Weeknight Dinner: How to Make Pizza on the Stove Top

Here's the method we've developed:

1. Prep the Dough - If you're making your own pizza dough, get it started in the afternoon, or make it the night before and keep it in the fridge. We've actually been using our recipe for pita bread and just cutting off pieces of dough as we need them. (One pita recipe makes about 4 pizzas.) If you're using store bought, your job is already done! Either way, let the refrigerated dough warm on the counter a little as you prep everything else.

2. Prep the Toppings - Once you get going with the pizza, it's like a train that won't stop! You won't have time for last minute chopping or rummaging through the fridge, so make sure all the toppings you want to use are ready and waiting next to the stove.

3. Heat the Pan - Set a 10"-12" cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and slick the bottom with a very thin layer of oil. Cast iron works really well for getting the crispy, charred bottom so we definitely recommend it here. You'll be flipping and moving the dough, so if you don't have a cast iron skillet, we think it's probably best to use one with non-stick coating.

4. Roll Out the Dough - While the pan is heating, quickly roll out the pizza dough. It should be a little smaller than the size of your pan and about 1/4"-1/2" thick. Dust the counter, the dough, and your rolling pin with flour so the dough doesn't stick.

5. Cook the Dough for 1 Minute - Transfer the dough to the hot skillet. We found it easiest to drape the dough over the rolling pin to transfer and center the dough in the skillet. Cook the dough for about 1 minute. If bubbles start forming in the dough, poke them with a knife to get them to deflate.

6. Flip the Dough and Add the Toppings - Flip the dough onto the other side and immediately start adding the toppings. Once everything is on there, cover it with a lid so the cheese melts and the ingredients heat through. (You can also run it under a broiler, as we did for this Asparagus, Shitake, and Mozzarella Pizza!)

This should take about 5 minutes or less, and the pizza is done when the cheese has melted to your liking. If the pizza crust starts to smell like it's burning, you can lower the heat to medium - though the charred "burned" bits on the bottom were honestly some of our favorites!

And that's all there is to it! From starting to prep the ingredients to finished pizza, this usually takes us about a half an hour with 5-10 minutes of active cooking time at the hot stove. We probably wouldn't use this method if we were cooking for a crowd, but one pizza with a side salad is a great dinner if you're eating solo or if there's just two of you. It's also easy enough to cook off another pizza if you're still hungry.

Do you ever cook pizza on the stove top? What's your method?

(Image: Emma Christensen)

How simple! What a great idea for those of us living without an oven! I'll be trying this one out tonight for our late dinner. :)

posted by mdevans on September 14th 2009 at 11:52am
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Do you think it would work well with a grill pan, too? That's the only cast iron pan I've got. (I worry that because there are fewer points of contact with the dough, that it won't cook as well...)

posted by laetitiae on September 14th 2009 at 12:11pm
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@laetitiae - Sure, I think it would work with a grill pan. The dough is soft enough that it would form to the grill pan - plus you should get some lovely grill marks!

posted by EmmaC on September 14th 2009 at 1:10pm
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A good friend of mine cooks his pizza outside on the grill. It's fabulous!!!

posted by megbot on September 14th 2009 at 1:46pm
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I second grilling pizza outside - I'm obsessed and can't understand why everyone else isn't!

posted by JuniperGreen on September 14th 2009 at 2:00pm
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I cook quesodia's in a cast iron skillet like this. Even on the grill i do this.

I just remove the grill grates on my weber grill and place the skillet on the flavor bars.

Very easy and no mess.

posted by Joe from NY on September 14th 2009 at 2:10pm
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Third for the "pizza on the grill" obsessed. I actually tried it on the stovetop last week when I couldn't fire up the grill... Good, but nowhere near as fantastic as on the grill!

posted by mspants on September 14th 2009 at 3:29pm
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This is exactly how i make my breakfast pancakes! I add berries to the top while the bottom cooks, flip the cake, smear cheese on top and cover. A biscuit dough works even better than a yeast dough when covering the steaming cake/pizza.

posted by lona on September 14th 2009 at 5:01pm
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I have never tried making a pizza this way, but I reheat leftover pizza this way all the time. it is the perfect way to get the crust crispy without burning the crust or the toppings.

posted by lcg on September 14th 2009 at 7:31pm
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i tried this tonight in both a cast iron skillet and a cast iron grill pan (with no available lid). if you make it too thick with toppings, the cheese won't melt, even in the skillet with a lid. i ended up resting an upsidedown wok on top of the grill pan pizzas but it took a while for the cheese to melt, so the bottoms burned. (i like the bottom crispy but it was too burnt tasting.) maybe starting it on the stove top and moving it to the broiler for melting would be better. or maybe i need more practice with cast iron!

posted by special on September 14th 2009 at 11:01pm
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OMG, this is so awesome! I've been making the stovetop pita bread nonstop, and I don't have an oven, so this is so, so perfect!

posted by engill on September 15th 2009 at 2:37am
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I wonder if anyone has tried a sweet version? I'm envisioning something like nutella and bananas...mmm...

posted by engill on September 15th 2009 at 2:38am
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What a grear idea,how simple.Water meters

posted by water meter on September 15th 2009 at 4:01am
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I just made pizza and was not happy with the crust. thanks for this great tip!!!

posted by Ambitious on September 15th 2009 at 11:37am
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just had this for dinner, and it´s perfect. I did burn the bottom a little, but that won´t happen again. Now I´m thinking of trying naans this way, too. brilliant.

posted by lobstersquad on September 15th 2009 at 2:46pm
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Lovely!!! I have been dying to have homemade Pizza, but din't have an oven...I am going to try this soon..

posted by Akanksha on December 28th 2009 at 3:40am
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Just tried this tonight. Instead of finishing the pizza by covering the skillet, I had a 450 degree oven ready and placed the pizza (still in the skillet) in that. It was done when most of the cheese was bubbling, probably closer to 8-10 minutes. Because we had people over, I used two cast iron skillets, and while one was finishing in the oven the other was heating up on the stove getting ready for the next pizza. This also made for a nice sizzling presentation, and the cast iron kept the pizza hot for quite a while at the table (though I took pains to keep people from inadvertently grabbing the super-hot pan handles).

Overall, it was almost as good as my favorite pizza-cooking method, i.e. on the grill on a sheet of foil. But given the not-so-nice weather we've been having, it was nice to not have to venture outdoors.

Thanks for the idea!

posted by manjar on February 7th 2010 at 12:46am
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