Make pizza night 10 times more fun with this ​​Skillet Pizza. It’s baked in a cast iron skillet, has an extra thick and delightfully crispy crust, and is topped with two kinds of cheese and pepperoni.

This Skillet Pizza recipe is perfect for beginner pizza makers or anyone who loves making homemade pizza! It’s simple and foolproof – assemble the dough and toppings in a cast iron skillet, bake, and enjoy the extra crispy results.

While, yes, the process is easy, the magic of this recipe lies in the cast iron skillet. Preheating the skillet in a very hot oven is the best way to elevate your dough and end up with a crunchy pizza crust. Not to mention it cooks faster this way.

Your pizza nights will forever be changed after giving this cast iron skillet pizza a try. Stick to the toppings in the recipe card or mix it up and use the toppings from my chicken alfredo pizza or kale pesto pizza recipes instead.

Recipe features

• A really fun and deceptively easy way to make medium-sized pizzas for one or two.
• Making pizza in a preheated cast iron skillet results in a consistently baked and golden brown crust.
• Cheese and pepperoni are simple, yet delicious toppings. Feel free to mix these up as much as you want! Add kale pesto, sun dried tomatoes, prosciutto, ricotta, and more.

Ingredients

Learn more about the easy (and flexible) ingredients in this one-pan skillet pizza. You can find the full list of ingredients in the recipe card below.

Pizza dough – Use a store-bought ball of pizza dough to make this recipe quick and easy. I get mine from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. You’ll likely need to cut the dough in half depending on the size of your cast iron.

Pizza sauce – Or use a jar of marinara sauce.

Cheese – You need two kinds of cheese: shredded mozzarella and parmesan. The mozzarella melts and becomes nice and gooey while the parmesan adds a salty bite. 

Pepperoni – I kept the meat on this pizza classic with pepperoni, but you can easily swap it for sliced sausages, bacon, barbecue chicken, cubed chicken, or another favorite.

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Preheat the skillet. Place the skillet in the oven while it preheats. A hot cast iron skillet will help your pizza cook and brown evenly and quickly. Once it’s preheated, grease the pan with olive oil.

Step 2: Assemble the pizza. Roll out the dough and transfer it to your oiled skillet. Spread the marinara over top, then add the mozzarella, parmesan, and pepperoni. 

Step 3: Bake, then serve. Bake the cast iron pizza until the dough is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Take it out of the oven and top it with fresh basil and red pepper flakes. Slice and enjoy! 

Tips and FAQs

• The size of your pan will determine how much dough you need. If you’re using an 8” or 9” skillet, only use HALF of the ball of pizza dough (save the other half for a second pizza). If you’re using a 10” or 12″ skillet, use the whole ball of dough. 
• Gluten free or low carb? Use your favorite gluten free pizza dough or replace it with my cauliflower pizza crust (see the recipe for baking directions).
• Step outside of the box and cook the cast iron pizza on a hot grill (with the lid closed) when the weather is nice.

What toppings can you use?

Anything you want, really. Copy the toppings from my spinach pizza or chicken sausage pizza instead or add whatever you want. Pesto sauce, prosciutto, sun dried tomatoes, bell peppers, shredded barbecue chicken made from this baked bbq chicken thighs recipe, mushrooms, sliced sausage, arugula, spinach, sliced tomatoes, and burrata cheese are all very tasty on pizza.

Can I make a white skillet pizza?

Sure! Just swap the red pizza sauce for my healthy alfredo sauce and feel free to add more cheese, like ricotta.

Can it be made vegan?

To make a vegan skillet pizza, replace the pepperoni with your favorite plant-based pepperoni and the regular cheese with my homemade vegan mozzarella.

More pizza recipes

• Weeknight Veggie Pizza
• Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza
• Chorizo Mango Pizza

If you made this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and star rating below. Thanks!

UPDATE NOTE: This post was originally published in October 2017. It was updated with new text and photos in October 2022.