Do you love that natural smoke flavor and want to experience it in your pizza? Well, this recipe is going to show you the best way to get it!
Wood smoke delivers a wonderful flavor to food – and so it is with pizza! Even if you don’t own a smoker, there are a number of ways to get that lovely taste in your pizza! And in reality, smoked pizza isn’t just a thing – it’s actually the traditional way to cook it. Original Neapolitan pizzas were (and are) cooked in domed wood-fired ovens in Naples, Italy.
What You’ll Need to Smoke a Pizza
Surprisingly, there are quite a number of ways to smoke a pizza:
- Wood-fired pizza oven
- Smoker grill/Smoker BBQ
- Pre-smoking and then using a conventional oven
- Pre-smoking and then cooking with smoke
I say work with what you’ve got, so we’ll cover all four!
Easy-Mode Smoked Pizza
Since the objective here is to learn how to smoke a pizza, you can really just start with a pre-made pizza and smoke it. Frozen or fresh, either will work.
But…
Homemade Pizza
We don’t have a pizza blog because we rely on frozen pizza. It’s not hard to make homemade pizza dough yourself. You can make our delicious Easy Peasy Pizza Dough using this recipe. And of course a great starting point might be a pizza that features a smoky topping like a Speck pizza!
Another great option is to smoke a BBQ pizza like our own Kansas City Style Pizza!
How to Make Smoke
You really have a few options for adding smoke to your pizza. But it boils down to two methods: are you adding smoke before the pizza is cooking or are you adding it while it’s cooking?
Smoking Is Cooking
If you have a wood fired pizza oven, then by default, you are smoking your pizza while it cooks…a little. The reality is that a wood fired pizza oven like the Solo Stove Pi, cooks your pizza at >600°F (and I generally cook with the stone at 800°F) so the pizza will cook in 3-4 minutes. That’s not a lot of time for the smoky flavor to really get in there.
Another option is to use a smoking grill. You have a lot of options, but we love the Pit Boss® Pro Series 1100 Wood Pellet & Gas Combo Grill because of the convenience of having direct smoke, indirect smoke, and propane.
The Wood
In general, the wood you choose can have a profound effect on the results on the flavor infused into smoked foods. But, here again, the length of time your pizza is exposed to the smoke is going to play a role here too. Using a gentle wood like alder, apple, or peach contributes a milder, sweeter smoky flavor and probably won’t get the job done. A stronger wood like hickory, mesquite, or oak will be more effective.
Pellet Smoker Pizza
Our smoking grill is a pellet smoker, so that’s what you’ll get to see (we also did one at our friends’ house who also have a pellet smoker).
Best Wood Pellets for Pizza Oven
Generally you’ll find all the same wood options for wood pellets. My personal favorite is oak, and in particular, Jack Daniels Oak Pellets, which are made from charred Jack Daniels barrels. But more time in the smoke is going to translate into more smoked pizza flavor, which is why I recommend pre-smoking.
Pre-Smoking
If you’ve already got a smoker like the Pit Boss, you can easily set the grill to its smoking setting and let it smoke for an hour before you actually start cooking. This is a great way to get a lot of the smoked flavor into the edges of your crust and into the toppings.
Another option is to put your pizza in your grill with a Smoke Tube Box, which will generate a lot of smoke but very little heat. You can leave the pizza in there for an hour or more soaking up the smoky goodness!
Moisture!
One VERY IMPORTANT THING here is that you really don’t want to have a lot of moisture in your pizza toppings. A very thin sauce or toppings with a lot of moisture will have a lot of time to add moisture to the crust which could make cooking the dough through more difficult.
The Best Super Smoky Crust!
But the secret to really smoky pizza is by infusing your pizza dough with smoke and letting it rest in an air tight container. We use the Boruit Portable Smoke Infuser because it’s inexpensive and simple.
Once your dough is ready, place it in an air tight container that’s at least 3 times bigger than the dough ball. Use the infuser to pump smoke into the container until it’s completely full of smoke, seal, and let it rest. An hour won’t do as much as you think, so I recommend letting it soak up the smoke over 24 hours in the fridge. When you take it out the next day, give the dough at least 30 minutes to come up to room temperature before trying to stretch it out.
If your container isn’t super well sealed, a trick here is to turn the container upside down initially to help trap the smoke inside the container by using the dough to seal it. Just make sure the lid is tight or else as the dough expands, it could pop the lid off! After a few hours, give the container a shake or a roll so that your smoked pizza dough gets more even exposure.
Hint for Easy-Mode
If you’re going “easy mode” and doing this with a frozen pizza, you’ll need to let the pizza thaw and use a container that will hold the pizza and the smoke. One option is a cake container, provided it’s wide enough.
The Best of All (Smoked) Worlds?
Hey, we didn’t come here to see options – we came here to make the best! So let’s get to the BEST Smoked Pizza Recipe!
We’re actually going to combine a few of these:
- Homemade dough
- Smoking the dough
- Topping the pizza
- Cooking the pizza with smoke – we’ll cover both the wood-fired pizza oven and smoking grill methods.
How to Smoke a Pizza
Cooking with a Wood Fired Pizza Oven
If you love pizza as much as us, you have an outdoor pizza oven and chances are it has the option of cooking with wood. As discussed, the fast cooking time won’t give your pizza the same opportunity to absorb the smoke, but the trade off is the amazing texture of the crust and melted cheese!
With the Solo Pi, get the stone to about 750-800 degrees at the back (measured with an infra-red thermometer) and the front will generally be above 600° – and that’s a big difference from front to back. That’s why it’s important to rotate the pizza during cooking.
