How to Use Pizza Steel on Your BBQ Grill: The Definitive Guide

Summary

To cook pizza on a grill, preheat your  on full blast and switch to indirect heat when it's time to cook the pizza.

Keep the lid closed as much as possible to retain heat and check the pizza after 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and every minute after that.

If using a smaller grill, prioritize getting the hottest environment and be aware that the top may not cook before the bottom.

Important note: Not all pizza steels are graded to be used in a grill due to the high heat source. Our Pizzori plates are made out of cast iron, and can handle the high grill temperatures without issues.

Review your own owner's guide if you own another pizza steel.

Pizza Making on the Grill Summarized

1. Place the Pizzori in your grill
2. Set all burners to maximum during preheat
3. Preheat for aproximately 30 min.
4. Lower burner(s) directly underneath the Pizzori to the lowest setting
   • Find the optimal heat for your grill.
5. Carefully open the lid as little as possible (to retain as much heat inside)
6. Slide your pizza onto the Pizzori
7. Close the lid
8. Check the pizza after:
   • 3 min.
   • 5 min.
   • Every minute after this

The Issue: Most People Burn the Bottom of Their Pizza

When we speak with customers the biggest issue that they experience is a burnt pizza crust. 

The issue that happens is that we think more heat is better. So we heat up the grill to as much as we can, and when we launch the pizza we continue blasting our burners on full.

But because a pizza steel retains so much more heat than a pizza stone, then this approach will simply burn the bottom of your pizza. 

Instead, we need to tinker a bit more with our pizza making method to be successful in our grills. 

Luckily, if you own a pizza steel already then you like tinkering already :) 

5 Tips to Using Pizza Steels in Your Grill

1) Placement of a Pizza Steel in Your Grill

There are two ways you can place a pizza steel:

1. Centered in your grill
2. All the way to one side

The idea is to be able to create indirect heat (see below) so you don’t burn the bottom.

2) Managing the Heat Source: Burners or Coals

Grills have more direct bottom heat than your oven, so it will heat up the pizza steel much faster.

If you leave the burners on maximum while cooking the pizza you’re likely to burn the bottom.

The key is therefore to:

• Heat up the pizza steel on full blast
• Switch to indirect heat when it’s time to cook the pizza

Weber has a great explanation of indirect heat:

The same concept applies for burners and coals.

3) Smaller Grills are More Difficult

If you have a smaller grill and you can’t get enough heat (+500 degrees) when you create an indirect heat environment, then prioritize getting the hottest environment.

Just know that if your grill is small, and the Pizzori takes up most of the surface area you might have a tough time getting the top cooked before the bottom.

In such a case, it might be better to make your pizzas in your home oven instead of on the grill. Sometimes the tools limit us, and a too small grill will be a limiting factor, which can burn the bottom of your pizza before getting the top how you like it. 

I'd venture to say that if you have less than three burners in your grill it'll be hard to cook amazing pizzas in your grill. 

4) Preheat is Shorter in Your Grill

Because of the more direct bottom heat coming in your grill you need to preheat a pizza steel for less time than in your oven.

Many grills also get hotter than your home oven, so it should heat up faster. 

This changes from grill to grill, so I advise you to review your specific case.

5) Keep the Grill Lid Closed

The key to cooking great pizza on your grill is to keep the heat inside the grill.

This means only opening the lid as much as you need to:

• Slide the pizza onto the pizza steel
• Check on your pizza doneness

Opening the lid too much means you let out all the heat, and your pizza will risk over-cooking the bottom before the top gets any color.

All in All: Grilling Your Pizza is Amazing

Even though there are some things to be careful with then making your pizzas on the grill can be an excellent way to get out of hot kitchens in the summertime.

As a final tip, try adding wood chips to your grill to get that wood fired flavor into your pizza dough. It'll add another element to your homemade pizzas. Thank me later :)