Learn how to make frozen pizza on a pellet grill, and why it is one of the most delicious ways to cook a frozen pizza!
Whether you've got a Traeger, Pit Boss, Camp Chef, Yoder, or any other type of pellet grill, we've got you covered!
Let's Go!
Besides the obvious cool factor and fun photo ops for your Instagram, there are actually some really good reasons to cook a frozen pizza on a pellet grill like a Traeger or Pit Boss.
- You can generate some very high direct heat from the close proximity of the flame broiler plate of the pellet grill (if you turn the temperature up high enough) and it gets the crust much crispier compared to cooking at the same temperature in an oven.
- Because you have airflow through the pellet grill you cook your frozen pizza in a much drier environment than an indoor oven. This leads to crispier crust, bubbly cheese, and closer results to what you might find from a wood fired brick oven style pizza.
- By cooking with wood pellets, you add a subtle smokey hit to the frozen pizza for extra depth of flavor and more of that wood fired taste.
While we love making homemade smoked pizza on our pellet grills, sometimes a busy night calls for a frozen pizza!
Equipment
While you technically CAN cook a frozen pizza directly on the grates of a pellet grill like a Traeger or Pit Boss, we find it's much easier if you use a good perforated pizza pan.
A perforated pizza pan not only allows hot air to get to the crust, which will help get it extra crispy and cook correctly, but also makes it much easier to move and rotate the frozen pizza for even cooking.
We especially liked this affordable carbon steel one from GoodCook to use on our pellet grill. It also works great in the oven to get crispier crust and you can also use it to make regular homemade pizza, not just frozen.
Pro Tip: It works best if you preheat the perforated pizza pan along with the pellet grill before putting on your frozen pizza.
You will also need a good pair of heatproof gloves for moving around the hot pizza pan.
- 🔥 EXTREME HEAT RESISTANT GLOVES: The GRILL HEAT AID gloves can withstand heats up to 1472°F
Preheat the Pellet Grill
Add your chosen pellets to the hopper, then plug in and start the pellet grill. Since we will be cooking the pizza hot and fast, the type of pellets do not matter as much, so use an affordable pellet that you like.
- Includes 1 pound bag of each flavor Apple, Hickory, Mesquite, Cherry, Pecan and Jack Daniels
- Proudly Made in the USA
Pellets last a long time when properly stored in a good airtight bucket.
- Store up to 20 pounds of hardwood pellets in the heavy-duty plastic pellet bucket.
- Weatherproof, airtight lid protects pellets from the elements, keeping them fresh and dry
- Wire-mesh filter separates wood dust from the pellets for a clean burn
- Heavy-duty plastic scoop to easily transfer pellets
Let the pellet grill go through its start up process usually done on the "Smoke" Setting on a Pit Boss or Traeger.
Once it has stopped producing the thick white "start- up" smoke, turn the temperature up to whatever is instructed on your frozen pizza packaging and close the lid.
In our case it was 425°F and it took about 20 minutes to come up to this temperature on our Pit Boss.
Make sure your perforated pizza pan is in there too to preheat and that the flame broiler is closed down for INDIRECT heat if your pellet grill has that option.
Most recent Traeger, Pit Boss, and Camp Chef pellet grill models have some sort of DIRECT vs. INDIRECT heat adjustment bar or lever.
Give the perforated pan (or the grill grates themselves if you are cooking directly on them) a quick and light spray with canola oil or some other high smoke point oil to prevent the frozen pizza from sticking.
You don't need a lot, otherwise it will get your crust too oily.
Cook the Pizza
This will depend on the brand of frozen pizza you are cooking on your pellet grill and the thickness of the crust.
Use the package instructions as a good place to start for estimating cook time.
For example, for our thin crust frozen pizza with cook instructions of 12-16 minutes at 425°F, it looked pretty perfect right around that 16 minute mark.
We rotated 180° one time after noticing the cheese on the back half was melting and browning a little faster than the cheese in the front.
Make sure to use good insulated grill gloves when rotating or moving the pizza or pizza pan around.
Once the frozen pizza is done, remove the pizza pan from the pellet grill and place it on a heatproof surface because it will be HOT.
If you want extra crispy crust, let the frozen pizza rest on the hot perforated pizza pan for a couple extra minutes before transferring to a cutting board and slicing.
- Large, stainless steel blade cuts through deep dish or thick-crust pizza with ease
And never slice your frozen pizza directly on the perforated pizza pan unless you want crumbs everywhere and a ruined, scratched up pizza pan!
Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Frozen Pizza on a Pellet Grill
Equipment
- Perforated Pizza Pan
- Pellet Grill
- Wood Pellets - Hickory, Oak, or Fruitwood
- Insulated Grill Gloves
- Large Cutting Board
- Pizza Slicer
Ingredients
- 1 Frozen Pizza
- Canola Oil Spray to keep pizza from sticking
- 2 tablespoon Chopped Basil optional to sprinkle after the bake
Instructions
- Clean out the ash pot, fill the hopper with pellets, start up pellet grill, and preheat to 400-450°F, depending on the temperature indicated on your frozen pizza instructions.
- Place a Large Perforated Pizza Pan in the pellet grill to preheat as well. Spray with a little bit of the Canola Oil Spray.Canola Oil Spray
- Once the pellet grill is up to temperature, place the frozen pizza on the perforated pizza pan and close the lid.1 Frozen Pizza
- Cook for about 12-18 minutes, depending on the cooking time indicated on the frozen pizza instructions. Rotate as needed to evenly cook the crust and melt the cheese.
- Once the cheese has melted and begun to brown, remove the perforated pizza pan from the pellet grill and slide the pizza on to a cutting board.
- Sprinkle with fresh chopped basil if you wish to dress it up. Slice with a pizza cutter and serve.2 tablespoon Chopped Basil
Dave Mulligan says
Easy enough, thanks!
Mick Spillane says
Hi Mad! A few adjustments have been helpful for us and might be interesting for you. First, we literally "smoked" the frozen pizza in the grill with a tube smoker for about 30 minutes before cooking it - the pizza doesn't completely thaw out, but it picks up a nice smoke flavor. Then we cook the pizza normally on the grill, but we just use a Grill Sheet that works great and makes it easy to remove the pizza when done. Another thing we've been playing with is a "Sear Gun" to give the cheese/crust a nice sear at the end of the cooking process without overcooking the pizza. It's been fun to do these extras and the smoke flavor adds a nice touch to the overall product, especially since we're usually using some pretty cheap frozen pizzas. Boom!
Mads Martigan says
Those all sound like awesome ideas! I definitely need to try out the sear gun on a pizza. Thanks for sharing!