Pizza alla Diavola

(Pizza Diavola)

Do you like it hot? Do you like it spicy? This old-world Italian pizza might just be for you!

Pizza alla Diavola isn’t as traditional as a Margherita or a Marinara, but it’s quite common to find it on a menu in an Italian pizzeria…unless…!

Side-Bar: Is Pepperoni Evil?

Pizza alla Diavola literally translates to “pizza of the devil” (or arguably “evil pizza“). Why? Is it because it’s hot? Well, yes. But Pizza alla Diavola also has spicy sliced meat on it. You won’t find pepperoni pizza in Italy (unless it’s catering to a decidedly American palette). So maybe Pizza alla Diavola is a bit of a knock on the Pepperoni Pizza? Maybe…

…or maybe they’re just upset they didn’t think of it first! Rossini Pizzeria in Barcelona might be on to something!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Guess what? Diavola pizza does not have a fixed set of toppings. Ah the Devil is playing havoc already?!?

Another Side-Bar: Why I Make Pizza

If you’re reading a blog about pizza, you’re doing it because you experienced a pizza you wanted to make at home. Me too, of course.

And that pizza is from a small chain of only 5 restaurants called Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana. Not only do they make an amazing pizza, they put it on happy hour (with some great cocktail options, I might add).

And I always get the Pizza alla Diavola. So this recipe is specifically inspired by their recipe.

• 1 pizza dough (might as well go Neapolitan style if you’re making Italy’s version of a pepperoni pizza)
• ~2 table spoons of flour (semolina preferred)
• pinch of corn meal
• 1/4 cup of tomato sauce (pizza sauce will do of course)
• 1 ounce of roasted red pepper
• ~1 1/4 ounces of spicy sliced meat
  • You can use any of:
    • Calabrese salami
    • Soppressata (spicy if you can find it)
    • Finocchiona
    • Pepperoni
• 3.5 ounces of mozzarella cheese (adjust to your taste)
• 1 teaspoon of chili-infused extra-virgin olive oil

How to Make Pizza Diavola

Preparing the Dough

For a true Neapolitan style pizza, I recommend our Neapolitan pizza dough recipe. However, this takes a little extra time to make and really is ideal for an oven that can get to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. If you want to go super classic, you should try using an original Italian pizza flour and make an Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) recipe!

You can certainly make this recipe with a store bought dough (such as Trader Joe’s, which does a very good Neapolitan), our thin crust pizza dough, or several other pizza dough recipes.

Make sure your dough is up to room temperature (at least 30 minutes if it’s coming out of the fridge) and place on a work area that’s been dusted with flour. Semolina flour is coarser than other types and works great!

Stretching the Dough

Begin hand stretching the dough out. If the dough begins to get sticky, lightly flour the dough and your work area to keep it from sticking. Flip the dough frequently as you work it.

If you’re misbehaving (and making this pizza, you are), you may find using a rolling pin will help make the dough flat and uniform with less chance of a tear.

Start from the center of the dough and stretch/roll outward – trying to preserve an outer edge.  Regularly lift, turn, and flip the dough. Add flour to keep it from sticking to the work area or your rolling pin.  Be patient to avoid creating folds or tearing the dough.  Don’t fret too much if the pizza isn’t round.  Getting a consistently thin crust while keeping it perfectly round is no easy feat, so let the pizza be the shape it needs to be if you can get the thickness right.

Continue to stretch out your dough until it’s about 12” in diameter and continue to lightly flour the dough so that it’s not sticking – but don’t go crazy.

Once the dough is stretched out, you’ll need to transfer it to your pizza pan or your pizza peel. Do this before you add the sauce and toppings to avoid a mess!

Additional Thin Crust Tips

• It may not be the first thing you think of, but making sure your hands are clean is really important.  Don’t use scented soaps and don’t use moisturizer.  So, get those hands surgeon-clean before you touch the dough!
• If you tear a hole, you can generally fix it by pinching it back together or tearing off a piece from the edge and pressing it back in.  Patched holes are going to make launching a pizza from a peel more challenging, so don’t force the pizza to be too thin or too round.

Add The Toppings

You Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza is going to hold up a lot better with less sauce and less toppings.  True Neapolitan pizzas don’t actually use “pizza sauce” like you’ll find at the grocery store. Instead, they’ll use more of a tomato sauce.  While also delicious, these are more watery and can make the pizza softer when eaten. Practice with a thicker sauce while you perfect your technique. Go with a thin layer as well to reduce the water content.  You should still be able to see the dough through the sauce across the entire pizza.

