If you are looking to make Pizza on the Big Green Egg, you have come to the right place! Contributing write Paul Sidoriak Breaks down how to make Pizza on the Egg in a step by step tutorial. For those in the know, it is crucial to elevate your Egg pizza stone so the top of the pizza cooks quicker. Many do this with either 1) 3 small terracotta clay flower pots 2) the use of an additional plate setter/conveggtor or 3) the use of Big Green Egg’s “Eggspander”. In this version, Paul uses bricks. 

Pizza on the Big Green Egg by: Paul Sidoriak

originally published in 2014, updated on 9/23/22

Pizza is one of the food groups for me.  I use the word pizza as a verb rather than a noun and it probably evokes more emotion than any other food that I grill on a regular basis.  I have been grilling pizza for about three decades now, but grilling pizza on the Big Green Egg has been a challenge for me.  

After three years of experimenting, I have found a technique that works well for me and is easy for anyone else who is interested in grilling pizza on the Big Green Egg.

This set-up for grilling pizza on the Big Green Egg puts a large amount of thermal mass between the lava-hot hardwood lump charcoal by raising the pizza quite high in the dome.  The plate setter, brick, and pizza stone barriers between the charcoal and the pizza make the charcoals heat more evenly and consistently from toppings to bottom crust.

Clean your Egg

Start by taking a few minutes and completely clean the ash out of your Big Green Egg.

Take out the fire ring, firebox, and any other things you may have inside, so you can clean out all the ashes and other charcoal debris. I prefer to use a shop vac, but an ash tool and dustpan work just as well.

Starting with a clean, ash-free Big Green Egg is imperative to cooking at higher temperatures for the time needed to grill a beautiful pizza.

Put your ash-free, Big Green Egg back together. Make sure that the air-intake opening on the firebox is aligned with the Big Green Eggs draft door.

Fill the Big Green Egg with your favorite hardwood lump charcoal to the top of the firebox.  I often dump the hardwood lump charcoal from the bag into the Big Green Egg.

However, taking the time to place larger pieces of hardwood lump on the bottom by hand first will provide a solid base for your heat while assuring maximum airflow for your cook.

Fire it up: Light Your Egg

Light the Big Green Egg and allow it to come to a stabilized temperature of 450-475F. Once your egg has stabilized, it is time to add some thermal mass to your Big Green Egg.

Start by putting your plate setter in the Big Green Egg with the legs up.

Place your grate on top of the plate setter.

On top of the grate, place three fire bricks in a close formation (or you can use 3 flower pots, the BGE Expander, or another plate setter with another set of grates with the pizza stone outfitted on top.

On top of the fire bricks, I place the Big Green Egg feet that came with my egg.  I do not think they are still being made or sold by Big Green Egg, but you can buy something similar here.  If you cannot find these, you can use any spacers to raise off of the fire bricks.  Empty tuna cans, a few stacks of quarters, even a few evenly-sized balls of foil would work.

(See notes above, many also use an additional plate setter and grate for this part, flower pots or Big Green Egg’s Eggspander to elevate the pizza stone for more optimal cooking). 

Place the baking stone on top of the spacers.  When it comes to a baking stone, this is one of the few items I really recommend you use from Big Green Egg’s accessories.  I have broken over a dozen baking stones over the years and the original one I have from Big Green Egg is still going strong after over a hundred pies.

Now that you have your plate setter, grate, fire bricks, spacers, and pizza stone in place, it is time to let them all come to temperature.  I recommend a minimum of 30- 45 minutes.  Any longer would be a waste of charcoal.

Here are some additional set ups for making pizza on the Big Green Egg!

You can use the “Eggspander” to easily cook 2 pizzas at once on the Big Green Egg.

Temperature: What’s the Best Temp to Make Pizza on the Big Green Egg?

Everyone has different temperatures that they feel are ideal for cooking pizza on the Big Green Egg.  A lot of determining temperature has to do with a combination of how hydrated your pizza dough is and how much sugar it has.  

A dough with higher hydration can handle hotter temperatures, while more than minimal amounts of sugar in a pizza dough will have a higher chance of burning before your pizza is done.

My sweet spot for temperature when it comes to pizza is between 500 and 525F.  Some people prefer to go much higher, but there are other factors that come into play when you eclipse 600F.  

