Have you thought of cooking pizzas on the grill? You should! It’s a fantastic way to make a very tasty, interesting meal that the whole family will love. It’s not that hard, and we’ll cover everything from the ingredients to tools to use for grilling that outside pizza.
Wait, what are we talking about? Grill your pizza?
That’s right, put your burgers and steaks aside. Making pizzas on the grill could quickly become one of your favorite family traditions. One of the big benefits of grilling pizza is allowing people to create their own individual pizzas. The kids will love working with the dough. Your portion sizes are flexible, and everyone can get the exact pizza they prefer. Best of all: the smokey flavor of a grilled pizza is impossible to replicate from regular ovens.
Ingredients
Every town has its top pizza joint. Did you know that most will sell you the dough and sauce? Our first suggestion is to go to that favorite pizza spot and to ask them for some dough and sauce. They’ve most likely been asked before, and they’ll usually sell you the ingredients for just a few dollars. You can buy toppings there too, but usually it’s cheaper to buy those at the store.
If you don’t have that favorite sauce or dough, here are some top rated options from Amazon.
- Five Star Sauce that’s perfect for kids and groups: Contadina Pizza Sauce https://amzn.to/2XB7zPV
- Rao’s Homemade All Natural Sauce (also 5 stars): https://amzn.to/2VsmtuB
- Feel Good Dough: https://amzn.to/2IABoN3
- New York Style Weisenberger is very popular on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2VXNJ0Y
As cheeses go, this is up to you and your preference. Mozzarella and Provolone are tops, and either or a blend of the two is a great start.
Preparation
Getting your dough to room temperature is key. Once it’s warm, you can roll it out for thinner crusts or follow the instructions that Real Simple provides in the video below.
Add your sauce next…either a lot or a little…the beauty of all of this process is that the pizza is your personal creation. Throw some toppings below the cheese or on top; heck even do both!
Some personal favorites in our home:
- Hawaiian Heat: Serrano peppers chopped fine with pineapples and ham.
- Pepperoni, Mushroom and Peppers: The name sort of says it, right? Add some Serrano pepper to your pepperoni and mushroom combo.
- Cheese….a lot of cheese.
Cooking Your Pizza
There are a lot of variables to this process. You really can use type of grill. There are some considerations and depending on the grill you employ, you’ll want to experiment and tweak to get the pizza just how you like it.
Temperature consistency is important. You want the dough cooked properly on the bottom, but not burnt. At the same time, getting that top cheese layer browned and bubbling is usually preferred. So depending on your grill’s heat reflection properties, you’ll need to fiddle a bit with your temperatures. DaveHax did a really nice video on grilling pizzas. Take a quick peek:
Based on personal experience and advice from DaveHax, here are some options for you (all links are on Amazon):
- Use a Pizza Stone: https://amzn.to/2Uz4s92
- Use a Baking Steel: https://amzn.to/2VjZzFw
- Use Grillaholics Grill Mats: These mats are 100% non-stick grilling mats that work great for Pizza or really anything. Put them directly over the grates, stone or steel to allow for quick picking up and switching of your pizzas. It’s a really useful tool. Realistically, these mats have become a kitchen or grilling staple, and I highly recommend them.
Their Amazon store is here: https://amzn.to/2VkE4UR
- Other options are combinations of cookie sheets, the cupcake idea that Dave came up with, aluminum foil or cooking right on the grill. It really depends on your prefences, grill type and how much you want to invest!
Two items I do recommend to own after the Grillaholics mats are a good pizza scoop and pizza cutter:
- This Checkered Chef is nice because it can mult-task a bit more on the grill: https://amzn.to/2GsEH5w
- The Kitchy Pizza Cutter Wheel deserves mention for it’s easy and small design: https://amzn.to/2GsEH5w
The Ooni Outdoor Pizza Oven
I’d also like to mention that you can make this process a little more scientific, and use a dedicated grill for making pizza. Ooni (also branded under Uuni) is the market leader for Outdoor Pizza Ovens. They’ll take the guesswork out of grilling pizza and speed up the process without eliminating the flavor or fun of making them at home.
Their Amazon Store is found here: https://amzn.to/2VjgJDk
A more affordable version is the Ooni 3 Portable Wood Pellet Pizza Oven. https://amzn.to/2IB9twp
The deluxe version sets you back a bit more, but has a few more options for the type of charcoal, pellets, gas or wood you’d like to use. It also has a larger cooking surface, allowing up to 16″ pizzas.
You can find the mother of all outdoor pizza ovens here on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DtaYZB
Whatever you decide, enjoy the process! Our family loves making these pizzas, and the individuality is the experience. Have fun and please let us know your favorite tips and tricks. Retweet, Share and Message us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram! Thanks for following!
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