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Delicious and the perfect blend of crispy crust and melty toppings, you’ll love this simple Cast Iron Pizza recipe! This easy dinner is ready in 30 minutes and beats the taste (and cost!) of takeout.
We make A LOT of pizza in our household. Whether it is chicken bacon ranch pizza, onion pizza, corn and bacon pizza, artichoke pizza, or puff pastry pizza, we love it all.
Having the right pan makes a huge difference in homemade pizza. Bust out your trusty cast iron skillet, and let’s make some pizza in cast-iron!
The key to this recipe is using a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. If you’re new to cast iron cooking, check out our guide on how to use and love cast iron. It will walk you through the process of seasoning and maintaining cast iron.
Ingredients
This recipe uses:
- Pizza dough – use storebought or homemade (overnight pizza dough, 100% whole wheat pizza dough, or spelt pizza dough)
- Sauce – use storebought or try our red pizza sauce, white pizza sauce, or our pesto without pinenuts.
- Mozzarella
- Cornmeal
- Toppings of your choice
How to Make Cast Iron Pizza
*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.
The size of the skillet you should use depends on how big of a pizza you’re interested in making. A 12-to 13 inch skillet is better for larger servings, but you can also use a 10-inch or 8-inch skillet. The amount of dough you’ll want to use varies on the size of the skillet and how thick you prefer your crust.
The very first thing I recommend doing for this cast-iron pizza recipe is to move the oven racks into place while the oven is still cold. You’ll need one rack at the bottom of the oven, and another in the middle. And since the oven is going to be very hot for a long time, moving them before preheating is so much easier.
With one rack in the bottom position of the oven, put your cast iron skillet on there and preheat the oven to 500˚F. Depending on your oven, this can take 5-20 minutes, so take that into account when planning how much time you have for homemade pizza.
On a floured surface, flatten the pizza dough with your hands. Working in a circle, press it outward until it is at your desired thickness (usually about 1/3 in thick for thin crust or 1/2 in thick for normal crust).
Reduce the temp of the oven to 425˚F and carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven. Add some oil to the skillet and move it around the bottom and sides of the skillet. You can use a pastry brush or a paper towel for this.
After you have oiled the skillet, sprinkle some cornmeal on the bottom of the skillet, and then carefully transfer your pizza dough to the cast iron.
Use your hands to (carefully!) gently shape the dough into your desired shape/size. You can slightly push it up the sides of the skillet if you’d like crust, or just go to the edge of the pan for a true “pan” pizza.
Poke the dough all over with the tines of a fork, and then bake pizza dough at 425˚F for 8 minutes on the lowest rack of the oven. This is called parbaking.
Spread your desired sauce over the parbaked crust, and then add shredded mozzarella and whatever toppings your little heart desires.
Bake at 425˚F for 11-15 minutes on the middle rack, or until the cheese is melty and lightly browned.
HOW TO STORE AND REHEAT
Storing Leftovers: Allow the pizza to fully cool before storing slices in an air-tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Reheating Leftovers: You can reheat the pizza for 2-6 minutes (depending on the thickness of the crust) in the air fryer, in the oven at 400˚F for 5-10 minutes, or in the microwave for 1 minute. Get more details in our post on how to reheat pizza in an air fryer.
Freezing: I only recommend freezing pizza when you use toppings that freeze AND thaw well. Avoid toppings that will become mealy or watery when thawed, like zucchini, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH This Recipe
A side dish of veggies like Chopped Cabbage Salad, Roasted Frozen Broccoli, Air Fryer Asparagus, or Green Pea Salad are all great.
And for more carbs (yes please!), Cheesy Garlic Bread, Air Fryer Texas Toast, Stuffing Biscuits, or No Knead Dutch Oven Bread are delicious options.
PRO TIPS/RECIPE NOTES
- If you are using store-bought pizza dough, allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour or so before trying to roll it. Room temp pizza dough is much easier to work with.
- If you have the time, shredding your own cheese will give you better results. Preshredded cheese from the store has ingredients added to keep it from clumping in the bag—which also makes it melt less smoothly.
- Fully preheat the oven with the cast iron skillet in it. Baking the pizza before the oven is hot will lead to a soggy crust.
- I prefer to par-bake the pizza crust (partially bake) before putting on the toppings. This also helps prevent a soggy crust.
- Optional: brush the crust of the finished pizza with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of garlic salt before serving.
- If you want to use the grill, cook at 425˚F for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is cooked through. Make sure the grill and pizza pan are fully preheated.
More Easy Dinner Recipes You’ll Love
Cast Iron Pizza
Equipment
- Pizza Cutter
Ingredients
- 6 oz pizza dough {room temperature}
- all-purpose flour for working with the dough
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp cornmeal
- 1/3 cup pizza sauce
- 2 cups mozzarella, shredded
- toppings {optional}
Instructions
- Set one oven rack at the lowest setting and one in the middle of the oven.
- Preheat oven to 500˚F with a cast iron skillet in there during the preheating process.
- On a floured surface, flatten the pizza dough with your hands. Working in a circle, press it outward until it is at your desired thickness (usually about 1/3 in thick for thin crust or 1/2 in thick for normal crust).6 oz pizza dough, all-purpose flour for working with the dough
- Reduce oven temp to 425˚F and carefully remove cast iron skillet.
- Brush the bottom and sides of the skillet with oil.1 tsp oil
- Sprinkle the skillet with cornmeal and carefully transfer the flattened pizza dough onto the pan.1 tsp cornmeal
- Poke the dough all over with the tines of a fork.
- Bake pizza dough at 425˚F for 8 minutes on the lowest rack of the oven. Remove the skillet from the oven.
- Spread sauce over the crust, and evenly top with mozzarella and other desired toppings.1/3 cup pizza sauce, 2 cups mozzarella, shredded, toppings
- Bake at 425˚F for 11-15 minutes on the middle rack, or until the cheese is melty and lightly browned.
Notes
- If you are using store-bought pizza dough, allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour or so before trying to roll it. Room temp pizza dough is much easier to work with.
- Fully preheat the oven with the cast iron skillet in it. Baking the pizza before the oven is hot will lead to a soggy crust.
- Optional: brush the crust of the finished pizza with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of garlic salt before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I wonder if that would work with little frypans. We have a pizza stone for full sized pizzas, but little, personal pizzas could be fun. I even have a gingerbread man shaped pan I bet my granddaughter would love. I may need to try that next time she is over without her parents (I don’t have enough little pans for everyone). I have never thought to pre bake the crust.
Yep, I don’t see why not! I prebaked about 18 individual doughs for Halloween on our flat cast iron pizza pan.
I’m not sure if the cute gingerbread man dough will resemble the pan once it is baked, but it’s always worth a shot.