Have you ever tried smoking pizza? In this pellet grill pizza recipe, I'll show you how to make customizable smoked pizza in right around 15 minutes! If you don't have a smoker, you can prepare them on your barbecue grill! You may also want to try this gourmet fig pizza!
Disclosure: I was gifted a Z Grills 700D3 in return for my honest Z Grills review and this sponsored post. We may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you if you buy through a link on this page.
Smoking pizza on a pellet grill is a great idea, especially in the summer when the last thing you want to do is turn on your oven!
You might have seen the recent product review I did for my new 700D3 Z grill smoker. To be honest, I didn't expect to like it as much as I do. Instead of one smoker, I now have two, which means I've been smoking twice as much food!
Since getting my new grill, I've used it to make smoked meatloaf, smoked chicken thighs, smoked burgers, and smoked Carne Asada. Yes, smoked Carne is a thing and I will be sharing a recipe in the not-too-distant future. But I digress, I wanted to talk about the last thing I smoked on my Z grill, smoked pizza!
We recently had some friends over for dinner and I wanted to prepare something easy that everyone would enjoy. I also wanted to spend time with my company, instead of being stuck in the kitchen. I decided to smoke mini naan bread pizzas. This Indian flatbread is about the size of pita bread and makes the BEST mini pizzas.
I provided my guests a buffet-style smorgasbord of various sauces, cheese, and topping options. After everyone designed their own pizzas we added them to the Z Grill and smoked them for right around 13 minutes. Not only did everyone enjoy making their own pizzas, but it was the best pizza ever!
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😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Making naan bread pizzas is not only convenient, but it guarantees a deliciously crispy thin-crust pizza.
- Smoking pizza is a great way to entertain outdoors in the summer instead of being stuck in a hot kitchen.
- If you don't have a smoker, you can use your regular barbecue grill!
- Smoked pizza with a premade crust takes less than 15 minutes to smoke.
🛒 What You Need For This Recipe
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Crust: Instead of making homemade pizza dough from scratch, we'll be using naan or flat bread. If you prefer making one large pizza you can use a Boboli crust.
- Sauce: Since the idea behind this recipe is to make customizable personal-sized pizzas, think about offering the following sauces as options: Barbecue sauce, pizza sauce, chimichurri sauce with cilantro, pesto, pineapple habanero chutney, or a simple mixture of olive oil, herbs, crushed garlic, and parmesan cheese.
- Cheese: I like to offer both soft and hard cheese options. Soft cheese options can include goat cheese, feta cheese, blue cheese, and cream cheese. Some good shredded hard cheese options are mozzarella cheese, smoked gouda, and one of my favorites, Asiago cheese.
- Toppings: Now to the best part, toppings!
- Vegetables: Offer plenty of sliced black olives, red onion, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, bell peppers, and jalapenos (both fresh and pickled).
- Meats: Choose from diced ham, bacon, pepperoni, Italian sausage, diced cooked chicken, steak, and pulled pork. You can also offer shrimp for seafood pizza. Another option is to use steak leftovers.
- Herbs: Provide a variety of fresh or dried herbs including oregano, fresh basil, rosemary, and dried Italian seasoning or pizza seasoning.
🔪 Helpful Tools
- You'll need a wood pellet grill; I used my Z Grills 700D3.
- Use your favorite wood pellet flavor. I've had success using cherry, but oak and pecan are also great options. Since the pizza is only smoked for 15 minutes or less, the pellets won't impart a strong smoky flavor anyway, so it's not a big deal.
- When smoking pizza, you could use a pizza stone or a pizza steel. However, I put the mini pizzas directly on the grill!
🍕 How to Make Pellet Grill Pizza
Preheat your pellet smoker to 375 degrees F using your favorite flavor of wood pellets.
Step 1: Brush pizza sauce, huckleberry BBQ sauce, or sauce of choice on your pizza crust, then add one or more soft cheeses (goat cheese, feta cheese, blue cheese, or cream cheese).
Step 2: Next, top with your favorite vegetable toppings.
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Pro Tip: Some mushrooms release a lot of liquid as they cook. For this reason, I like to saute them in a pan first to release their moisture before adding them to the pizza. No one likes a soggy pizza!
Step 3: Mix mozzarella (or other shredded cheese) with the pizza seasonings/dried herbs. Add ¼ cup of cheese to each pizza. If adding sausage or pepperoni, add them now. Carefully transfer the mini-pizzas directly onto the grill grates using a large spatula or a pizza peel.
Pro Tip: Make sure everyone makes a mental note of where on the grill their pizza was placed so there's no confusion once the pizza is ready.
