This easy cast iron pan pizza recipe might be the best pizza you’ll ever make! The dough ingredients are mixed together in the morning, then allowed to rise all day before being pressed into a cast iron skillet and loaded with toppings.
This is a homemade recipe that also includes my best ever, ride-or-die pizza sauce. I topped my pizza with sausage and pepperoni, but you can use any toppings you like!
“I used this recipe tonight to make my first cast-iron skillet pan pizzas and they turned out excellent! I followed your recipe exactly, just doubling it to make (1) 12-inch and (1) 10-inch pizza. Your recipe was so easy to follow!” – Sara (So Much Food Reader)
Table of contents
- Skip the Pizza Stone and Use a Cast Iron Skillet Instead!
- What You’ll Need for the Pizza Dough, Sauce & Toppings
- Tools Needed
- Here’s How to Make Pizza in a Cast Iron Skillet
- Jenny’s Tips for Making Pizza in a Cast Iron Skillet
- Make This Pizza Your Own! My Favorite Variations
- Great Sides to Serve with Pizza
- More Homemade Pizza Recipes to Try
Skip the Pizza Stone and Use a Cast Iron Skillet Instead!
The name of this recipe is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s pizza dough that is pressed into a skillet, topped, and baked in the oven at a high temperature to ensure a thick and crispy crust. My favorite part of this recipe is the crust; it’s thick but chewy and gloriously crispy on the bottom and edges.
This is an easy way to make pizza that doesn’t involve shaping dough balls, and there’s not a pizza stone in sight. This is a great option for a weeknight dinner that will have your family singing your praises!
Jenny’s Tip: As a heads up, this is NOT the same thing as Chicago-style deep dish pizza. I personally equate deep dish pizza with, like, true Chicago deep-dish pizza that’s 3 inches deep. This pizza crust is certainly thicker than a Neapolitan or NY-style pizza crust. It’s more reminiscent of a Detroit-style pizza crust, I’d say!
What You’ll Need for the Pizza Dough, Sauce & Toppings
Jenny’s Tip: If you need to save some time, you can buy the pizza sauce. But I much prefer my own homemade pizza sauce that takes just 15 minutes to prepare and can be frozen for later!
For the Pizza Dough:
- Bread flour. Bread flour has a higher protein (read: gluten) percentage than all-purpose flour, which yields a chewier dough. As the dough rises, the trapped gases stretch the dough, creating strength, but also allowing the gasses to be trapped in the dough which yields a thick, but airy crust. You will not get the same results from all-purpose flour. My favorite brand is King Arthur Baking Co’s bread flour and it’s readily available at most grocery stores.
- Active dry yeast. Requires a longer rise than instant yeast, which is what you want when making pizza dough so you can create that chewy yet airy texture.
- Olive oil. Just a couple tablespoons creates a more flexible dough.
- Kosher salt. You want the pizza dough to be well seasoned too, not just the sauce and toppings!
For the Pizza Sauce:
- Crushed tomatoes. Buy a quality brand for a well-balanced flavor. This is the star ingredient of the pizza sauce, after all!
- Garlic. 3 cloves infuses the pizza sauce with garlicky goodness.
- Spices. A little dried oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes are all that’s needed to flavor the sauce.
- Sugar. Tomatoes are naturally very acidic, so you need a little sugar to offset their flavor.
For the Toppings:
- Cheese. I used a blend of low moisture mozzarella, fontina, and provolone and topped the baked pizza with Parmesan. You can find all these cheeses at well-stocked grocery stores, Whole Foods, HEB, Trader Joe’s, etc.
- Pepperoni. I prefer pepperoni with natural casings.
- Italian sausage. You’ll need to remove the sausage from its casings and brown it before crumbling over the skillet pizza.
Tools Needed
Here’s How to Make Pizza in a Cast Iron Skillet
- Make the pizza dough, then let it rise for 6+ hours. I used my stand mixer and fitted it with a dough attachment to prepare the pizza dough. Be sure to grease the bowl the pizza dough will be transferred into so it can rise smoothly without sticking to the sides.
- Make the pizza sauce. The sauce needs to simmer gently for about 15 minutes to thicken and deepen the flavor. Let it cool before spooning over the pizza dough.
- Shape the pizza dough. This is the super easy part, there’s no real “shaping” required! Once the dough has risen and you’re ready to bake, just press the dough into a skillet by stretching it.
- Add your toppings, then bake. Since this is a thicker pizza, it needs to cook for a good 20ish minutes at 500ºF.
Jenny’s Tips for Making Pizza in a Cast Iron Skillet
- Use good melting cheeses. You absolutely have to have mozzarella, but the caveat is to use whole milk, low moisture mozzarella cheese because it has so much flavor and it won’t make the pizza soggy like fresh mozzarella. I also like to use some provolone for a bit of salt and funk because it has a flavor that reminds me of parmesan, as well as fontina because it melts really well. I mix the three together and that’s my signature pizza cheese blend!
- Skip the pre-shredded cheeses. It takes 5 minutes to shred your own cheese on a box grater. Better yet, get your partner or kids involved! My husband knows that if I’m making pizza, he’s shredding all the cheese. The reason that you don’t want to use pre-shredded cheese is that it’s coated in cellulose (read: wood pulp) so that the cheese doesn’t clump together in the bag. Cellulose prohibits the cheese from melting as well as block cheese. Trust me here!
- If you pizza dough doesn’t stretch easily, let it rest before trying again. The pizza dough should be easy to stretch and shape in the cast iron skillet after its 6+ hour rise time. If it fights you a little, give it a couple of minutes so that the gluten can relax, and stretch it some more.
