Whipping up a pizza on a busy night is something that happens on the regular here at our house. We have a pizza crust recipe that is super fast and yields great results without a lot of time rising or anything so between that and a great 5-minute Marinara sauce recipe, we are good to go for a great cheese or pepperoni pizza any night of the week! We have a family with three young kiddos so we tend to do this quite a bit on nights where my hubby and I are craving something yummy for takeout, but we’ve got three hungry little ones to get fed. 

While I know most homemade pizza pros swear by having a pizza stone since it can best replicate the way a pizza cooks in a real pizza oven. The super pros swear by a “pizza steel”, which is a solid sheet of steel, as opposed to a pizza stone, which is made out of clay or ceramic, that absorbs high heat to cook your pizza really quickly and creates a really crunchy bottom. 

If you don’t have a pizza stone or steel at home, but really want to up your homemade pizza game, you could try one of these four items to get the crunchy, perfect pizza you are hoping for that you likely already have in your kitchen. 

1. A Hot Grill

There are plenty of people who swear by cooking their pizza right on the grill. Grills can get way hotter than most ovens, so you can accomplish a really thin, crispy crust easily. Charcoal gives the best flavor but it can absolutely work with a gas grill as well.

2. Inverted Cookie Sheet

Flipping a cookie sheet over and cooking your pizza right on top is a really easy way to crisp up the bottom of that crust. Flipping it over makes it even easier to get the pizza in and out and cut it. This kitchen essential is something everyone has and works beautifully for great crust.

3. Cast Iron Pan

There are plenty of recipes for cooking a deep dish pizza right in a cast iron pan on the stovetop, but similarly to the cookie sheet, you can invert the cast iron pan and cook the pizza right on the pan and it really gives it a supremely crispy crust, probably the most similar to a pizza stone. 

4. Aluminum Pizza Pans

Many of the most famous pizza restaurants in America use simple aluminum pans to cook the pizzas in with exceptional results. My favorite pizza ever in Chicago, Lou Malnati’s, always uses aluminum pans for all their famous deep dish pizzas. The aluminum cooks really hot and evenly and is a really great and affordable choice.

What is your preferred method to cook pizza at home? Please share any tips or tricks you have in the comments below. Here is the recipe for my favorite 5 minute marinara sauce that is so great for pizza, dipping breadsticks, you name it. And a little Mary tip--mixing this marinara with a little bit of good ranch dressing is always a really good idea!



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