How to make the BEST Grill Pizza at home

A whole post on How to Grill Pizza! How to cook pizza on the grill without a stone, what you need and how to get the best homemade pizza. Perfect for a summer evening relaxing with friends and family!

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Out of all of the foods pizza is hands down my family’s favorite. If you follow my meal plans on Instagram you know how we have it almost once a week and most of the time homemade, so that makes it okay right… Anyway my favorite of all of the ways to have pizza at home is to grill it. 

The best part about grilling pizza is the same as anyway you make pizza, you can customize with all the flavors you love! Try making a Lobster Pizza or a Steak and Mango Salsa Flatbread on the grill!

How to Cook Pizza on the Grill

So since I have been grilling pizza for a while now I thought it would be fun to type up a little post about how to make grill pizza. The little tips I have learned I think can be really helpful to get the best pizza on the grill without any extra/fancy utensils! 

The best way to grill pizza (without a pizza stone) is on a low heat, now I know this is the opposite of how a lot of people might tell you to do it but they are wrong, unless of course you like unevenly cooked burnt pizza. 

The trick to grilling pizza is to grill it over low heat and the precook the crust on the grill just slightly to ensure the dough gets cooked all the way through.

So before we deep dive into the instructions here are some helpful hints;

• grilling pizza works best on a gas grill, I tried over charcoal and it never really worked for me as much as a tried to make it happen, the circle shape of the pizza would cut off the airflow to the grill and the top of the pizza wouldn’t cook, so use a gas grill
• you will use a generous amount of oil on the crust so that it doesn’t stick to the grill, I always use olive oil because of the flavor but any neutral oil will work, oiling the pizza also works best when you have a pastry brush or a silicone brush
• a sheet pan or similar size tray/cutting board will be needed to move the dough and pizza around, or if you are really fancy you can use a pizza paddle board
• don’t overload a grilled pizza with toppings, you might make your pizza soggy and/or it will take forever to cook or not cook properly, don’t get me wrong you can use multiple toppings but don’t overload it and weigh the pizza down

Shop Equipment

Silicone Pastry Brushes

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Nordic Ware Sheet Pan

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What you need for making a Pizza on the Grill

Dough – For your convince I have my own Pizza Dough Recipe. But you can use your favorite recipe or store bought, both the boxed kind or the dough you can pick up at the deli can both work great! Whatever is easiest for you.

Pizza Sauce – Again for your convince my 5 Minute Pizza Sauce Recipe is my own go-to. Or again you can just grab some at the store. 

Olive Oil & Flour – These are purely for making sure the pizza dough isn’t sticking to things. You will use the flour to roll the dough out and to dust the sheet pan before putting it on the grill to make sure that the dough doesn’t stick. The oil will get brushed onto the dough and crust to make sure that the crust doesn’t stick to the grill.

Cheese – Like I said above I am big into making homemade pizzas so over the course of time I have come to prefer using a block of low moisture mozzarella like this one HERE. This cheese can be found usually near the shredded cheese and typically comes in a 16oz package. I recommend slicing and using half of one of those packages for 1 pizza (so one package gets you 2 pizzas). Of course feel free to use what type of cheese your family prefers but I recommend the low-moisture variety!

Toppings – What is your favorite pizza topping? Put that on your pizza. My family typically puts on pepperoni, onions, black olives, and green olives because that it our favorite. 

How to cook pizza on a gas grill

Preheat your grill to LOW heat. I keep mine on the lowest setting. You’ll also want to make sure that your grates are clean to help prevent sticking. 

While your grill is heating up you will want to prepare your dough. On a floured surface roll/stretch out the pizza dough to the approximate size and shape of a standard sheet pan. A sheet pan will be your main mode of transportation for your pizza so you’ll want it to fit and I found that having it about the size of a sheet pan fits very nicely on a typical grill.

Lightly flour your sheet pan and transfer the rolled out pizza dough to the pan. Using a brush very lightly oil the entire top side of the pizza. Before you attempt to put your dough on the grill give the sheet pan a little shake to make sure that the dough isn’t sticking to the sheet pan. 

VERY CAREFULLY flip the oiled side of the pizza onto the grill. Use caution and I recommend oven mits/gloves. If your dough gets messed up, you do have a few moments to quickly strech it back out/ move it before it starts cooking BUT do so very carefully. Let dough cook for 4 minutes to form crust.

Alternatively if you don’t want to flip your pizza onto the grill just carefully pick it up and lay it down oiled side down, whatever floats your boat, I have just found it faster to flip it on. 

After you let the dough pre-cook into a crust carefully remove the pizza crust from the grill using spatulas or a pizza board to get it back onto the sheet pan.

Using your oil brush lightly oil the top of the pizza crust (the part that hasn’t been on the grate yet). Then flip pizza crust over so that the part that was facing the grill in now facing up. 

Spread pizza with sauce, then evenly top with cheese and whatever toppings you like.

Carefully slide the pizza back onto the center of the grill. Grill 13-16 minutes or until golden on the bottom, the cheese is melty, and the toppings are cooked.

Carefully remove the pizza from the grill using spatulas or a pizza board to a serving platter. Slice and serve.

Now get to make some grilled pizza because you too can make your children’s night by feeding them the best food EVER!

And make sure you are following me on TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest, for all the latest recipes!

P.S. Looking for more pizza recipes? Check out my Pesto Pizza with Tomatoes, Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Pizza, or my BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Or my Low-Carb Supreme Pizza Chicken Bake is sure to delight!