Smoked Pizza Cooking Time: Wood Fired Pizza Oven
- Cook with the oven stone at >750°F
- Typically 3-4 minutes
- Rotate a quarter turn 4 times
- Rest for 5 minutes before cutting
- Eat immediately
Tips for Cooking with a Wood Fired Pizza Oven:
- Ideally, you want the pizza stone hotter than the air above so you can be sure to get the crust fully cooked.
- Get the temperature right before you put the pizza on the peel. The longer it sits on the peel, the more time it has to start sticking.
- If you add fresh wood shortly before launching your pizza, you’ll likely increase the temperature part way through the cook.
- 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 – but you also can’t see the hottest side, so you don’t want it to burn.
- If the heat is getting away from you, bring the pizza further from the flame and rotate more often.
Cooking Pizza on a Smoker
Not everyone has a woodfired pizza oven, but if you have a pellet or wood chip smoker or smoking grill, you’re in business! In fact, although this won’t give your pizza the same char, the longer time in the smoker will contribute more smoke flavor.
There’s really no need to pre-heat the smoker since the time the smoker takes to heat to temperature is just time for more smoke to get into your pizza. Place the pizza pan/cookie sheet directly on the grill and turn up the smoker to 400°F. Once the smoker reaches 400°F, rotate the pizza to ensure it’s cooking evenly. Check again in 10 minutes. Use a spatula to check that the bottom is firm and browning. The top should be browning nicely.
Smoked Pizza Cooking Time: Pizza on a Smoker
- Set temperature to 400°F
- Put in your pizza while the smoker is heating to temperature
- Once at temperature, rotate
- Cook 10 minutes and check top and bottom
- Unless already done, rotate and cook 5 extra minutes
- Remove and rest for 5 minutes before
- Cut and eat immediately.
Final Tips for Smoked Pizza
- A stronger wood like oak, mesquite, or hickory is likely preferable
- Experiment with pre-smoking
- Pick toppings that go really well with smoke – such as bacon or sausage
- Try using a smoked cheese liked smoked mozzarella or smoked gouda
- A smoked pizza can become a little one dimensional, so perhaps add some fresh basil at the end
How to Store It
If you don’t eat it all (is this possible?), then your left overs can be refrigerated for up to 4 days or frozen.
How to Reheat It
Some would argue that cold pizza is even better than when it’s hot out of the oven. Although I’ve certainly eaten cold pizza, I’m still not one of those people. Whereas an outdoor pizza oven is great for cooking a pizza, it’s not going to do well for reheating it – nor is it efficient. I recommend warming it in the microwave for 30 seconds before putting it in an oven preheated to 350°F on a pizza stone, pizza steel, or a cookie sheet for 10 minutes then let stand for 1 minute before eating.
Best Smoked Pizza Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Outdoor smoker or smoking grill Optional
- 1 Outdoor pizza oven Optional
- 1 Pizza Peel Optional
- 1 Pizza pan or cookie sheet (unless cooking in outdoor pizza oven)
- 1 Pizza Cutter
Ingredients
- 1 12" Pizza Dough Store-bought,or try our recipe for Easy Peasy Dough
- 1 Tbsp AP flour and/or cornmeal If using a pizza peel
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil If using a pizza pan/cookie sheet
- .5 cups Pizza Sauce Store-bought or homemade
- 4 ounces Mozzerella Cheese Equals about one cup
- 3 ounces Pepperoni (or substitute speck!)
Instructions
- Preheat outdoor pizza oven to 800 degrees. If using an indoor oven, preheat to 450 degrees.
- Prepare your pizza dough. While you can use most freshly made doughs about 10 minutes after making it, most store-bought pizza doughs must be out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes to warm up to room temperature. Check your specific instructions if you're using store-bought.
- Some people roll out the dough with a rolling pin, and some like flattening it into a disc shape with their hands. I say you stick to what method you are most comfortable with. Use some flour to keep it from sticking to your hands, the counter, or your rolling pin.
- Spread an even layer of flour and/or cornmeal on your pizza peel. Then place the flattened-out dough on the peel.
- If you use a pizza pan/cookie sheet in the oven, most are non-stick, but adding a thin coat of olive oil which helps prevent any sticking and promotes even browning on the bottom of your pizza.
- Take a spoon and apply the sauce one spoonful at a time.
- Take the back of the spoon and spread it out over the dough, leaving about 1" of crust without sauce around the edge. Many people like using a "bullseye" pattern, swirling the sauce from the center out. Start with less sauce and add more as needed. It is easier to add more than take it away.
- Once you're happy with your sauce distribution, add a thin layer of parma ham. Optionally, you can put the ham on top of the cheese.
- Sprinkle your cheese of choice evenly over the top.
- Launch the pizza into your pizza oven (or place your pizza into your oven).
- In the pizza oven, turn a quarter turn every 1-2 minutes until cooked (about 4-8 minutes total).
- In the inside oven, cook for 20-22 minutes, rotating the pizza halfway through cooking.
- Check the bottom of the crust before pulling the pizza out of the oven.
- Let the pizza rest for 5 minutes before slicing and then serve immediately.
Nutrition
Todd’s cooking skills have revolved around the grill since about age 12, when he developed a love for grilling and took over for Mom at the BBQ. He worked at Wendy’s and at Earl’s Tin Palace (a restaurant chain in Canada) but never really did any sort of baking…until he and Heather started making pizza together! Now he’s often making dough in the mornings and pizza in the evenings.