How to Make Grilled Pizza

I wanted to start this post off with “we love Grilled Pizza!” This recipe doesn’t require any fancy pizza stones or other specialized equipment. Just you, pizza dough and toppings!

I really do love what we grill. That is one of the major reasons why we decided to create a blog about grilling.  It is a lot of fun to share the recipes for others to enjoy.

On to the pizza!  It took us quite a bit of time to figure out our favorite techniques for grilling pizzas. We hope that this post is helpful to others so they can skip the mistakes we made.

🍕 Preparation

Let’s start out with the dough. We use a dough made in the bread machine for a thin and crispy crust.

Step One: Just pop the ingredients into the machine and push start. In 90 minutes, it is ready to roll it out.

We tried several dough recipes, but the one in the recipe section is our favorite. It grills quickly and is crisp when grilling directly on the grate.

We use other dough mixtures for cast iron skillet pizzas, but for pizzas grilled straight over the coals, this is a great one to have in your back pocket! It works every single time without fail!

Note: If you are busy and don’t have a lot of time to prep for this meal, make the dough a few days in advance.  After finishing in the bread machine, wrap it in saran and store it in the refrigerator. When you are ready to grill, take it out, and let it return back to room temperature. Because of the yeast, it may continue to rise in the fridge, so check on it periodically.

We are fortunate to have granite countertops, so rolling out the dough is easier with a dusting of flour.  

Step Two: Use a rolling pin to smooth out the dough.  I recommend to get it as close to 12” in diameter as possible.  That is a good size for the grill, and is still manageable to slip on to the pizza peel. We also have used the dough to make three smaller pizzas so each of us will have our own toppings.

The dough is sticky, so don’t skimp on the flour. This is really one of those “feels” in the dough making process that a lot of people hate. Too much flour and it’s dried out, too little and it’s a sticky mess. Most of the time, I add just a little bit to the rolling pin. Just accept it and be patient with it.

The cornmeal acts as little ball bearings and really helps minimize any sticking.

Note: This is not a pretty, round pizza.  I have yet to get it into a perfect circle (or anything resembling a circle).  I like to think of it has having character! It still tastes the same! Most of the time the pizza dough will come out as an irregular object that don’t resemble much of anything. I assure you, it doesn’t affect the flavor!

🍅 Prepare the Sauce

Definitely DO NOT use jarred pizza sauce if you have a few minutes to make this homemade version.  I think the sodium and other preservatives in store-bought sauce distorts the flavor too much. Just spend a few minutes to make the sauce, if you can.

The sauce is a simple “Dump and Go” recipe. Literally, dump the ingredients together and mix.

If you are short on time, the sauce can be made a day or two ahead of time.  It freezes great, too.

🧀 Prepare the Toppings

Add ingredients to different bowls and place them on the counter in assembly line style.  

Note: When we had friends over, we made these grilled pizzas.  It was great. The kids could pick and choose what they wanted on their personal sized pizza.

🔥 Grilling Instructions

With the dough rolled out and on the peel, and the ingredients staged, it’s time to grill! This is a two person job for us.

Jason mans the grill and runs in and out as I’m prepping the next dough or adding ingredients.

Step One: Set up the grill for direct heat without the plate setter in place, and set the temperature to around 350. Some folks like to set the temperature a LOT higher and use a pizza stone. I’ll do an article on that style in the future. Right now, I am loving this direct-on-the-grate pizza.

Step Two: Lightly oil the grate using a paper towel with olive oil.  It helps to minimize any potential sticking.

Step Three: Transfer the rolled out pizza dough from the peel to the grate.  With the cornmeal and the light oiling, the dough should transfer to the grill pretty easily.

Step Four: Set the timer for three minutes.  It doesn’t take long for one side of the dough to cook into a nice crust.  The bottom of the dough should be a nice golden brown with the searing marks visible.  If your grill temperature is lower, you may need another minute or two.

Step Five: When the bottom is a nice golden brown, transfer back to the pizza peel.  It should have the cooked side facing up.  

Note: You may get a bubble like in the image below. Don’t worry about it. Just pop it and it will deflate.

Step Six: Add the sauce and toppings of your choice to the cooked side of the pizza.

Step Seven: When you are ready, transfer the pizza back to the grill.  Set the timer for another three minutes until the bottom is a nice golden brown and the top has the cheese melted.

Take the pizza off the grill with the peel, and bring it inside.  It is ready to be sliced and eaten! Yummy!

🧑‍🍳 Equipment

You do not need to use a pizza stone for this recipe.  We will add a post later where the Pizza Stone is used, but you do not have to have one to grill pizza.

Have you seen pizza peels in the stores and wondered if you really needed them?

For this recipe, it helps a lot!  We made grilled pizzas without them in the past, but found it is much easier and less stressful when we use a pizza peel. If you don’t have one, don’t worry. We used larger spatulas with cookie sheets or a large dish to transfer it.

If the dough is a little more crispy, tongs work as well.

The right tool for the job definitely helps, and after you have tried this recipe, I guarantee that you will be making it a lot more!

💡 Recipe Tips

Shhh!  Cornmeal is the secret to a smooth grilled pizza experience.  The fine granules of the cornmeal create a space between the dough and the grate.  This significantly reduces problems with the dough sticking.

We made pizzas without the cornmeal, but sticking dough proved challenging.

The light coating of cornmeal adds a fun texture that reminds me of pizzas from nice italian restaurants.  It’s a little thing, but it has a big impact.

If you want to mix it up, try the dough recipe from our Cast Iron Grilled Pizza recipe. It is always fun to make this recipe a little differently each time.

📌 Items to Note

Prep as much as you can earlier in the day or the day before. The dough, pizza sauce, sauteed veggies, and other toppings can be prepared ahead of time to save time on grill day.

Play with the cheeses as you start on the grilled pizza journey. I can’t tell you how much fun this part is. Sometimes we slice mozzarella. Sometimes I just buy the pizza cheese mix in the bag. And sometimes I just use what is left over in the house.

The one that I always like to add is parmesan, though. You only need a bit, but it heightens the flavor quite a bit.

Until next time, Happy Grilling!

Related Recipes

Grilled Pizza in a Cast Iron Skillet – For something a little different, make the pizza in a cast iron skillet. The herb crust is out of this world delish!

Grilled Portobello Pizza – Try the pizza in large portobello mushroom tops. OMG! They were so good that we didn’t even miss the crust