How To Smoke A Pizza On A Pit Boss Smoker

Pizza is a versatile food not only for the ingredients but also because you can get creative and make it in any appliance. So here is how to smoke a pizza on a pit boss smoker.

Pit Boss is a company that has produced a lot of wood pellet grills or smokers. There are different models that you can choose from their website that can cook anything you like.

If you truly want a grill or a smoker that will let you cook meat, vegetables, baked goods, and more, Pit Boss is one of the best available choices on the market.

You can cook either the best rack of ribs or your thin-crust pizzas in the Pit Boss smokers. They are very versatile and powerful, so you will not need too many appliances for cooking.

You can cook Pizza in these types of smokers since they can also reach high temperatures. However, smoking a pizza is another technique that you can do to add flavors to the pizzas.

There are some pointers that you need to consider to properly smoke a pizza. Using the best smoker on the market, we will see what you can do to better your smoked Pizza.

 

A Brief Background

Pizza has been around for hundreds of years, and there are different ways to cook it. The most authentic way to cook Pizza is to put it under high temperatures and cook it in 60 seconds.

This is also why most people would say that there is no such thing as smoked Pizza. It cooks for far longer than how you cook most pizzas, and it does not get as crispy.

Avid authentic pizza fans would say that it is not a legitimate pizza unless you cook it the right way. However, there are so many types of Pizza and ways to cook it nowadays.

Remember that you do not need to cook it the way they did back in the day for it to be called Pizza. You can now use grills, a stove, and yes, even smokers to cook the best pizzas.

Pit Boss is one of the best brands to choose from when you want to get a smoker. Their grills/smokers are made with the best materials and can cook any recipe that you want.

Most of the grills from Pit Boss can reach temperatures of up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit or more. So while it is not the most authentic way, you can still cook pizzas in the usual way.

The grills can also go as low as 170 degrees Fahrenheit, and since they use wood pellets, it makes them great smokers, which is why we are here to see how you can smoke Pizza.

 

What Do You Need?

As you may have already known, smoking is best with meat. So when you are at the grocery store and plan on smoking pizzas, it is best to get meaty toppings for the Pizza.

Chicken breasts, sausages, pepperoni, and ground beef are the common options for this. You can also go with other ingredients if you want or make it more vegan-friendly if you want.

However, I would not suggest going with purely vegetarian options to cook and dry out quickly. The cooking process will be quite long, so get toppings that take longer to cook.

For healthy vegetables toppings, I would usually go with mushrooms, green bell peppers, black olives, and spinach because most of them have a lot of moisture inside them which is great for smoking.

When it comes to the cheese that you will use, you can choose between mozzarella and parmesan or use both of them better yet. They both taste great when cooked in a smoker.

The pizza sauce that you usually use for your Pizza is also great. If you do not want to have that burnt taste on the sauce, then you can put a thicker amount on the dough when preparing.

You will have the familiar taste of pizza sauce on your Pizza, but since you are smoking the Pizza, it is also great to add a little bit of the ‘smoking’ flavor and element to the Pizza.

Get a barbecue sauce as well for the meat and the toppings. You will not need a lot as you just have to get some to brush over the toppings to get that familiar smoked flavor on the food.

As I would always suggest, it is best to make your pizza dough at home. That way, you will get the right consistency and practice to figure out which type of dough goes well when smoking it.

You can also get pre-made dough from the grocery store if you do not have much time to make your own, just as long as you get the right one with the right consistency for smoking.

 

Procedure

Now that you have all the ingredients that you need let us get into the process of how to properly smoke your Pizza in a Pit Boss smoker so you can enjoy the delicious pie right away.

 

Step 1: Prepare The Pit Boss Smoker

First, get your wood pellets and fill up the pellet hopper. You will need a full load of the pellet hopper to ensure that the smoker does not run out of fuel in the middle of cooking.

Light up the firebox by turning the dial or pressing the button. Depending on the model you have, you will have to light up the pellets on the firebox but limit the pellets’ number.

