The Best Blackstone Pizza Recipe (That’ll Make Your Neighbors Jealous!)

So What’s The Big Deal About Blackstone Pizza?

Listen, I’ve been making homemade pizza for years – fancy pizza stones, pizza steels, home ovens cranked as high as they’ll go… but nothing, and I mean NOTHING, compares to what happens when you make pizza on a Blackstone griddle. That flat-top gets crazy hot (we’re talking 500-600°F), giving you that crispy-bottom, puffy-edge pizza that’s basically impossible to achieve in a regular home oven. It’s the closest thing to those wood-fired pizzeria pies without building a brick oven in your backyard (which, let’s be honest, I’ve considered).

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• The crust is RIDICULOUS – crispy on the bottom, chewy inside, with those gorgeous charred spots that pizza snobs go nuts for.
• It cooks in like 3-4 minutes. Seriously. You’ll be cranking out pizzas faster than people can eat them.
• You can make several pizzas in a row without waiting for anything to reheat.
• The Blackstone’s large cooking surface means you can make bigger pizzas than in most home ovens.
• It’s a total showstopper when you have friends over. Nothing says “I know what I’m doing” like flipping a perfect pizza onto a sizzling griddle.
• You can customize each pizza with different toppings while the dough is sitting there ready to go.
• It keeps your house cool in summer because you’re cooking outdoors (unlike cranking your oven to 500°F for an hour).

What You’ll Need

For the Dough (makes 4 personal pizzas):

• 4 cups bread flour (all-purpose works too, but bread flour gives that chewier texture)
• 1½ cups warm water (about 110°F – should feel like warm bath water)
• 2¼ tsp active dry yeast (that’s one packet if you’re using those)
• 2 tsp salt (kosher preferred, but whatever you’ve got works)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (plus more for the bowl and your hands)
• 1 Tbsp sugar or honey (feeds the yeast and helps with browning)
• Optional: 1 tsp garlic powder and 1 tsp Italian herbs (if you want flavored crust)

For the Toppings:

• 1 cup pizza sauce (store-bought is fine, or make your own – I’ll include my quick recipe below)
• 16 oz low-moisture mozzarella cheese, shredded (please, for the love of pizza, grate it yourself)
• Toppings of your choice (pepperoni, sausage, veggies, etc.)
• 2-3 Tbsp olive oil for brushing the crust
• Cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting (prevents sticking)
• Optional: fresh basil, red pepper flakes, grated parmesan for finishing

Equipment:

• Blackstone griddle (duh)
• Pizza peel (wood or metal – you need this to transfer pizza to the griddle)
• Infrared thermometer (not essential but super helpful)
• Metal pizza turner or large spatula
• Pizza cutter

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Let’s Make Some Seriously Good Pizza

Dough Prep (Start this 2-4 hours ahead, or the night before):

1. In a large bowl, mix your warm water, sugar/honey, and yeast. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes until it gets foamy. If it doesn’t foam, your yeast is dead and you need new yeast. Sorry, but there’s no resurrection for yeast.
2. Add 3½ cups of flour, salt, and olive oil. Mix until it forms a shaggy dough.
3. Dump it onto a floured surface and knead for about 5-7 minutes, adding the remaining flour as needed. You’re looking for smooth, elastic dough that’s slightly tacky but not sticky. It should feel like a slightly firm earlobe (weird reference, I know, but it works).
4. Oil a large bowl, place your dough ball in there, flip it once to coat with oil, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size (1-2 hours).
5. Once doubled, punch it down (most satisfying part), divide into 4 equal balls, and let them rest another 30 minutes before shaping.
6. FOR MAKE-AHEAD: After dividing into balls, you can refrigerate them in ziplock bags for up to 3 days. The flavor actually gets better! Just bring to room temp about an hour before cooking.

Blackstone Prep:

1. About 30 minutes before cooking, turn on all burners of your Blackstone to high. Close the lid if you have one. You want that sucker HOT – ideally around 500-600°F.
2. While it’s heating, prep all your toppings and have them ready in small bowls. Once you start cooking, things move FAST.
3. Place a sheet pan near your Blackstone for the finished pizzas.
4. IMPORTANT: Once the griddle is hot, turn down the burners where you’ll place your pizza to medium-high. Keep the other areas on high. This creates different heat zones.

