauce, cheese, and anything else you like.
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Stretch and shape the pizza dough:
Shape the pizza dough by flattening it out with your hands on a lightly floured surface. Either use your fingers to stretch out the dough, or hold up the edges of the dough with your fingers, allowing the dough to sag and stretch as you work around the edges of the dough.
Once you’ve stretched the dough, let it rest for 5 minutes, and then use your fingers to push out the edges again until you have a nice round shape, about 12 inches in diameter. Do not make a raised edge, it will interfere with the grilling process.
Note that if you are making pizza dough for a party, you can make several bases, stack them separated by parchment paper, and refrigerate for up to two hours before baking.
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Grilling one side of the pizza dough:
Once the grill is hot (you can’t hold your hands an inch above the grates for more than 2 seconds), dip a tightly folded paper towel in olive oil and use tongs to wipe down the grill grates.
Then place a round pizza dough on a lightly floured (or you can use cornmeal) rimless baking sheet (or pizza peel if you have one).
Let the dough slide from the baking sheet onto the hot grill grates.
Close the grill lid and cook for 2 minutes.
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Check the dough and look for air bubbles:
After 2 minutes, open the grill and check under the batter to see if it’s browned. If it’s on one side but not the other, use a spatula or tongs to rotate the dough 90 degrees and bake for another minute.
If it doesn’t begin to brown, cover the grill and continue cooking 1 minute, until the underside begins to brown.
It should only take a few minutes if you have a hot grill. The top of the pizza dough will begin to rise with air bubbles.
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Remove the grilled dough and turn out onto a baking sheet:
Once the pizza dough is lightly browned on one side, remove it from the grill using your baking sheet or pizza peel. Using a spatula, turn the dough over so the grilled side is now on top. Keep the grill covered so it retains its heat for the next step.
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Brush with olive oil, add toppings:
Brush the grilled surface of the pizza with a little extra virgin olive oil, then cover with 1 ladleful of sauce—no more, or you’ll end up with a soggy pizza.
Sprinkle your toppings and finish with mozzarella cheese (if using). If using meat, layer that over the cheese.
Remember to take the toppings lightly or your pizza will end up being heavy and soggy.
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Slide the topped pizza back onto the grill:
If using a gas grill, reduce the heat. When using a charcoal grill, close the vents on the cover almost completely. Close the lid and cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until the bottom begins to char and the cheese is bubbling. Using a spatula, pull the grate out onto a cutting board or other flat surface and let sit for a few minutes before slicing.
Slice and serve!
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 259 | calories |
| 9g | Fat |
| 37g | carbohydrates |
| 8g | protein |
