Make the best homemade pepperoni pizza recipe with this step by step guide. Use either a pizza stone or baking sheet and have it on the table in under 30 minutes! Let’s make a classic cheese and pepperoni pizza…
Table of Contents
Why this is the best pepperoni pizza recipe…
- Fast and easy. Great for weeknight dinners and pizza night.
- Use mild or spicy pepperoni slices.
- Make this cheese and pepperoni pizza on a pizza stone or baking sheet. (see these tips for making pizza with a sheet pan)
- Make it healthier by using turkey pepperoni.
- Kid approved.
Ingredients
Here are the classic pepperoni pizza ingredients to make this dish.
- Pizza dough (store bought or homemade pizza dough, let rise on a counter 2+ hours in advance)
- Flour (for stretching the dough)
- Olive oil
- Pizza sauce
- Shredded mozzarella cheese (I prefer full fat mozzarella cheese)
- Pepperoni slices
- Parmesan cheese
- Basil (for that real Italian pepperoni pizza vibe)
- Optional: add some green peppers or sauteed onions and peppers.
Want to make your own sauce?
It’s so easy to make your own sauce at home, and you can make a big batch for any time pizza cravings hit. Use this recipe for simple homemade pizza sauce or white pizza sauce. Those are definitely the best sauces for pepperoni pizza. And if you’re in a bind, you can also use marinara sauce. See tips for using store bought Alfredo sauce.
How to make pepperoni pizza
Let’s quickly prep and bake this homemade pepperoni pizza.
High-level overview
- Stretch pizza dough.
- Add pizza dough to lightly oiled pizza stone.
- Add pizza sauce.
- Add toppings (mozzarella cheese, pepperoni slices, parmesan cheese).
- Bake pepperoni pizza 10-15 minutes.
- Top with fresh parmesan and basil.
Detailed instructions
- Preheat a pizza stone in the oven (on the center rack) to 475°F or to the oven safe temperature as directed by your pizza stone.
- Add half the flour to the center of a large cutting board or flat surface, and spread it around to lightly dust the surface with flour. Add the other half of the flour to the corner of the cutting board to use as you stretch the dough.
- Stretch pizza dough by adding the raw pizza to the floured surface. Flip it against the surface a few times to pick up flour. Then start pinching outside 1” of the pizza dough, in a circular motion, to outline the crust and start getting the dough in a circle shape. Then alternate between pressing the center of the dough against the cutting board, and using the back of your knuckles to stretch the dough from underneath, pulling it outwards in a circular motion. Dusting the pizza dough along the way with the extra flour helps it retain a larger size instead of shrinking back up to a ball. Use as many different techniques as needed to stretch the dough. See the pizza dough stretching tutorial on Sip Bite Go for more.
- Carefully take the hot pizza stone out of the oven once it has preheated, and quickly brush half of the olive oil on the top of the pizza stone. Add the raw stretched pizza dough on top, and brush the rest of the olive oil along the outside 1” of the pizza crust (to give it a golden brown crust once baked).
- Work quickly to assemble pepperoni pizza toppings (to get it back in the oven quickly). Add the pizza sauce and spread it around the pizza, leaving 1” without sauce for the pizza crust around the outside of the circle. Top with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni slices, and half the parmesan cheese.
- Bake pepperoni pizza on pizza stone for 10-15 minutes at 475°F, until cheese is melted and bubbling on the top, and the bottom and crust has turned golden brown.
- Remove baked pepperoni pizza from the oven and top with fresh parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves as desired. Slice and serve when cool enough to eat.
FAQs
Use any thinly sliced pepperoni from the grocery store. Thin pepperoni slices get really toasty along the edges, and curl up to give this pizza a classic look. Thicker pepperoni on pizza is tougher to chew. Use artisanal or specially seasoned, smoked pepperoni for a gourmet taste.
Although many meats and toppings are precooked before adding them to the pizza assembly, pepperoni is one that is fine straight out of the package. It’s perfectly safe to eat, in fact, even before your pizza goes in the oven, but that top heat will give it the ideal amount of extra crisp.
Traditionally, pepperoni pizza is made with the pepperoni placed on last– on top of the cheese, where it gets a little extra browning in the oven. But I always like to add a little cheese on top. If you are like me and want super cheesy goodness, add a little extra cheese over your pepperoni layer.
Here’s the fun part of making pizza at home— there’s no right way, and you can make it anyway you like! If you don’t want to use pepperoni, you can use any other type of deli meat– or use leftover steak, sous vide pulled pork, leftovers from ground beef recipes, or chicken.
Sautéed mushrooms are delicious on pizza, and cherry tomatoes add a little bling to your pizza top. Some people love sliced bell peppers— others swear by adding in three or four different types of meat like sausage and coulotte steak. Raid your fridge and you’ll come up with half a dozen different possibilities– you’ll never know what combo you’ll like best until you try it.