This is an easy task since Pit Boss grills usually have digital controls nowadays. Let the temperature go up but make sure it does not go way too hot for the pellets to burn quickly.

After firing up the pellets, set the temperature of the smoker to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep it at that temperature to make sure it does not overpower the pizza flavor.

Tip: get the wood pellets from Pit Boss, too, so you can select the best type of wood pellets. One way to improve the Pizza’s flavor is to select the type of wood that fits in the flavor of the Pizza.

 

Step 2: Prepare The Pizza

While the smoker is preheating, you can start preparing the Pizza. I used my autolyse pizza dough for this recipe and then stretch it to a slightly thicker crust than the pizza crust you usually see with most pizzas.

It does not have to be too thick, but it also does not need to be too thin.

Just make a crust that is a little over half an inch thick to not dry or burn out when smoked.

What I do is I make the Pizza in small bunches.

I make 6-inch pizzas instead of the larger 12-inch ones to manage them easier on how much more I want them cooked.

Place the dough on a pizza peel, and then brush the surface with a thin layer of your favorite barbecue sauce. This will add more flavor to the Pizza, then spread the pizza sauce over it.

I used my homemade mozzarella cheese over the pizza sauce, and then slice your meat toppings thinly. If you have sausages, you can remove them from their wrapper and then crumble them on the Pizza.

Add the rest of the toppings to the Pizza, and then wait for the Pit Boss smoker to reach the desired temperature. You can preheat a pizza stone with it if you want, but it is not necessary.

 

Step 3: Cook

Once the smoker has reached the desired temperature, place the Pizza on the smoker’s lowest rack. Close the lid and then let it cook for about 60 minutes without moving it.

If the crust has browned and has become crispy before the 60-minute mark, you can remove the Pizza from the bottom rack. Make sure that the crust has attained the crispiness that you want.

Once you are satisfied with the crust’s crispiness, you can then remove the Pizza from the bottom rack and then place it on the top rack this time. Close the smoker again for 30 minutes.

Since most smoke shoots directly to the top of the smoker, the heat will also go up there. As the lid reflects the heat, it will cook the toppings and the cheese on the Pizza.

Once the cheese melts and the toppings are ready, remove the smoker’s Pizza and then place it on a serving plate. Garnish it with some fresh basil leaves and a thin layer of barbecue sauce.

Wait for a little bit before serving or eating it as the cheese and the crust would still be piping hot. Add some cooked chicken or fruits like pineapples if you want more garnish to it.

 

Some Helpful Tips

 

The Cooking Surface

If you are worried that the dough’s consistency is too soggy at first, you can put some sort of a catcher over the grill grate so the Pizza will not fall off the grids when cooked.

Most of the time, I would suggest using a pizza stone for this, but there are times where it blocks the smoke from getting directly into the Pizza, so it lessens the smoky flavor in some ways.

So I recommend using a paper tray just to hold the Pizza’s shape. It will allow the smoke to penetrate the Pizza while also preventing it from falling into the spaces between the grill grates.

 

How to Cook Frozen Pizzas on Pit boss Pellet Smoker

If you are planning to smoke/cook frozen pizzas, you can use the same techniques discussed above. You also do not need to thaw the Pizza before putting it in the smoker.

Just set the smoker’s temperature a little bit higher at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Close the lid and then let it cook for around 30 minutes or until the toppings have been cooked properly.

You can then brush a little bit of barbecue sauce over the toppings and garnish it how you want. There is not much difference when it comes to the flavor, so frozen Pizza is great for smoking.

 

Conclusion

Smoking pizza in a Pit Boss smoker is one of the less unusual ways to cook one. However, it gives a unique flavor that you cannot attain with other appliances or cooking techniques.

The flavor that the wood pellets add to the Pizza is irreplaceable. You can easily do this, especially if you have a Pit Boss smoker, as it is a very easy smoker to use, even for beginners.

Once you taste how delicious smoked pizzas are, it will be hard to go back to the usual pizzas. So follow the simple instructions and tips above to make the best-smoked Pizza in your Pit Boss smoker!

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