My husband is pretty much happy with everything I make, but there are a few that are he considered his favorite dishes. My cast-iron pizza is one of them.
Growing up, my father made the best homemade pizzas. He made the dough and everything from scratch. Pizza night was always the best night, but I always remember how it took him a lot of time to get pizza night going. It was always on a weekend since he had more time to do it. Because of that, I never thought making a pizza could be an easy or fast meal.
Here’s my special trick for making homemade pizza: Use what the store already has to offer. You can actually buy pizza dough frozen at a majority of grocery stores, along with pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella. Pizza doesn’t have to be as complicated as I thought, and boy was I happy to make that discovery!
Now my husband and I have very different pizza preferences. I’m a huge fan of the floppy NY slice…and he isn’t. However, we both love deep-dish pizza or Sicilian pizza. When it came to developing a pizza we would both enjoy, I knew it needed to be thick enough to hold lots of toppings and lots of cheese. So a cast-iron skillet pizza made sense.
Plus, it’s SO easy to make. I mean, you’re going to be shocked how easy. You’re going to want to make it every night kind of easy. You’re gonna thank me and love me forever and ever kind of easy.
Here’s what to do:
Defrost the pizza dough overnight in the fridge. About 4 hours before cooking the pizza, out the dough on the counter in a bowl and cover it with a towel. Or, you could attempt to make your own dough. But if you’re looking for quick and easy, the store bought stuff works perfectly fine.
Place the pizza dough in your seasoned cast-iron skillet. If you haven’t done this yet, make sure to do it. It’s life changing. Here’s how.
To place the dough, spread the dough using your hands. I use my knuckles to even if our once it’s in the skillet. DO NOT make a crust. Leave the entire dough evenly leveled. If you attempt to make a crust, you’ll find yourself with a floppy pizza and an absurdly large crust. It’ll hold fine when it’s level, I promise.
Add the toppings next (yes, before the sauce). You can literally use anything you want. We sauté up some Hot Italian sausage, bell peppers, and onions.
Spread the sauce next. I find half a jar of pizza sauce to be the perfect amount for this size pizza. Save the other half in the fridge for pizza next week!
Sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese. You can see I also added some pepperoni here. I noticed we had it in the fridge, so I decided to add it. No food waste!
Add generous handfuls of shredded mozzarella to the top. I’m talking GENEROUS. Your pizza is in a skillet, so it can handle some cheese. I usually add 3-4 handfuls (probably around 2 cups).
And that’s it! Place in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, depending on how crispy you like it. We like our pizza a little crispy, so we usually leave it in for around 35-40 minutes.
Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 Pizza dough
- 1/2 jar Pizza sauce
- 2 cups Shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese
- Toppings! You pick.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
- Spread the pizza dough apart with your fingers. Once spread, add to the cast-iron skillet and push down with your knuckles. Keep the dough evenly level, do NOT make a crust.
- Sauté toppings on a pan with some olive oil beforehand, along with some salt and pepper (unless it’s pepperoni). Add the toppings to the pizza dough.
- Spread the half jar of pizza sauce on top. Leave space on the sides for a crust.
- Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese.
- Add generous handfuls of mozzarella, around 2 cups.
- Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Once finished, remove promptly. You can do this by using a spatula and sliding it onto a cutting board (probably a two person job)
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