Shaping and Cooking:

1. Take one dough ball and press it outward with your fingertips on a floured surface, leaving the edge a bit thicker. Pick it up and gently stretch it by rotating and letting gravity do the work. Aim for about 10-12 inches wide for personal pizzas.
2. Sprinkle your pizza peel GENEROUSLY with cornmeal or semolina flour. This is crucial – it acts like little ball bearings to help slide the pizza onto the griddle.
3. Place your stretched dough on the peel. Give it a little shake to make sure it moves freely. If it sticks, lift edges and add more cornmeal underneath.
4. Working quickly, add a thin layer of sauce (less is more), cheese, and toppings. Don’t overload it!
5. Brush the outer edge with olive oil for that golden crust.
6. Here comes the exciting part: slide the pizza onto the medium-high zone of your Blackstone with a quick forward-backward motion.
7. Let it cook for about 2 minutes, then use your metal turner to rotate it 180° to ensure even cooking.
8. After another minute or so, check the bottom. It should have nice brown spots. If it’s cooking too quickly, slide it to a cooler part of the griddle.
9. Once the bottom is nicely browned and the cheese is bubbly (about 3-4 minutes total), remove it to your waiting sheet pan.
10. Repeat with remaining dough balls, adjusting heat as needed.

Finishing Touches:

• Drizzle with a little high-quality olive oil
• Sprinkle with fresh basil leaves
• Add a shower of grated parmesan
• Dust with red pepper flakes if you like heat
• Let it rest for 1-2 minutes before cutting (if you can wait that long)

Super Quick Pizza Sauce

If you want to make your own sauce, here’s my 5-minute version:

• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil (or 1 Tbsp fresh, chopped)
• ½ tsp salt
• Pinch of sugar

Mix it all together and you’re done. Don’t even need to cook it – it’ll cook on the pizza!

Pro Tips From My Many Pizza Fails

• Temperature is everything: If your Blackstone isn’t hot enough, your pizza will stick and be sad. If you have an infrared thermometer, shoot for 500-550°F.
• Less is more with toppings: I know it’s tempting to pile them on, but trust me, a lighter hand makes for better pizza. Too many toppings = soggy crust and undercooked center.
• The cornmeal trick: Seriously, be generous with the cornmeal on your peel. You can always brush off excess later, but a stuck pizza is the worst.
• Watch your edges: The perimeter of the Blackstone can be hotter than the center. Keep rotating your pizza if needed.
• Don’t walk away: These cook so fast that 30 seconds can be the difference between perfect and burnt.
• Oil the crust: That little brush of olive oil on the edges makes a huge difference in browning and flavor.
• Room temp dough: Cold dough is harder to stretch and doesn’t cook as well. Always let refrigerated dough come to room temp.
• Flour your hands: When handling the dough, keep your hands lightly floured to prevent sticking.

Favorite Topping Combos

1. The Classic: Pizza sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, finished with fresh basil
2. The White One: Olive oil base, mozzarella, ricotta dollops, garlic, spinach
3. The Meat Lover’s: Pizza sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, ham (just schedule a cardiology appointment for tomorrow)
4. The Fun Guy: Olive oil base, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, fontina cheese, fresh thyme, truffle oil drizzle
5. The Hawaiian (Fight Me): Pizza sauce, mozzarella, ham, pineapple, with a honey drizzle after cooking
6. BBQ Chicken: BBQ sauce base, mozzarella, grilled chicken, red onion, cilantro

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Troubleshooting

Q: Help! My pizza stuck to the peel and is now a calzone/modern art!
A: More cornmeal next time, my friend. And work faster – the longer the dough sits on the peel, the more likely it’ll stick.

Q: The bottom burned before the top cooked.
A: Your griddle’s too hot. Use those burner controls! Turn down the area where you’re cooking the pizza and give it a try again.

Q: My pizza turned out floppy, not crispy.
A: Griddle wasn’t hot enough. Crank that heat and let it really preheat next time. Also, thinner crust and fewer toppings help.

Q: The cheese is burning but the crust isn’t done.
A: Too much direct heat on top. Try moving to a slightly cooler zone on the griddle or use a little less cheese next time.

Q: I can’t stretch the dough without it tearing.
A: Your dough probably needs more rest time. Let it come fully to room temperature and relax for 15-20 minutes before trying again.

Q: My crust puffed up like a balloon!
A: That’s actually amazing – you got great oven spring! Just poke it with your spatula to deflate the big bubbles if they’re causing issues.

Make It A Pizza Party!

The beauty of Blackstone pizza is how quickly you can make multiple pies. Set up a toppings bar and let everyone create their own personal pizza. It’s interactive, fun, and nobody complains about the toppings because they chose them!

Pro move: Pre-stretch a few dough balls and keep them on parchment sheets, separated by plastic wrap. Then you can really assembly-line this operation like a pizza boss.

Get ready for your friends to invite themselves over every weekend once they taste these pizzas. You’ve been warned.

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