The personal safety of you and your guests is enough of an incentive to keep your temps under 600F.  If that is not enough for you, your Big Green Egg’s gasket will thank you as well.

You can also place your pizza in a pizza pan over your grill grates (over the conveggtor) as another alternative way to make pizza on the big green egg.

Pizza Peel and Corn Meal: a necessity when making pizza!

Having a pizza peel that is full loaded with corn meal is the way to ensure your pizza will slide off the peel and onto the pizza stone. Make sure to add a generous amount of corn meal to your pizza peel or whatever surface you use to transfer your pizza to the pizza stone.

Best Pizza Dough for Using On the Big Green Egg

Robyn has a ton of great Pizza Dough Recipes, including her Einkhorn flour pizza dough recipe which is more nutritious than today’s modern wheat. There is also Urban slicer, semi-homemade Pizza Dough Kits made for the grill. And you can also try Robyn’s tried and true pizza dough recipe below. 

Grilled Margherita Pizza

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• Author: Robyn
• Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
• Yield: 1 pizza pie 1x

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Description

Pizza on the Grill is so tasty and fun to do with a crowd! Host a “Grill Your Own Pizza” party and put out all the toppings so everyone can customize their pizzas. In this post, I share my tips for grilling pizza on a gas, charcoal, Kamado or Pellet smoker grill.

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Ingredients

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Pizza Dough Recipe:

as seen in Southern Living (it is by Oprah's former personal chef)

• 1) cup warm water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 envelope dry active yeast (1/4 oz)
• 2 Tsp honey
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• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• Vegetable cooking spray.

Additional ingredients for the pizza:

• 1 cup pizza or marinara sauce (Scott's special Marinara sauce recipe is below)
• one large tomato, thinly sliced
• 1 cup (or more) Fresh, high moisture Mozzarella. sliced
• large bunch basil, added at end

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Instructions

Start on the dough:

Process the first 4 ingredients in a food processor if you have one. Then add flour and salt l pulse 6-8 times until the dough forms a ball and leaves the side of the bowl. You can add more water if necessary. * If you don't have a food processor, do this by hand, it will just take longer….

Place the dough in a large bowl coated with coking spray, cover and chill 2 hours..

Next steps:
Roll the dough onto a lightly floured surface. This recipe will make aprroxi 6 equal portions. I made 2 large pizzas for the grill but you can make smaller personal sizes.

Onto the grill:

Different grills are going to take different approaches to grilling. If you have a gas or charcoal grill, you will want to create a direct and indirect zones on your grill. The indirect side will act like an oven. If you want to learn how to do this, I suggest you watch my video from my GRILL SCHOOL series on how to create direct and indirect zones on your grill! This is a 2 minutes video that will teach you the basics.

**If you have a Kamado Grill/Smokers like a Big Green Egg or a Kamado Joe, You will need to use your place setter. If you have a pizza stone that is great, but if not you can just use your place setter and set the grill to about 500-600 degrees. Check out my specific post: How to Grill Pizza On the Big Green Egg here.

**If you have a Pellet Smoker, you can grill your pizza just like you would in an oven and set it to about 400 degrees. You will want to bake the dough a bit before adding your topics to ensure it gets baked before adding marinara, cheese and toppings.

For a gas or charcoal grill grill, you will set your grill for direct and indirect zones to about 400+ degrees. Coat the grill grates well with nonstick spray or olive oil to ensure your dough does not stick!  Place your dough on the indirect side and grill until char marks have formed and it starts to get firm (about 4 minutes- watch it carefully!). Next, flip it over and add toppings, letting the cheese be your guide. When the cheese has melted, your pizza should be ready to go.

If you are adding any proteins other than something like a pepperoni, you will want to cook that on the direct side until you have hit the proper internal temperature (check our BBQ Calculator!) and slice it and add it to the pizza.

Notes

 Use Fresh mozzarella – it makes a huge difference

Other toppings such as fresh sliced tomato, basil and other herbs are a great addition (I used heirloom tomatoes and they are SO tasty)

Pizzas are a great way to use up leftover produce such as squash and zucchini! Have fun with it!

• Prep Time: 2 hours
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Category: Italian
• Method: On the Grill
• Cuisine: Pizza

Find more Big Green Egg grilling inspiration at GrillingMontana.com

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