Serve pepperoni pizza with a side of Caprese salad, blue cheese coleslaw, baked chicken wings, or a simple cucumber tomato salad.
The Perfect Pizza Setup
Want to make restaurant style pizza at home? I’ve got you covered! Here are some of my top tips, tricks, secret ingredients and tools for a pizza night everyone will look forward to, again and again.
- NEVER do this… Contrary to what most people believe, when baking pizza on a sheet pan, never add toppings to raw pizza dough. Instead, follow my recipe for making homemade pizza with ready made dough, which will teach you how to par bake pizza dough first.
- Get help from secret ingredients…
– This dough seasoning is the secret to real Italian-tasting homemade pizza dough.
– Add pizza seasoning to store bought pizza sauce. This makes the pizza taste really fresh! - Herbs are for after… In my weekly pizza making practice, I’ve found that fresh herbs, like basil, need to be added to pizza after the pizza is done baking (so the herbs don’t wilt).
- Buy fresh dough and get amazing results. Yup, fresh dough from grocery stores is one of my favorite short-cuts. Learn how to use fresh Trader Joe’s pizza dough and Whole Foods pizza dough with my tutorials.
- Frozen pizza can taste amazing, too!! Learn how to spruce it up with this recipe for pizza using frozen crust.
- Slice pizza pies like a chef with just a few swipes, using big ol’ pizza cutters.
- Want to grill pizza? Here are some pizza grilling tools to check out.
- Do you really need to cook pizza on the rack? Nope! I basically never do. Here are tools you see me using in my tutorials on cooking pizza in the oven…
– Bake pizza on a rimmed baking pan set to get a beautiful golden brown crust.
– Love crispy crust? Let the air flow with this dishwasher safe pizza pan.
– Get personal – let your fam / friends top their own pies with this set of personal pizza pans.
More pizza recipes from Sip Bite Go
- Philly cheese steak pizza
- Smoked Traeger pizza
- Chicken spinach pizza with bacon
- Homemade pizza dough
- Pizza sauce recipe
- White pizza sauce
- See tips for stretching pizza dough by hand
- Learn how to make frozen premade pizza crust taste better
- GUIDE: how to cook chicken breast for pizza
Are you a foodie, too?
Want something else you’ll love to serve with this pepperoni cheese pizza? Serve it up with tasty Summer salad recipes like this fresh peach salad or strawberry feta salad.
Before you go, connect with me on Instagram @sipbitego to see my new tasty recipes – I always share previews before the recipes go live on the site. For more deliciousness, subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel on YouTube.
To find more delicious recipes to try on your culinary journey, scroll through the Sip Bite Go recipe collection.
Pepperoni Pizza Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Ingredients
- 1 ball pizza dough storebought or homemade pizza dough, let rise on a counter 2+ hours in advance
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1.5 cup pizza sauce
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
- ½ cup pepperoni slices
- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese divided
- 2 sprigs basil fresh
Instructions
- Preheat a pizza stone in the oven (on the center rack) to 475°F or to the oven safe temperature as directed by your pizza stone.
- Add half the flour to the center of a large cutting board or flat surface, and spread it around to lightly dust the surface with flour. Add the other half of the flour to the corner of the cutting board to use as you stretch the dough.
- Stretch pizza dough by adding the raw pizza to the floured surface. Flip it against the surface a few times to pick up flour. Then start pinching outside 1” of the pizza dough, in a circular motion, to outline the crust and start getting the dough in a circle shape. Then alternate between pressing the center of the dough against the cutting board, and using the back of your knuckles to stretch the dough from underneath, pulling it outwards in a circular motion. Dusting the pizza dough along the way with the extra flour helps it retain a larger size instead of shrinking back up to a ball. Use as many different techniques as needed to stretch the dough. See the pizza dough stretching tutorial on Sip Bite Go for more.
- Carefully take the hot pizza stone out of the oven once it has preheated, and quickly brush half of the olive oil on the top of the pizza stone. Add the raw stretched pizza dough on top, and brush the rest of the olive oil along the outside 1” of the pizza crust (to give it a golden brown crust once baked).
- Work quickly to assemble pepperoni pizza toppings (to get it back in the oven quickly). Add the pizza sauce and spread it around the pizza, leaving 1” without sauce for the pizza crust around the outside of the circle. Top with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni slices, and half the parmesan cheese.
- Bake pepperoni pizza on pizza stone for 10-15 minutes at 475°F, until cheese is melted and bubbling on the top, and the bottom and crust has turned golden brown.
- Remove baked pepperoni pizza from the oven and top with fresh parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves as desired. Slice and served when cool enough to eat.
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