To up your flavor game for backyard BBQs we enlisted the help of our friend Abigail from @bon_abbetit to create some incredible recipes with our Cloud 9® Bite-Sized Fruity Tomatoes and she did not disappoint! Learn how to grill some amazing pizzas with fresh ingredients that your guests will be raving about for months.
Summer is in full swing and this year we are able to get back into having people over for all sorts of outdoor entertaining. Whether it’s a pool party, a backyard bash, or an impromptu get together, one thing is for certain: you’re going to need to feed your guests! Everyone expects the typical hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill, with a side of chips or a tub of salad you picked up from the supermarket. It is time to get creative with your grill and impress your guests with something unexpected: pizza.
Grilling pizza may seem intimidating, but if you follow our tips and tricks, it will quickly become your go-to food to make for your guests. Who knows? Maybe you will become well known amongst your friends and family for the best grilled pizza and they will accept any and all invitations if they know that is on the menu!
It is a fairly simple process to grill pizza on your barbecue, but you need to remember to follow our tips so that your pizza turns out beautifully every time you make it. Abigail uses a pizza stone to make her recipes, but you can also use a baking sheet, a cast-iron skillet or you can put the dough directly on the grill to get those lovely grill marks and add that wonderful smoky flavor to the finished crust.
The first part of making pizza on the grill is handling the dough. Before you roll out that dough, you want to make sure that your grill is preheated, and those grates are nice and hot. If you’re using a pizza stone, or cast-iron skillet, you need to put them on the grill to preheat as well. Once your dough is rolled out, brush the top with olive oil, then flip it over and brush the other side. This will ensure that whatever you’re cooking the crust on, be it directly on the grate or on a pan, it will not stick to it. Place the dough either directly on the grill, the pan or stone. Close the lid and let it cook. After about 5 minutes, check the crust. The dough should be firm, but not all the way done. Sometimes your crust won’t be perfectly round, but that’s ok! It gives it a more authentic homemade, artisan look.
Once the crust is slightly cooked, you will remove it from the grill, and it is ready for toppings. In Abigail’s Grilled Tomato & Feta Pizza, she created a sauce using our Cloud 9® Bite-Sized Fruity Tomatoes. To do this, she made a boat out of tinfoil and put the tomatoes in it along with garlic, basil, olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Fold the foil so that the tomatoes are covered and place it on the grill for about 10 minutes. She also put some onions, asparagus, and summer squash on the grill to precook them before they go on the pizzas.
When the toppings are ready to go, you can add them to the pizza crust. For the Grilled Tomato & Feta Pizza, she used the Cloud 9® Tomatoes she roasted as the sauce then added red onions, fresh tomatoes, basil and feta cheese. On the Summer Squash Grilled Pizza, she spread pesto on the crust before topping it with fresh tomatoes, summer squash, goat cheese and a salty gruyere to complement the sweetness of the tomatoes. Finally, for the Pesto Ricotta & Veggie Pizza, she used pesto as the sauce and red onion, asparagus, fresh tomatoes and ricotta cheese for the toppings.
Here’s the best part of making pizza on the grill: customization. Get even more creative by having an assortment of toppings for your guests to choose from! Our beautiful Sangria® Medley Tomatoes would be a colorful addition to any pizza, plus each color has its own unique flavor. Our Sweet Bell Peppers or Aurora Bites Mini Sweet Peppers are another delicious way to brighten up a pizza and add even more incredible flavor. You like heat? Try our Craft House Collection Shishito Peppers as a pizza topping. The possibilities are endless!
Once you have put the toppings on the crust, back on the grill it goes. It will only take about 5 more minutes to cook. Be sure to monitor the bottom, you don’t want it to burn!
Your guests won’t believe their eyes when you cook the pizza right on the grill, but once they have tasted it, they’ll be hooked! Pizza is one of those foods that creates so much excitement amongst your guests.
To get the full recipes: Grilled Tomato & Feta Pizza, Summer Squash Grilled Pizza and Pesto Ricotta & Veggie Pizza.
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