Brush one side of your dough with olive oil, then transfer to the grill grate (using caution). Flip and cook until the crust starts to brown and develop a nice char.
Next layer on your toppings, starting with meats like pepperoni and sausage. Then add your vegetables. Lastly, top with cheeses like mozzarella.
Prep the Dough
Whether you’re making pizza on the grill from scratch or using a store-bought pie, the first step is to make sure your dough is at room temperature. A pizza that’s too cold will be more difficult to handle and might not cook through properly.
Lightly flour a pizza peel or sheet pan. Stretch your pizza dough out into a rectangle or circle (as long as it’s uniform in size) and drizzle the top with oil. This will prevent the dough from sticking. Carefully add the dough to the hot grill and cook for 4 minutes.
When you remove the pizza, transfer it to a flat cutting board. This will prevent the bottom from absorbing steam, which can make it soggy.
Prep the Toppings
Since you’ll be adding toppings right on top of the pizza after it’s been grilled, have the sauce, cheese, and any other desired ingredients ready to go. Having them close by will make the process quick and easy.
Once the dough has been cooked through on one side, flip it with a spatula onto a plate or a pizza peel (or a flat cookie sheet will do in a pinch). Brush the grilled surface with olive oil.
Alternatively, dust a pizza peel or thin wooden cutting board with flour or cornmeal and shape the pizza on it before flipping it onto the grill to prevent sticking. Brush the grilled surface with a little more olive oil before you start adding toppings. Add any final fresh elements (like arugula or chopped basil) here, too.
Prep the Sauce
Pizza on the grill is fun to make and a real crowd pleaser. However, it takes a little practice to master the techniques for success. The main challenges are controlling the grill temperature and knowing how to use the heat zone to cook the crust and melt toppings.
The first step is to prep your ingredients and tools. Gather a pair of long metal tongs and a spatula, and have them close by. If your grill doesn’t have a lid, you can use a large heat-safe bowl or an inverted baking sheet to mimic the effect of a lid.
Dust a pizza peel or thin wooden cutting board with flour (or in a pinch, a flat cookie sheet with no rim). Spread a ball of dough onto the flour and gently stretch it into a round. Brush the top with oil, and carefully transfer it to the grill with the oiled side down.
Prep the Cheese
You’ll need a good quality cheese for pizza on the grill, as you don’t have the benefit of a hot oven to bake it up. It’s best to add the cheese after the dough is cooked, since attempting to cook it all at once will result in an overcooked crust and undercooked toppings.
You’ll want to be ready to add the toppings in a hurry, so it’s important to have all of your ingredients prepped and organized before you start cooking. It also helps to have your grill preheated so you can quickly get your pizza dough on the grate without risking it being burned. It’s helpful to brush the pizza with olive oil on both sides before you place it on the grill, then flip and cook the other side. This is a great time to add any quick-cooking veggies or low-moisture toppings that don’t require advance preparation.
Prep the Vegetables
Grilling vegetables on a pizza adds delicious smoky flavor and is an easy way to add more veggies to your diet. It’s important to precook the vegetables before adding them to the pizza. To do this, cook them in a small amount of oil in the same manner as you would when cooking them for pizza on the grill.
While the vegetables are precooking, lightly flour a pizza peel or large baking sheet. This will help the dough not stick when transferring it to the grill later.
If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can try using a heat-resistant spatula or pair of tongs. Just be very careful when moving the pizza from the grates to the plate or cutting board. The crust releases a tiny bit of steam when removed from the grill, and placing it on a non-preferred surface will cause it to reabsorb that moisture and turn soggy.
Prepare the Grill
In order to cook a pizza without burning the crust, you need to create a two zone grill with hot and cool sides. This allows you to drop the dough onto the hot side first to sear it and get some tasty grill marks. Then flip it over to the cooler side and close the grill to bake the pizza.
To keep the pizza from sticking to the grill, lightly flour your hands and work surface before shaping it. Then brush a little olive oil on top of the dough. It also helps to add a bit of oil to the sheet pan you will transfer the pizza to.
When the pizza is ready, carefully slide it off the sheet pan onto a pizza peel (in a pinch a flat cookie sheet with no rim will work). Serve with extra herbs and enjoy! A well-prepared grilled pizza is a perfect summer meal.
