Birthday Grilled Pizza's w pics

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

SmokinVOLfan

Smoking Guru
Original poster
OTBS Member
Feb 27, 2018
6,076
5,212
Knoxville, TN
Wasn't sure exactly where to put this so mod's feel free to move as necessary.

As some of y'all know yesterday was my birthday. My wife kept asking what I wanted to do. When I told her I wanted to stay home and cook something instead of going out and spending a fortune on a mediocre dinner at an overpriced restaurant she once again thought I was crazy but happily obliged.

I have been doing a ton of research and reading lately on cooking pizza outdoors. Never done it and have been on a quest to figure out the best way to do this. Oven pizza just isn't doing it for me anymore and most of the quality of delivery pizza has gone downhill. This past weekend I had settled on the idea of using my 17" lodge cast iron on my gas grill. Well I ran out of time and didn't have the time to make dough and the store only had 2 frozen ball dough's which wasn't enough so that plan got put on hold. I was at Home Depot on Sunday and they happed to have Nexgrill grill pizza kits on clearance for $15 so I picked up two of them. Not the greatest quality but hey its worth a shot.They came with a stone, a peel, a wheel, and a stone rack. Next plan in place...cooking them on the stones on my gas grill.

I put the two stones on my grill to start heating up.
pizza1.jpg


I wanted to try out a test pizza first as I wasn't sure how this was going to go. Rolled out some dough and just cheese on this one. Sprinkled some corn meal on the stone. Took maybe 8-10 minutes at 500ish.
pizza2.jpg


Not bad but the crust was a little burnt on the bottom. Next round I will rotate around a little more.

Let build up a couple more. First off just a plain old pepperoni pizza.
pizza3.jpg


Lets load one up. Flattened the crust as much as I could trying to get a "thin crust". Pesto sauce as the base, sliced mozzarella, tomatoes, turkey pepperoni, red onions, green peppers, spinach, and feta cheese. Sprinkled a little shredded mozzarella on top.
pizza4.jpg


Toss em on the stones running 550 or so.
pizza5.jpg


Much better this time around. Sorry for the darkish pictures.
pizza6.jpg

pizza7.jpg


Here is a pepperoni and bacon pizza just finishing up.
pizza8.jpg


Enough playing around. Time to load one up with some heat. Sauce, habaneros, jalapenos, green peppers, red onions, pepperoni, and feta cheese.
pizza9.jpg


Here it is cooking.
pizza10.jpg


And the finished shot.
pizza11.jpg


All in all this was a pretty fun experiment for a birthday dinner. The pizzas were not perfect by any means but weren't bad either. The crusts got a little crispy but the whole pizza had incredible flavor that you cant get in an oven.

The one thing I noticed is the dome just didn't get as hot as I had hoped. The two pizzas with several toppings on them I had to finish under the broiler in the oven. The crusts were getting too done and the top not quite there. Kettle pizza sells a kit for a gas grill but $250 for a piece of sheet metal with a $5 thermometer in it isn't going to fly. Until I get my BGE my quest will continue.

Thanks for checking it out. If you have any tips or suggestions I am an open book right now!

John
 
Tasty looking pizzas John! The more toppings the merrier!

It looks like you had fun on your birthday making those, I love fresh tomatoes and even bruschetta on pizza!

I’m sure your pizzas will be next level once you get your BGE, or better yet build a brick oven lol!

We have a lot of places that do brick oven wood-fired pizza around here that’s why I never had the desire to make my own. There’s 8 pizza places within a 5 mile radius of me, not counting the bars that make their own.

Happy birthday again and be sure to throw a shrimp and hot pepper pizza in for me.
 
Looking good John, you sure got a lot of pizzas in for just one day! Once you begin making your own dough the quest really takes off, thin, thick, and you just can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself. RAY
 
  • Like
Reactions: SmokinVOLfan
Tasty looking pizzas John! The more toppings the merrier!

It looks like you had fun on your birthday making those, I love fresh tomatoes and even bruschetta on pizza!

I’m sure your pizzas will be next level once you get your BGE, or better yet build a brick oven lol!

We have a lot of places that do brick oven wood-fired pizza around here that’s why I never had the desire to make my own. There’s 8 pizza places within a 5 mile radius of me, not counting the bars that make their own.

Happy birthday again and be sure to throw a shrimp and hot pepper pizza in for me.

