Grilled pizza tastes nothing like a store-bought pizza! Crispy edges with smoky flavor hold the pizza toppings of your imagination. This grilled pizza recipe has a pesto sauce, with smoked mozzarella, ricotta cheese, and vine ripe tomatoes on top.
As many times as I’ve made pizza, I’ve never grilled it before. I’ve thought about making grilled pizza, then chickened out. I guess I was worried that the dough might slip through the grates or that I’d burn it.
Since we got the new grill last week, I’ve been grilling everything in sight! So I figured this would be a good time to try it out. They do make pizza pans just for the grill, but I threw caution to the wind and grilled the dough right on the grates.
I usually keep a tub of NO-KNEAD dough in my fridge for quick meals. With the dough, I can make quick pizza, bread, pita and more. So making pizza at home is definitely healthier (because it’s not dripping in grease), tastier, and quicker than it is to call the Pizza Man. If you don’t want to make the dough from scratch, use store-bought dough.
For this grilled pizza, I happened to have left-over Pesto in the fridge, but you can easily buy pre-made Pesto at the grocery store.
Grilled Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 batch pizza dough
- Pesto
- Smoked mozzarella grated
- Fresh ricotta
- Sliced tomatoes
- Cornmeal for rolling
- Fresh basil for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare and preheat grill to medium
- Sprinkle cornmeal on floured cloth and roll out dough to desired thickness. (Cornmeal helps prevent dough from sticking to grill grates)
- Brush both sides of dough with olive oil. Grill pizza until it begins to brown and get grill marks.
- Remove from grill, spread pesto to the edges of the cooked pizza. Add dollops of ricotta and smoke smoked mozzarella cheese.
- Return to grill to finish cooking and cheese is melted.
- Remove pizza from grill and top with fresh tomato slices and fresh basil.
Pre-heat grill to medium. Pizza dough, homemade or store bought, rolled or patted to desired thickness.
Ricotta. Mozzarella cheese, Smoked or regular, grated. Use cornmeal on both sides of the pizza dough so that it won’t stick to the grates. Brush both sides with olive oil. Grill dough until it begins to brown and gets grill marks. Dough on the grill cooks quickly, so keep an eye on it! Flip it over and grill the other side. I use an inverted cookies sheet, without a lip as a giant spatula.
Spread pesto to within an inch of the edge of the cooked pizza dough, add dollops of Ricotta, and some grated cheese. Return to grill, to finish cooking, and heat through. Remove from the grill and top with fresh tomato slices and fresh basil leaves.
David Carroll Jr says
I am going to try this Sunday. New Grill, New Pizza Recipe, No better time than later today.
Cynthia says
David, did you find the pizza dough recipe? Let me know how it turns out!
Emily @SageRecipes says
Love the idea of grilling pizza! Fresh and easy! Saw on twitter you are from Pasadena, I grew up there! Living in Santa Barbara now!
Cynthia says
Hi Emily! Thanks for stopping by! Do you have a facebook page?
Evelyn @ My Turn for us says
Love these pizzas!! My favorite foodie!!
Pinning!
Hugs
Cynthia says
Thanks so much Evelyn! <3
Marla says
Sounds great making pizza on the grill. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays Blog Hop.
Cynthia says
Marla, thank you for hosting!
Maris (In Good Taste) says
Looks really delicious, I love pizza and love anything grilled!
Megan Keno {Country Cleaver} says
This pizza looks awesome!
Cynthia says
Thank you Megan!
Ginny McMeans says
Grilling a pizza is the best thing in the world. Love it!
Cynthia says
Thanks Ginny!
Brandon @ Kitchen Konfidence says
I tried making grilled pizza once and failed 😛 This one looks amazing! I need to try it out again.
Cynthia says
I think a well greased grill is key Brandon.
Carol Borchardt says
We love to grill pizza! We’ve got tons of pesto in the freezer so am definitely going to try this combination!
Cynthia says
Pesto is perfect on pizza I think!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
This looks fantastic! It really is hard to beat the flavors of pesto, fresh tomatoes and cheese! We have a fabulous Weber grill that we love to use but for whatever reason I’ve never tried grilling pizza before. Love the idea and will have to try it!
Cynthia says
I agree Kimberly…pesto tastes great on everything!
Anita says
Love the title post! I think you did a fab job with the pizza!
Cynthia says
Thank you!
Matt @ Plating Pixels says
Grilled pizza is awesome. You get so much extra flavor!
Cynthia says
I agree Matt…love the smokiness the grill adds!
Faith (An Edible Mosaic) says
I love the flavor of grilled pizza and you can’t go wrong with these toppings – yum!
Cynthia says
Thanks Faith!
madsad says
looks delicious
Cynthia says
thank you!
Mayuri Patel says
Love the idea of topping a pizza with pesto and ricotta. Lovely looking pizza.