Cast Iron Pan Pizza: Thick, Cheesy, and Crispy Perfection

30 min + 14 hour prep

Italian

• Cast Iron Skillet
• Food Processor

When Jet’s and Via 313 are out of reach, it’s time to take matters into your own hands. This recipe delivers a plush yet crisp crust, caramelized cheese edges, and a simple, fresh sauce made from pantry staples. It’s foolproof for beginners, too—no rolling or stretching drama here. The cast iron skillet ensures every bite is golden and delicious.

• Thick, crispy crust with gooey, golden cheese.
• Easy, no-knead dough that does the work while you sleep.
• Made in a cast-iron skillet for that mouth-watering signature crunch

• For the Dough: Bread flour, yeast, salt, and warm water.
• For the Sauce: Canned tomatoes, garlic, and a few pantry staples.
• For the Pizza: Two types of cheese and some olive oil.

Baking the pizza in a generously oiled cast-iron skillet gave the crust a golden, crispy exterior, almost like it had been fried. Some people suggested bacon grease or Ghee is a good alternative too. To take it a step further, I moved the skillet to the stovetop for the last few minutes of cooking, ensuring the bottom of the crust turned perfectly crisp.

Instead of kneading the dough, I let it rest overnight in the refrigerator. During that time, the gluten developed enough to create a crust that could support all the toppings while still being soft and tender. I know that seems like a long time to wait but I promise it’s worth the wait and it only takes 5 minutes to prep and let it sit. You can do it!! I started with a simple, no-fuss dough made from bread flour, salt, yeast, and warm water. The warm water helped jump-start the yeast, giving the crust a light, airy texture.

For the irresistible crispy cheese edge—known as frico—I pressed shredded Monterey Jack cheese around the edges of the dough and slightly up the sides of the skillet.

If you’re feeling up to it, I would recommend making this the same time you’re making your dough! The longer the dried seasonings marinate and open up in the sauce creates such a robust flavor! As for the tomato sauce, I used canned whole tomatoes because its less processed and taste fresher than the pre-crushed ones- (Source), I crushed them by hand to drain off excess juice; If you don’t drain them your sauce will be too watery for your pizza. Blend them with a few simple seasonings in my food processor—no cooking needed. You can definitely use regular canned sauce to shorten the time; I am trying to consume less processed food as much as possible so I spent a little more time on this. I treat this recipe like I’m making a micro dose of spaghetti sauce. The reason my portions seems small, i.e. 1/4 teaspoon, is because we are not making a lot of sauce it like we would for spaghetti. The result? A thick, flavorful sauce that stayed perfectly in place on the pizza.