How to Grill a Pizza

Getting the Ingredients Ready

Heat the grill. Your grill needs to be on high heat. One reason to cook a pizza on a grill is that you can get it hotter than you can your oven. Most professional pizza ovens get much hotter than home ovens, resulting in a crispy crust. You can achieve a crispy crust at home by using a very hot grill. Your grill should be about 550, but 600 degrees is better (with the lid closed). Have your grill heating while you finish up with your ingredients.

Prepare the dough. When grilling pizza, you can use homemade dough, a premade dough ball, or a premade crust. If you are making your own crust, prepare it through the final stages, including rising. If you're using a store-bought dough ball, make sure it's thawed and risen if it was frozen.

Slice up your ingredients. If you're using veggies, make sure they're sliced and ready to go. Also, shred or slice the cheese you're going to use. If you're including meat, make sure it's cooked first and chopped or broken into pizza-sized pieces. Have them all set up in bowls, ready to go.

Have the sauce ready. You can use a pre-made pizza sauce or make your own. You can also just tomatoes and olive oil as a sauce, or use another pre-made sauce like barbecue sauce, pesto, or marinara sauce as the base of your pizza. Most stores sell pizza sauce already made in a small jar or can. If you can't find it, marinara sauce is a decent substitute. You can also use Alfredo sauce, too.

Cooking the Crust

Roll out the dough. Flour a clean surface, and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into your desired shape. Both round and square will work, as long as they fit on your grill. However, try not to get them too big, as it can be more difficult to flip. You'll need to turn the pizza as you roll to get it rolled out evenly. You'll also be fighting the elasticity of the dough. You don't want to get the dough too thin, as it can go through the grate. Keep it a little thicker than you would normally roll the dough. Lightly flour a pizza peel or other flat surface (like a pizza pan) to take the pizza out to the grill.

Oil the grate. Once your grill is heated up, you need to oil the grate. The oil will help keep the pizza from sticking. You can use a plain olive oil, or you can use one flavored with another herb or seasoning, such as garlic, to add flavor to the pizza as you grill it.

Oil the top side of the pizza. Oil is your friend when it comes to grilling pizza because the dough has a tendency to stick. Brush the top of the dough with more olive oil, being generous across the top of it. You can use a flavored or plain olive oil.

Grill one side of the pizza crust. Place the crust on the grill. You should place it oil-side down on the grill, so it keep it from sticking to the grill. Brush the side that's sticking up with more olive oil, then let it cook for about 3 minutes with the lid open and then a couple minutes with the grill closed. Check it after a minute or two with the lid closed. The bottom should be starting to set up. You don't necessarily want that side crispy. Lift up the edge of the pizza with tongs to check it. Grill marks are fine.

Flip the pizza. Once the pizza starts to set up and grill marks, flip it over. It should be starting to get brown. You can use tongs to flip it, but if you're having trouble, try using a spatula, too, to help you flip it. It shouldn't be sticking at all if it's cooked enough.

Building and Cooking the Pizza

Pour on your sauce. Now that you have it flipped, it's time to add the sauce. Add on a spoonful or two of sauce. You can also use more olive oil instead, if you prefer. Quickly spread out the sauce over the whole surface of the pizza. You can use the back of a spoon or ladle to spread out the sauce. Go light on the sauce or the pizza could be soggy.

Add your toppings. Sprinkle the cheese on, or lay out slices of fresh mozzarella, if that's what you're using. You probably don't need as much as you think you do. Layer your other toppings over the top of the cheese, including your vegetables and your meats.

Close the lid. The pizza toppings will cook better with the lid on the grill because it traps the heat and turns it back on the pizza. You'll only need to cook it about another 5 minutes, perhaps a bit less. If it smells like it's burning, you may need to move the pizza over to a cooler part of the grill. Check it after 3 minutes to see if it's done. Sometimes, the pizza will cook faster.

Pull the pizza off. When the cheese is melted and the pizza is done, use the tongs or a spatula to pull the pizza off onto a clean, flat surface. A baking pan or cutting board works well. The bottom of the pizza should be fairly stiff now, making it easier to move.

Cut the pizza into slices. You can use a pizza cutter or a knife to slice up the pizza. Kitchen shears also work well for cutting pizza. Serve up the pizza on plates with a salad or a fruit salad on the side. You can also top it with Parmesan.

Finished.