Want to know how to grill pizza? Here’s my easy technique for making homemade grilled pizza using a gas grill and a pizza stone.
I’ve gotten so many requests for this how-to, and I finally took some photos the last time we had a pizza night!
The Crust
We buy our dough from Whole Foods pre-made. It saves time and is delicious! (You can obviously make it from scratch as well.)
Start by covering the cutting board with lots of cornmeal.
This keeps the dough from sticking when you’re ready to slide the prepared pizza off the board onto the stone.
Equipment
- A grill
- A large cutting board or pizza peel
- A pizza stone (ours is a basic circle but they have kinds with handles that would make getting the pizza off easier!)
The Technique
Preheat Grill and Stone
Heat the grill burners to high with the pizza stone inside. Ideal is up to 500-600 degrees.
Prepare Crust
Cover board with 75% all purpose flour and 25% cornmeal and push and stretch crust out into a big circle, incorporating some of the flour on the board into the dough which will help keep it from sticking to your hands.
Make sure pizza can slide back and forth on the board. If it can’t, add more cornmeal.
Add any toppings you like!
Slide pizza onto stone
Cook for ~12 minutes with lid closed
Homemade Grilled Pizza
Equipment
- Pizza stone
- Grill
- Pizza peel
Ingredients
- 1 package pizza dough (from Whole Foods or a grocery store)
- 1/4 cup pizza sauce
- All the toppings you love!
Instructions
- Preheat grill with burners on high and pizza stone inside. Ideal is 500-600 degrees.
- Cover board with 75% all purpose flour and 25% cornmeal and push and stretch crust out into a big circle, incorporating some of the flour on the board into the dough which will help keep it from sticking to your hands.
- Add sauce, toppings, and cheese. Make sure pizza can slide back and forth on board. If it can't, add more cornmeal.
- Slide pizza onto pizza stone and close lid.
- Cook for ~12 minutes, until crust is crispy and toppings are bubbly.
- Slide pizza off using a large spatula or pizza lifter.
- Allow to cool slightly and slice!
Cyndi says
Thanks for this, Kath!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
You got me craving pizza now! I don’t have an outdoor grill so I can’t make this (sigh, such is the pain of living in a cramped apartment in the city) but I guess I could order in… the next best thing haha!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Brigid says
That pizza looks to die for!!!! I am going to try this but I just don’t think it’ll look that good!
alan says
Hi Kath:
Thanks for posting. Making homemade pizza dough is actually enjoyable and not difficult–as you mentioned. I recall a very old early KERF post which had a pizza tutorial. That was one of my first recipes I used. Now I use a basic ratio of 8:5 flour to water. (62.5% hydration) and I usually add a splash or two of olive oil and dribbles of honey.
Anyway–I made grilled pizza over the summer and it came out charred. I’ve heard that when using cornmeal, it can also burn even with its properties of allowing easier sliding of the dough. Any experience with charring the pizza vs. baking it ‘just right’? How many burners do you turn on? Do you cook it on active burners or use “indirect heat’? Your stories are fun to read and your food always looks so delish!
KathEats says
Did you use a pizza stone? We haven’t had issues with charring (except for maybe once?) and we use all burners on. The pizza stone blocks the flames so they don’t burn the crust.
Christine says
Where did you get your stone? I had a Pampered Chef one that cracked in half when I took it off the grill. Lost both the stone and the pizza! ?
KathEats says
Oh no!! I’m not sure where ours is from but I’d go to Williams Sonoma.
Janet says
Thank you for this post! Will give it a try soon.
alan says
Hi. There is a stone I saw on the King Arthur Flour website, for 15% off today. I have a few stones personally–Emile Henry, pizza steel and the regular stone. I like the Emile Henry stone a lot (they come rectangular and/or circular, and black and red options). The steel works great too.
As far as the grill–yes, we did prewarm the stone on the grill (didn’t just use the grate) but it got so hot that the dough charred and the top got very brown quickly. I still ate it and was fine with it, but your images of pizza look way way better.
Betty says
What happened to using the big green egg? any difference with this gas grill?
KathEats says
We do use the green egg on occasion, but it takes a bit more work because it uses charcoal so we use the gas one whenever we need a quicker dinner.