How to Cook Pizza on the Grill

A step-by-step guide to how to cook pizza on a gas grill. Barbecuing pizza is a fun way to take pizza night up a notch & it won’t heat up your home during the hot summer months. Easy summer cooking never looked better!

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Our family absolutely loves pizza!!! We have pizza every Friday night, and we usually make our own homemade pizza. As the weather warms up in the summer, we start cooking our pizzas outside on the grill.

Why should I learn how to cook pizza on the grill?

• Flavor ~ The taste of barbecued pizza is phenomenal! Similar to the idea of wood-fired pizza you would find in a restaurant, cooking pizza on the grill gives it a special flavor you don’t get when cooking in the oven.
• Fun ~ Cooking on the grill can be a fun family activity or party with friends. With my pizza dough recipe, you can make at least 6 personal sized pizzas. You could definitely make even more pizzas because the ones we make are pretty big. My husband and teenage son can eat a whole one, but the rest of us can usually only eat half and save the leftovers for lunch the next day.
• Easy summer cooking ~ People tend to use the backyard grill frequently in the summer, and of course one of the main reasons is so they don’t have to heat up the inside of our home during the hot summer months. Well, cooking pizza on the grill is another way to cook more of your summer meals outdoors.

Tips for cooking pizza on the grill

Have lots of pizza toppings

• Have lots of toppings on hand so your family/friends will all be happy with their personalized pizzas
• Sauce ideas include: tomato, barbecue, alfredo, pesto, thai peanut
• Ideas for veggies/fruit include: onions, bell pepper, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, pineapple, zucchini, olives, basil, cilantro
• Ideas for cheeses include: mozzarella (sliced or shredded), feta, parmesan, cheddar
• Ideas for meats include: pepperoni, Italian sausage, canadian bacon, bacon bits, grilled chicken

Individual pizzas made easy

• I cut a piece of parchment paper for each pizza & spray it with olive oil. You can use foil in place of parchment paper.
• This parchment paper is what you will roll the dough onto. You will remove the dough from the parchment paper to cook. Hold onto the pieces of parchment paper to place the grilled pizzas back onto after cooking. You will then cut the pizzas on the parchment paper.
• Don’t worry about perfection! The pizzas don’t have to be a perfect circle when rolling them out. I prefer a more rustic look. It’s like the really good gourmet pizzas in restaurants.
• Roll the dough out thin because it thickens up as it cooks.
• Cut pizzas in rectangles instead of triangles to change things up!
• If you have a small family or just don’t eat a lot, you can easily cut this recipe in half and still make 4 smaller personal pizzas.

How do I cook pizza on a gas grill?

• To get started, you need a good pizza dough recipe. You could probably use pre-made dough from the grocery store, but you should really try my Friday Night Pizza Dough recipe. It is my favorite! See the recipe card below.

• After you have made the dough and before adding toppings to the pizza crust, you will need to cook the crust on the grill.
• Brush the grill with olive oil.
• If you have 4 burners, turn ONLY the outside burners onto high heat. This will heat up the cooking rack without the crust coming into direct contact with the flames. You can turn the burners down if your crusts seem to be cooking too hot.
• If you have 2 burners, turn them onto high heat & just before cooking turn them back down to low.
• Cooking time will depend on your grill. We cook the crusts for 3 minutes and then flip them over and cook for another minute. You don’t want the crusts to be all the way cooked in the middle, just on the outsides.
• Remove crusts from grill and add toppings to the side that was cooked for 3 minutes. This way the side that was under cooked will be the one cooking when they go back on the grill.
• Place pizzas back on the grill, and cook until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Try more easy recipes for Summer!

Simple Homemade All-Natural Granola

Easy Vegan Protein Smoothie

Healthy Vegan Baked Beans

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