Where are you located in NEPA? That sounds oddly familiar of where I grew up. Plus the shrimp and pepper pizza part.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SmokinVOLfan
Hey John pizzas look awesome. I’m actually at my pizzeria right now, I’ve got a couple tips.

If the bottom of the pizza crusts are getting too dark before the the top cooks try starting them on a pizza screen. Then just finishing them on the stone. They’re super cheap, just a couple dollars each and come in a ton of sizes. Also helps keep the shapes and sizes more uniform if you’re interested.

The cheese. In my opinion is the most important part. If you are going to use shredded mozz you 100% have to use Whole Milk Mozzarella. The part skim will get dark and turn into plastic. It’s available most places. My local Walmart even offers it shredded now too. I run my oven at 600 F


1099209C-3BD0-45A7-9C52-05744DA75408.jpeg
6E1ABA4D-5EA8-4D03-B44E-8BEB7C3AB18E.jpeg

You’ve all been awesome answering my BBQ questions. If you have any pizza question let me know, I’d be glad to help!
002F4FF7-D590-4265-AE97-4101A99C5A8D.jpeg
 
Oh and sorry forgot to say when you’re cooking on a grill or an oven with high temps you can avoid the crust getting too dark by using a dough with little or no sugar. If there’s a lot of sugar in the dough they’ll burn before they bake.
 
John, my friend. You have me sitting here in my chair just a shaking my head. I think this is the first thread of yours that didn't have the complimentary beer shot. What makes it even more surprising is that you made all those great looking pizzas and to top it off it was your Birthday!!! I'll have to let this one pass. Probably just the early stages of senility. :emoji_astonished::emoji_laughing:

Great job on those pizzas. I especially like the pepper pizza.

Point for sure
Chris
 
SmokinVOLfan SmokinVOLfan

I posted this a while ago. Was easy to do and will save you from investing a fortune in a pizza oven.

Also, my pizzas came out perfectly!


If you have any questions feel free to PM me. . .Oh Yea, And Happy Birthday!

I hope this helps,

John BandCollector BandCollector
 
Last edited:
John, my friend. You have me sitting here in my chair just a shaking my head. I think this is the first thread of yours that didn't have the complimentary beer shot. What makes it even more surprising is that you made all those great looking pizzas and to top it off it was your Birthday!!! I'll have to let this one pass. Probably just the early stages of senility. :emoji_astonished::emoji_laughing:

Great job on those pizzas. I especially like the pepper pizza.

Point for sure
Chris

LMAO! Nice observation Chris! I went back to look at his pictures and I’m shocked there’s not a beer in sight.

Maybe it’s in his hand where it belongs instead of on a counter....but maybe we should do a wellness check just to be sure. A beerless post is definitely not John.
 
Tasty looking pizzas John! The more toppings the merrier!

It looks like you had fun on your birthday making those, I love fresh tomatoes and even bruschetta on pizza!

I’m sure your pizzas will be next level once you get your BGE, or better yet build a brick oven lol!

We have a lot of places that do brick oven wood-fired pizza around here that’s why I never had the desire to make my own. There’s 8 pizza places within a 5 mile radius of me, not counting the bars that make their own.

Happy birthday again and be sure to throw a shrimp and hot pepper pizza in for me.

Thanks Joe! Man I would love to build a brick oven. We have all the papa johns, dominos, etc...around here and it just gets old. Few local pizza places make some pretty good stuff but more fun to try to create damn good homemade pizza. Shrimp and hot pepper pizza sounds great will have to try that next time.
 
You are starting down a long road to “perfection”

first will be the crust, then that will get pretty damn close
Then you the sauce, that will get close enough
Then quality of toppings etc.

it’s a sickness just like smoking meat!

pizza looks great, happy birthday
 
  • Like
Reactions: SmokinVOLfan
Looking good John, you sure got a lot of pizzas in for just one day! Once you begin making your own dough the quest really takes off, thin, thick, and you just can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself. RAY

Thanks Ray. Will be experimenting will dough in the very near future. Seen some great recipes for both thin and thick crust. Would like to do a pan pizza in the cast iron too!
 
Pizza on my Kamado is on my short list for spring. Yours look fantastic. Really love the pesto one with spinach.

I've heard nothing but great things out of kamado pizza's. Got a family member with a BGE that churns them out and they are tasty!
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Clicky