Make This Pizza Your Own! My Favorite Variations
You can make this cast iron skillet pizza vegetarian or load up the meaty toppings, add pineapple, change up the pizza sauce — there are so many ways to customize your pizza!
- Swap out the red pizza sauce with a blend of cheeses for a white pizza
- Use vodka sauce instead of pizza sauce
- Replace the pizza sauce with refried beans and top with top with seasoned ground beef, cheese, and pico de gallo to make a taco pizza
- Slather the pizza dough with Carolina Gold bbq sauce and top with shredded chicken for a bbq chicken pizza
Great Sides to Serve with Pizza
If you do give this recipe a try, I love hearing about it! Leave a comment with a star rating below. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and never miss a new recipe! You can also snap a photo & tag @JENNYGOYCOCHEA on Instagram.
More Homemade Pizza Recipes to Try
This post contains affiliate links from which I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links allow me to keep providing great recipes for free and I never recommend products that I don’t love and personally own.
Cast Iron Pizza Recipe
Ingredients
Pizza Dough:
- 2 3/4 cups (375 g) bread flour
- 3/4 teaspoon (6 g) kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons (25 g) olive oil
- 1 cup + 1 Tablespoon (245 g) water , at room temperature
Toppings:
- 1 recipe homemade pizza sauce
- 1 cup shredded whole milk low moisture mozzarella
- 1/2 cup shredded fontina cheese , grated
- 1/2 cup shredded provolone cheese , grated
- 2 oz pepperoni slices (natural casings are best)
- 2 spicy Italian sausages , meat removed from casings
- freshly grated parmesan (for sprinkling)
- more olive oil (for the skillet)
Instructions
Make the Pizza Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, salt, and yeast and stir to combine. Pour water and olive oil over the top and mix with the dough hook until combined, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a greased bowl or large plastic container, cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature for 4-6 hours. This is important for developing flavor, don't rush the process! If your dough is rising too quickly, transfer it to the fridge for the remainder of the proofing time.
Make the Pizza Sauce
- In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over low heat. Add garlic, oregano, and crushed red pepper and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add crushed tomatoes and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened and darker in color, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cool to room temperature before using, can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Assemble and Bake
- Mix the cheeses together in a bowl and gather other pizza ingredients. In a small skillet over medium heat, add the Italian sausage and cook until browned, breaking it up into pieces as it cooks. Set aside.
- Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a 12-13 inch cast iron skillet or cake pan, turning to evenly distribute the oil. Remove the proofed dough from its container and press it into the skillet. If the dough won’t stretch to the edges, give it 5 minutes for the gluten to relax and then continue stretching. Once it reaches the edges, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow it to rise for 20 minutes.
- Preheat an oven to 500 degrees F. Spread the top with the tomato sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and top with pepperoni and sausage crumbles. Sprinkle the top with dried oregano if desired. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is browned and when lifted with a spatula, the bottom is golden brown.
- Remove pizza from the oven. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes or so then transfer to a cutting board and cut into slices. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired.
Notes
You might also like...
-
Main Dishes Grandma-Style Pizza
-
30 Minute Meals Sheet Pan Italian Sausage Sandwiches
-
One Pot Meals Creamy Pumpkin Tortellini
Rate & Review This Recipe
[…] Easy Skillet Pan Pizza […]
This is SO good! The sauce has such a powerful taste and the cheese combination is *chefs kiss*. I’ll never make cheap pizza again!
It’s one of my favorite pizza recipes, too!
LOVE this recipe. It couldn’t be easier, and the flavor and texture in on point. It’s a little thicker than I prefer, so I use this recipe to make 2 – 10″ pizzas instead of 1 – 12″ and its perfect!
I used this recipe tonight to make my first cast-iron skillet pan pizzas and they turned out excellent! I followed your recipe exactly, just doubling it to make (1) 12-inch and (1) 10-inch pizza. Your recipe was so easy to follow! I thought the dough may have over-proofed because it started bubbling after 6 hours (I have since read that’s a good thing). I baked it at 550 for about 23 minutes and the dough was chewy on the inside and crunch on the outside. I looked at other recipes and videos on other web sites, but I’m so glad I decided to use this one. Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe!
So happy you enjoyed it! I think this is my all-time favorite pizza recipe 🙂
My mixer has the 2 standard blades it came with but no dough hook. Should I use them? And if so, does mixing direction change? Looking foward to trying this recipe!
I would start with the paddle attachment and mix until the dough comes together, then just knead by hand. You should be fine!
Question: what rack do you bake the pizza on? Middle or bottom? Thank You
I bake my pizza in the middle or top 1/3 of my oven.
I put my dough together and it has doubled in 2 hrs…should I de-gas it and let it proof until doubled again?
I typically just let it go and don’t touch it, but you could absolutely de-gas it and let it keep going.
Can you get more ads? I was almost able to read the whole recipe before I gave up and ordered Chipotle.
Hi Ben! Ads are how I am able to make a living and provide recipes for you to enjoy for free. You’re giving “old man yells at cloud” energy—literally every site on the internet has ads. There’s a jump to recipe button and a print recipe button which allow you to skip ads.
Oh my goodness was this pizza good!!!! Best pizza I’ve ever had let alone made myself! I love cooking in my cast iron skillet but never ever considered cooking a pizza in it. The crust was out of this world & it was super easy to lift the pizza right out of the skillet to slice. Absolutely superb!!! Thank you for sharing this with us!!!