You can turn a gas grill into a real pizza oven with a Baking Steel and about six fire bricks. Here is how it works, and why the usual approach fails.
Why gas grills struggle with pizza
One big challenge we all face with gas powered grills is heat distribution. Sure, they can get plenty hot enough, but the top heat tends to escape. Why? Unfortunately, the lids are typically made of sheet metal or very thin gauge stainless steel. Both do a great job making your grill look sharp, but capturing the heat is not their strong suit. So when grilling pizza, the bottom of the crust typically burns before the cheese on top starts to melt. That's bad news for your Saturday afternoon cookout.
We tinkered around with this issue a bit and decided to cook our pizza like a flatbread. Toss down the dough, cook one side, flip and repeat, then add your toppings. That method definitely works and it's actually quite good, but it didn't satisfy us in the way that a truly grilled pizza would.
So Fresh Chef and I came up with a new solution, and we like it. We like it a lot.
What you need
- A gas grill
- Any Baking Steel or Griddle
- About 6 fire bricks (packages of 6 sold at Home Depot for less than $30)
Use fire bricks. Red mason bricks may not be safe at these temperatures. Safety first.
How to turn your gas grill into a pizza oven
- Place 6 fire bricks in a "U" shape on your grill grates.
- Place your Baking Steel or Griddle on top of the bricks, so it sits above the grates like a ceiling.
- Turn the grill on high and let it preheat for 40 to 45 minutes. The steel needs that long to fully load with heat.
- Right before launching, turn the grill burners down to low.
- Launch the pizza directly onto the grill grates, underneath the steel. Close the lid and cook for 4 minutes.
- Remove the pizza and devour.
- Repeat until you can't eat anymore.
Why this works
Still confused? Here's what's happening. The Baking Steel is absorbing heat, like it does in a normal oven, but on your grill. Same thing. Except here we're letting that heat reflect back down onto the top of the pizza while the grill grates cook the bottom of the crust. The steel becomes the ceiling your grill lid was never good enough to be.
What do you get? Pure grilled pizza bliss.
Don't have a steel yet? Start with the Original. It's the one that started all of this.
Happy grilling.