Step 4: Smoke the pizzas for 7 minutes, and then briefly lift the lid to add the meat. I added smoked tri-tip. Smoke the pizza for an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until the crust is crispy and the cheese has completely melted. Top with fresh basil, and serve with a fresh green goddess salad.
🥗 What To Serve With Smoked Pizza
Since pizza is already pretty filling, all you really need to serve with pizza is a light salad. Here are some great options to choose from!
And for dessert, you can't beat these cinnamon sugar breadsticks!
🍽 Other Pizza Recipes
If you love pizza as much as I do, you'll also want to try this yummy Air Fryer Naan Pizza from Tammy at troprockin.com, or any of the following unique pizza recipes!
- Easy shawarma pizza
- Dill pickle pizza
- Lavash thin and crispy pizza
- Crispy tortilla pizza
- Ooni pizza dough recipe
- Gyro pizza
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
You can absolutely smoke a pizza. Smoked pizza is not only super easy to prepare but the taste is wonderful! Smoking pizza for a short time won't necessarily impart a smoky pizza flavor, but it is definitely a convenient way to cook a pizza outdoors.
The length of time you smoke pizza really depends on the temperature your smoker is set to. It also depends on whether or not you are using a precooked crust (like flatbread, for example) or fresh pizza dough. Keeping all that in mind, it can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to yield a smoky pizza.
Although you can use a pizza stone to cook pizza on the grill, it's not required. The pizza can be placed directly on the grill with excellent results.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- When smoking pizza, be sure to check them at the 12-minute mark, then adjust the time from there.
- You can also offer various sauces on your pizza bar that can be drizzled on the finished pizzas. This could be as simple as offering a few different hot sauces or a balsamic vinegar glaze.
- You can really get creative with the meat options. Think pulled pork, diced Carne Asada, and even chicken or beef shawarma!
- Another fun idea is to make pizzas featuring different countries. My Food Combinations PDF can be used for ideas of what ingredients to include for various regions.
🍝 More Pizza Recipes
📖 Recipe
15-Minute Smoked Pizza
Equipment
- 1 pellet grill smoker (I used my Z Grill)
Ingredients
- 4 mini naan bread (or other flatbread)
- ¼ cup barbecue sauce (or other sauce)
- 2 ounces goat cheese (or other soft cheese)
- ⅓ cup sliced mushrooms
- ⅓ cup sliced red onion
- 2 tablespoon sliced black olives
- 4 ounces cubed smoked tri-tip (or other cooked meat)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or more)
- 1 teaspoon pizza seasoning
- 16 fresh basil leaves
Instructions
Preheat your pellet smoker to 375°F using your favorite flavor of wood pellets.
- Brush pizza sauce, barbecue sauce, or sauce of choice on your pizza crust then add one or more soft cheeses (goat cheese, feta cheese, blue cheese, or cream cheese).
- Next, top with your favorite vegetable toppings.
- Mix mozzarella (or other shredded cheese) with the pizza seasonings/dried herbs. Add ¼ cup of cheese to each pizza. If adding sausage or pepperoni add them now. Carefully transfer the mini pizzas directly onto the grill grates using a large spatula or a pizza peel.
- Smoke the pizzas for 7 minutes then briefly lift the lid to add the cooked meat. I added smoked tri-tip. Smoke the pizza for an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until the crust is crispy and the cheese has completely melted. Top with fresh basil and serve.
Notes
- Some mushrooms release a lot of liquid as they cook. For this reason, I like to saute them in a pan first to release their moisture first.
- When smoking pizza, be sure to check them at the 12-minute mark, then adjust the time from there.
- Make sure everyone makes a mental note of where on the grill their pizza was placed so there's no confusion once the pizza is ready.
- You can also offer various sauces on your pizza bar that can be drizzled on the finished pizzas. This could be as simple as offering a few different hot sauces or a balsamic vinegar glaze.
- You can really get creative with the meat options. Think pulled pork, diced Carne Asada, and even chicken or beef shawarma!
- Another fun idea is to make pizzas featuring different countries. My Food Combinations PDF can be used for ideas of what ingredients to include for various regions.
Matthew says
Oh my gosh! The family absolutely loved this recipe!
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Matt! So glad you enjoyed it!
Sarah Y says
These were a quick & simple recipe that packed a lot of flavor. ❤️
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Sarah, Thanks for taking the time to review the recipe!🥰
Lori Ross says
We tried these smoked pizzas and they were so good! We all did different toppings so we got to personalize them just the way we wanted! Super easy, super tasty! Highly recommend and will definitely do again! Thanks Hilda this is a keeper for sure!
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Lori! Let's do it again soon. 👩🏼🍳