Pizza is arguably The Best Food on the Planet, according to most kids (and almost everyone else); sometimes, even bad pizza is good. And, your family likely has its fair share of pizza in the given course of a month. But pizza on the grill has the capacity to amaze and dazzle like few other dinners. I make grilled pizza many times every summer, and it’s always everyone’s favorite cookout meal.

Making pizza on the grill is so much easier than you might think. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll make this a summertime staple. You can use store-bought dough or throw together some delicious homemade pizza dough. It’s quicker to cook than pizza in the oven and has that signature char flavor of a wood-burning oven professional pizza pie. No pizza stone required!

Sometimes I make these for an appetizer at a cookout, sometimes as the main event. If you want to go full out, you can also grill some toppings, like grilled peppers, onions, or eggplant before making the pizzas. You might buy your pizza or tomato sauce or make marinara sauce or spaghetti sauce to create the base layer under the cheese. Make sure all of your toppings are ready to roll, from the shredded mozzarella to the pepperoni, before you preheat the grill as once the dough hits the hot grill, the process goes very fast!

Grilled Pizza: This is simply the best way to cook pizzas during the summer, and it’s so easy. No pizza stone, the pizzas cook right on the grill!

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Ingredients for Grilled Pizza

• Pizza dough – Store-bought dough is great, but if you really want to go all out, I recommend making a batch of Homemade Pizza Dough.
• Olive oil – prevent the dough from sticking while you roll it out and grill it.
• Cornmeal or all-purpose flour – Combined with the olive oil, either cornmeal or flour will help prevent sticking.
• Tomato or pizza sauce – Whip up a quick homemade tomato sauce or use store-bought.
• Mozzarella cheese – Try to use fresh mozzarella, and shred it or slice it very thin.
• Fresh basil leaves (optional) – A lovely summery finishing touch is a shower of torn or chiffonaded basil. See how to chiffonade basil for the skinny on getting those pretty thin strands of the fresh herb.

Toppings for Grilled Pizza

These are just some of the ways to go — anything you like as a pizza topping is fair game, but don’t overload the pizzas or they will be harder to handle on the grill.

• Pepperoni
• Crumbled cooked sausage
• Cooked broccoli
• Black olives
• Sautéed mushrooms
• Caramelized onions
• Blue cheese and figs
• Sautéed or roasted bell peppers

How to Make Pizza on the Grill

1. Prepare the dough: If you are making the pizza dough from scratch, follow these directions. If you are using store-bought dough, just coat with olive oil and let it come to room temp.
2. Shape the dough: Use a coating of cornmeal to prevent sticking, stretch the dough out into a thin circle or rectangle. Rest the dough in between stretching so that it doesn’t spring back. Keep them on oiled baking sheets.
3. Set up to grill: While you preheat the grill to medium-high heat, bring out your dough, tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings.
4. Place on the grill: Brush the olive oil on the pizza dough and flip it onto the hot grill. Cover and cook for a minute or two to give it a chance to rise and firm up a bit.

4. Flip: Once cooked, brush the top side with oil and flip it over again.

5. Add toppings: Once the bottom crusts are ready to be turned over, you can do this right on the grill and add the sauce and toppings there or, if the heat is too much for you, turn them cooked side up onto oiled baking sheets, load on the toppings, and carefully transfer the pizzas back to the grill.

7. Finish: Once the cheese is melted and the toppings are cooked, remove the pizza from the grill. Top with fresh basil and cut into slices. Then serve!

Cooking Tips for Grilled Pizza

Here are some helpful hints to remember when cooking pizzas on the grill.

1. Let the dough “relax,” and handle it gently. Realizing that the word relax is so alien to moms in general, in this case, it should be interpreted as letting the dough rest. This allows the activated gluten in the dough to have a chance to unclench, making the dough more pliable and supple. (Note to family: If we moms were given more chances to relax and unclench we would likely be more pliable and supple, too.)
2. Start with smaller pizzas which are easier to flip and get on and off the grill.
3. Make sure your grill is super clean. If there is food or charred bits from a previous grilling session, they will get onto your pizza, for sure. The dough is placed directly onto the hot grill grates, so they need to be sparkling clean and very lightly oiled.
4. You will want to precook some of the more dense raw topping ingredients, like broccoli, onions, or sliced red peppers, and have all of the toppings sliced, slivered, or grated and ready to go before you begin the grilling.
5. Adjust the heat as needed. Watch the grill temperature. If it’s too hot, the pizza can scorch, and if it’s too low, it might stick or come out soggy.
6. Turn the crusts over. Turning the crusts over after 3 minutes or so means that the firmed-up bottom becomes the top crust, and now you can layer on your sauce and cheese and toppings and not end up with an undercooked layer of dough underneath the toppings.

FAQs

Make-Ahead Grilled Pizzas

You can make or buy the dough a day or two ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. Allow to come to room temperature before beginning to form your pizzas. You can also make all of your toppings up to a few days ahead of time and keep those in the fridge.

Making Grilled Pizza With Kids

It’s no secret that pizza is one of the most kid-friendly foods of all time. And in my lengthy grilled pizza experience, they are completely dazzled to see it made on the grill. And they can help, by shaping the dough, and later adding the sauce, and choosing the toppings for their own pizzas.

You absolutely should make sure the kids top their pizza when it’s off the grill; you’ll pull the dough from the grill after the bottom firms up. Place it on an oiled baking sheet, let them top away, then return the pizzas to the grill to finish the cooking.

What to Serve With Grilled Pizza

Grilled Vegetables

Grilled Vegetable Skewers

Tomato Bruschetta

More Grilled Recipes

• Grilled Chicken Breasts
• Grilled Bruschetta
• Grilled Mexican Street Corn
• Grilled Watermelon

Also see: Homemade Pizza Dough and 10 Things to Do to Get Your Grill Ready for Summer.