There is something about grilled pizza that feels a little magical. Maybe it’s the smoky, charred crust, or maybe it’s just the sheer fun of tossing dough on the grill and watching it bubble up like a pro pizza grill master. Either way, this grilled pizza recipe is one of my favorite grilled dinners of summer.

You’ll learn exactly how to grill pizza, step-by-step, from working with the dough to picking out toppings, plus all the tips you need to get that perfectly crisp, just-chewy-enough crust — no pizza stone required! Kids love it, adults are wowed, and once you’ve tried grilling pizza, you may never go back to oven-baked pizza again.

Sometimes I make these for an appetizer at a cookout, sometimes as the main event. If you want to go all out, you can also grill some toppings, like grilled peppers, onions, or eggplant, before making the pizzas.

You can make grilled pizza on a gas or charcoal grill. You can use store-bought dough or throw together some delicious, easy homemade pizza dough.

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!

Why Grill Pizza?

• First of all, it’s fun, and it’s entertaining.
• You can also let people pick their own toppings.
• It’s quicker to cook than pizza in the oven and has that signature char flavor of a wood-burning oven professional pizza pie.
• You get a great smoky flavor when cooking pizza on a grill.
• You’ll get a perfectly crispy grilled pizza crust.

Ingredients

• 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. You want dough that is pliable enough to stretch, but you don’t want dough that is too wet or sticky to prevent sticking on the grill.
• 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.

Best Grilled Pizza Toppings

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 Step-by-Step

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. Stretch 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. Grill the underside: Preheat 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.

6. 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!

Tips for Grilling Pizza Successfully

• 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.)
• You can make or buy the dough a day or two ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. Allow it 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.
• Start with smaller pizzas, which are easier to flip and get on and off the grill.
• You might use store-bought 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!
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Don’t overload your pizza. Too many toppings make the pizza hard to handle on the grill, and to transfer.
• Transferring pizza from the grill: I like to use two spatulas to transfer the cooked pizzas from the grill to prevent the toppings from sliding off.

What to Serve With Grilled Pizza

Grilled Vegetables

Grilled Vegetable Kebabs

Tomato Bruschetta

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

Things to Know About Grilling Pizza

More Grilled Recipes

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