grill my pizza?

March 18, 2011 12:20 PM

grilled pizza! it's a magically hot day today! i want to bbq a pizza! how?

we have a charcoal grill and my google-fu is failing me! i keep finding recipes for bbq chicken on a pizza or for gas grills. suggestions? tips for recipes that work well? do i put the dough right on the grill or do i need/can i use my pizza stone? i always make my own pizza dough or buy fresh dough from stores.

posted by anya32 to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

This worked for me, but I have ambitions to make a Little Black Egg some day.
posted by zamboni at 12:25 PM on March 18, 2011

Here's what I found to be important:

1) A small crust.
2) Light, pre-cooked toppings.
3) Dough right on the grill.

If your toppings are too heavy, the whole thing is going to fall through the grill. Not that I've done that. That would be terrible. Ugh. Disaster.

Good luck, and good eating. I want one now too.
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:26 PM on March 18, 2011

You can do it right on the grill. Make your dough and roll/stretch it out to the right size, spread with olive oil and lay it on a hot grill. BBQ till it's golden going dark brown in spots. Flip it out onto a tray, and garnish the cooked side with your pizza toppings. Back on the grill (uncooked side down, pizza toppings up, natch) for a bit more till the bottom is brown and the cheese is melted.

Yum!
posted by LN at 12:26 PM on March 18, 2011

I've made this recipe, which includes a charcoal grill variation, on a charcoal grill and it was delicious! We grilled it directly on the rack.
posted by amarynth at 12:26 PM on March 18, 2011

Grilled pizza is so easy and delicious! There's seriously nothing special you need to do, you can make your own regular dough or buy it. The key is to roll it as thin as possible because it puffs up a lot on the grill. Also, have all of your ingredients ready to go because you need to move fast. Roll out the dough, place it on the grill, give it about 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until it looks puffed and slightly charred, flip it over and quickly spread on the sauce, cheese, toppings, etc., and put the cover on so the cheese can melt. Give it about another minute or so and it's done. Cooking times don't really matter because it's so easy to visually check if the dough looks cooked and your toppings are hot.
posted by shornco at 12:27 PM on March 18, 2011

I've done this. A lot. It's easy.

I visited the local ceramic supply store and bought two kiln shelves and four fire bricks. One shelf rests on the grill, then the bricks, then the top shelf. With the gas burners going full bore, I can get that little makeshift oven up over 650F.

But you don't need to do all that. You don't even need a gas grill. Real pizza ovens wood, after all.

Use your stone and keep the lid on. Get an oven thermometer and see how hot you can get it.
posted by notyou at 12:27 PM on March 18, 2011

You can use a pizza stone or a cast iron pan. I have a special BBQ pizza peel with holes in it, but it works better for calzones.
posted by mkb at 12:27 PM on March 18, 2011

I made about a million of these last summer, and I do exactly what LN and shornco say (I brush with salted, garlic-infused olive oil before I slap it on the grill, and I top the "first" side while the second side is cooking; a little sauce, some blobs of cheese, some basil when it comes off the grill).

I also use a slightly drier-than-normal dough, because I find it a little easier to work with on the grill.

It's not Pizza-with-a-capital-P, really, but it's awesome.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:39 PM on March 18, 2011

awesome! thanks for all of the responses so far! so grilling seems much much faster than using my kitchen oven.
posted by anya32 at 1:02 PM on March 18, 2011

I actually do the crust on the grill and then put the pizza in the oven to cook through. I haven't been successful on a charcoal grill with cooking the whole pizza on the grate. I have not used ceramic tiles, which would probably do the job ok.

Basically I grill one side of the crust, flip it and grill the other side (this is a fast and furious process), and then take the crust off, dress it, and pop it in the oven @ 425 until the cheese is melted. It tastes great this way, but I find it kind of stressful. I would likely not do it if it weren't my lovely wife's favorite.
posted by OmieWise at 3:34 PM on March 18, 2011

If you buy a bag of Sargento's cheese, I think the Italian 6-cheese, it will have a recipe on the back, and you'll already have the cheese.
posted by vsync at 4:17 PM on March 18, 2011

Make sure your grill is very clean, and keep your toppings to a minimum if you put the dough straight on the grill. I do essentially what OmieWise does, but if you keep the toppings simple, there's no need for the oven step, just close the BBQ for a couple of minutes.
posted by peppermind at 4:25 PM on March 18, 2011