A pizza may not be the first thing you plan to cook on your pellet smoker grill, but don’t forget about that option. Your pellet grill is in fact a wood fired pizza oven! And if you have a take-n-bake pizza place nearby like Papa Murphy’s, then you’ve got an easy way to have smoked pizza right at home. Cooking a pizza on a pellet grill is similar to baking it in your oven, but you need to know how your pellet grill performs. You’ll see in the video below that I have a Pit Boss Austin XL and here’s how I cook a Papa Murphy’s thin crust pizza on it.
Preheat the pellet smoker grill to about 400°F (204°C). Bake the pizza on a metal pizza pan or on the paper plate it comes on directly on the rack, and close the lid. Check it at about 10 minutes to see if it’s cooking evenly and rotate if necessary. Final bake time will be 14-18 minutes depending on the performance of your pellet grill.
Cooking a Papa Murphy’s Take-N-Bake Pizza in a wood pellet grill is easy but it may require some trial and error. You really need to know the nuances of your pellet grill.
What Temperature To Cook A Pizza on a Pellet Grill
From start to finish this is how I do everything:
1. Order your pizza online or by phone.
2. Fire up your pellet grill so it has time to get up to the proper cooking temperature. I recommend 400°F
3. When you get back home with the pizza(s) and your pellet grill is at your desired temperature, set the pizza (still on its plate and metal pizza pan) directly on the grill.
4. Let it cook for about 10 minutes and check it.
5. Adjust location, rotation or temperature as necessary. Lift the pizza and plate to make sure the paper isn’t burning.
6. Bake another few minutes till done.
7. Don’t be surprised if your first attempt is a slight disaster. Adjust and try again.
Papa Murphy’s Pizza Baking Instructions PDF
Smoked Pizza on a Pellet Grill
I’m not sure how much actual “smoked flavor” you’ll get from a short 15-minute bake in a pellet grill, especially at a high temperature. Smoking temps are usually under 275 and smoking times run for hours.
There are several Take-N-Bake pizza options out there including all the frozen varieties. If you’re unfamiliar with Papa Murphy’s Pizza, then let’s clear that up. Papa Murphy’s is a pizza chain of take and bake pizzerias that got started back in 1981, when the Papa Aldo’s Pizza chain was founded in Hillsboro, Oregon.
Three years later, Murphy’s Pizza chain began operating in Petaluma, California. Both chains were later acquired and consolidated by Terry Collins into the now famous Papa Murphy’s. The chain was incorporated as Papa Murphy’s International, Inc. Papa Murphy’s was voted “Best Pizza Chain in America” by Restaurants and Institutions Magazine in 2003. They really are very good pizzas especially for take-n-bake pizza. They’re easy to cook, cut, and eat.
You can order a Papa Murphy’s Pizza by walking in, online, or by calling. We’re blessed to have a Papa Murphy’s with a drive-thru. I usually call it in or order online then hop in my car and pick it up 15-minutes later. Our oven or pellet grill is all ready to go when I get back.
I live in beautiful Chandler, Arizona and one of the last things you want to do when it’s near or above 100 outside is turn on the oven inside. Keeping a house cool here isn’t cheap! One of the many great things about a pellet smoker grill is that it uses very little electricity after it’s fired up. The wood pellets are the heat source. Cooking anything, especially high-heat pizza, outside on the pellet grill is perfect alternative!
The first Papa Murphy’s pizza I cooked on my Pit Boss Austin XL was their Triple Pepperoni on thin crust. It was on special so it was a great cheap pizza to test out on my grill. The Tripple Pepp pizza comes with Red Sauce, Mini Cup Pepperoni, Premium Pepperoni and Giant Pepperoni topped with Whole-Milk Mozzarella and Mild Cheddar.
The Austin XL doesn’t have a 425°F degree setting, so I decided to start it at 450°F, set the pizza directly on the grill and centered, closed the lid, then dropped the temperature one notch down to 400°F. I let it cook for about 10 minutes.
I checked it at the 10-minute mark or so, and noticed that the right side of the paper was quite a bit more brown than the rest, so I rotated the pizza. Overall, everything was progressing well, though I expected it to be more brown on the top. I kept everything else the same, dropped the lid, and let it cook for about 5 minutes more.
At about the 15-minute mark, the paper plate was all browned, the top of the pizza not as much, but I didn’t want to cook it anymore. I thought it was getting as done as it was going to, and I’m glad I stopped. When I brought it in I looked under the pizza plate and it was nearly black, especially in the center.
The firebox in the Austin XL is dead center in the pellet grill, so it makes sense that that is where the most intense heat would be. The center of the pizza actually stuck to the paper plate and was tough to pry loose. The crust was darker than I prefer and the center third or so was black. It still tasted good, but blackened pizza isn’t my preference.
I decided to pick up a metal pizza pan from Amazon.com to put the pizza on and try it again. I ordered the Cuisinart AMB-14PP Chef’s Classic Nonstick Bakeware 14-Inch Pizza Pan in silver. It’s got a perforated surface for crisping crust, heavy gauge aluminized steel construction for even heating, a nonstick interior and exterior for easy food release and cleanup, thick rolled edges to prevent warping and it’s dishwasher-safe; It comes with a lifetime limited warranty and I’ve never had a problem returning disappointing purchases back to Amazon.com
Papa Murphy’s on a Metal Pizza Pan
Instead of a Tripple Pepp, I ordered a Papa’s Favorite Thin Crust pizza. I also lowered the temperature to 400°F and left it there during the entire cook time. The end result was very good. Neither the pizza or the paper was burnt this time and it seemed to be more evenly cooked. I left it on the grill for about 15 mins and I probably still could have left it a min or two longer.
How Long To Cook A Papa Murphy’s Pizza On A Pellet Grill
So my final recommendation for a Papa Murphy’s thin crust pizza on a pellet grill is:
400°F for 14-18 minutes and use a metal pizza pan like the Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Nonstick Bakeware Pizza Pan that’s at least 14 inches.