Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza Recipe

Time to pick up where I left of with my last post about what to do with that pizza dough recipe: We’re making pizza in a cast-iron skillet. A cast-iron skillet is a great option for making pizza at home with a thick, crispy crust. It’s also a particularly good choice if you don’t have a pizza stone to use.

I did a lot of research in order to come up with the recipe for the dough I shared previously and the steps you’ll read more about in this post. From Bon Appétit to Food Network to America’s Test Kitchen to Serious Eats, I took a little bit from each site to come up with this recipe. I emailed myself all the links I learned from so that I wouldn’t forget (I actually made this on March 14th for Pi Day) and could share them now.

The great thing about pizza is that it’s difficult to make bad pizza. I mean . . . think about it . . . any pizza, no matter how good or bad it is, is better than no pizza at all.

Just the other week I was invited over to a friend’s house with the lure of making pizza. It wasn’t until I arrived that he confessed to the truth: the dough we were using was from a failed roti recipe and our pizza dinner would be an experiment. Though the circumstances weren’t ideal, our “pizza” concoction was still relatively tasty.

That’s all to say don’t be scared of making this cast-iron skillet pizza at home. Anything with enough cheese is sure to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters.

Yield: 2 to 4 servings

Cast-Iron Skillet Pepperoni Pizza Recipe

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Don't have a baking stone to cook your pizzas on at home? A cast-iron skillet is a great option for making pizza with a thick, crispy crust.

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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• One Pizza Dough Recipe (or you can use store-bought)
• 1/2 cup jarred pasta sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3 ounces sliced pepperoni
• Romano cheese, for grating

Instructions

1. Add the oil to a 12-inch cast-iron skillet and swirl to coat. Transfer the pizza dough to the skillet and gently press into a flat disc the diameter of the skillet; let rise for 1 hour. (If not using my pizza dough recipe, you will want to add more oil to the pan and toss the dough in it to coat as continuing from my recipe should already leave the dough coated in some oil.) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500˚F.
2. Press the dough into the corner of the pan with your finger tips. (It should resemble the photo above.) Spread the sauce over the top of the dough, sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese, top with the pepperoni slices, and grate as much Romano cheese as you want on top. (Don't worry about leaving space along the edges; in this instance you actually don't want to leave much space at all.)
3. Place the skillet on the stove over medium to medium-high heat and cook for 3 minutes. This helps the skillet heat up and starts to almost fry the crust a little bit in the olive oil.
4. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook until the cheese is golden brown and crisp along the edges of the pan, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

I opted for pepperoni (because it’s the best topping IMHO), but you can choose whatever cheese and other toppings your stomach desires. This is just a blueprint for you to take and turn it into your own creation. And yes, I used jarred pasta sauce for the convenience factor (making the dough from scratch was enough work for me); however, if you’re inclined to make your own pizza sauce then don’t let me hold you back. Go forth and cook!