Toppings

Of course, mozzarella is the most well-known pizza cheese. And you can use either grated or slice mozza balls (buffalo cheese if you can find it). Generally, you would find the cheese below the meat, but feel free to change that if you prefer.

There doesn’t appear to be any definitive meat for Pizza alla Diavola. You can choose between Calabrese, Soppressata, Finocchiona, or even pepperoni. If you want to distribute big slices more, you can cut larger slices into smaller ones. Settebello makes their own sausage so I’ve used Soppressata.

Optional Toppings

A number of Pizza Diavola recipes add either black olives or roasted red peppers (which go on the sauce before the cheese and meat). Both contribute a bit of extra salty flavor. As Settebello puts roasted red pepper on this one.

Another option is to add dried red pepper flakes either to the sauce or on top after cooking. This is something I prefer to do last so that folks can have individual control of how spicy the pizza is.

Pizza alla Diavola Cooking Instructions

We’re cooking with a Solo Stove Pi outdoor pizza oven, but naturally this recipe can be cooked in any outdoor pizza oven such as one from Ooni. You can also use a conventional indoor oven on or off of a pizza stone, pizza steel, or pizza pan (it is a derivative of pepperoni pizza after all!).  The biggest variation will be cooking time. If you’re using a wood burning outdoor pizza oven, it’ll take a little effort in managing the wood to get the proper temperature (especially if you’re also making and topping the pizza).

Note: if you are planning to use a pizza stone, this thin crust recipe is going to be hard to launch with a hot oven in front of you.  You’re far better off starting the pizza on a steel or a cookie sheet and then transferring to it to the pizza stone.

Cooking Time: Outdoor Pizza Oven

• Cook at >800°F
• ~3 to 4 minutes
• Rotate a quarter turn 4 times.
• Remove from the pizza oven onto a cutting board.
• Rest for 5 minutes.
• Drizzle 1 teaspoon of chili infused virgin olive oil over the pizza.
• Cut and eat immediately.

Cooking Time: Pizza Stone Indoor Oven

• Cook at 450° on a pizza pan or cookie sheet
• 7 minutes, then rotate
• 7 minutes, then use a spatula to transfer the pizza to the pizza stone
• The top of the pizza should already be browning, in which case turn the oven off.
• Leave in oven for 5 extra minutes
• Remove from the pizza oven onto a cutting board.
• Rest for 5 minutes.
• Drizzle 1 teaspoon of chili infused virgin olive oil over the pizza.
• Cut and eat immediately.

Rotate the Pizza!

With the Solo Stove Pi or an Ooni Pizza Oven, get the stone to about 800°F-900°F degrees at the back (measured with an infra-red thermometer) and the front will generally be above 600°F – and that’s a big difference from front to back. That’s why it’s important to rotate the pizza during cooking.  Even in a conventional oven there is still generally variation, so it’s good to rotate your pizza at least once while cooking.

Once the pizza is launched, you’ll need to rotate. The first rotation is the most critical – the entire pizza needs to have firmed up enough that you can turn it without it losing its shape or tearing a hole – but you also can’t see the hottest side, so you don’t want it to burn. That’s why you don’t want the oven to be at maximum heat.

In a conventional oven, you probably only need to rotate your pizza once.  In an outdoor oven, you generally want to rotate it a quarter turn at a time. Before that first turn, use your turner or peel and nudge the end closest to you to make sure it’s going to keep its shape.

Time to Eat

Remove the pizza and let it stand for five minutes before drizzling with the oil and cutting. The serve immediately to keep the moisture on top of the pizza and retain the crust’s strength.

Finishing Touch? Chili-Infused Olive Oil on your Pizza alla Diavola!

Many pizzas are garnished with a little pour of olive oil on top. You can do the same with your Pizza alla Diavola, although you might want to use a chili-infused olive oil, which you can either make our buy.

It also makes a nice dip for your crust!

Crust Variations

As mentioned, you can bring some variation here by using different style pizza dough/pizza flour. Traditional would be an AVPN Neapolitan, but you can substitute any crust.

Because the Diavola pizza generally doesn’t have a ton of sauce, you can get more flavor out of your pizza by adding seasoning to the crust. Feel free to add a little more salt, some pepper, garlic, oregano, and other Italian seasoning!

How to Reheat It

If the pizza is from the fridge: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once it reaches temp, place it on a pan or the pizza stone for 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can heat the slices in a skillet on the stovetop – no need to preheat the pan! Place the skillet on the stovetop over medium heat, place the pizza in, and let heat for 6-8 minutes.

January 31, 2025