Pizza is almost always a family favorite, even amongst the pickiest of eaters. And eating outdoors is an easy way to get kids outside in the summer! Plus, everyone knows that eating outdoors somehow makes the food taste better, right? If you love the smell of wood-fired pizza and you love eating outdoors, you’ll delight in our ideas for outdoor pizza cooking with kids! Jemma, Creative Team member, high school teacher, and mother of four, shares all about using an outdoor pizza oven and cooking pizza outside with kids! If you are looking for a fun way to change up mealtime, tried and true pizza topping ideas, or different ways to make a pizza oven, then this post is for you!
Cooking pizza outdoors with kids
If you’re looking for ideas to spend more time with kids outdoors, cooking with kids is a fun way to spend time together outside whilst also doing an activity they love. Making, kneading, and even proving the dough is an outdoor activity idea for the whole family. It can also be a great way to keep kids of all ages occupied if you’re entertaining. Why not even try cooking outdoor pizzas as a party activity or a fun science experiment?
Why pick pizza?
Cooking outside with kids can be wonderful and there are many ideas out there! Here are a few other ways you can spend time outdoors cooking with kids. But with so many fun options for meals and foods to make outside, why pick pizza? What’s so great about cooking pizza outside and why should you give it a try? Here are so reasons that may convince you just how fun and versatile pizza can be.
Pizza is fun and easy
Pizzas are really easy for kids to make! If your kids love cooking, outdoor pizzas are a great way to get kids to do something different outdoors. Plus, it gets them involved in the cooking process, which is something kids love to be a part of.
Pizza gets kids to try new foods
The choice in toppings will likely lead to trying new foods. Kids will love making their own dough and picking their own toppings. The free element of choice means that they are more likely to choose things they may not usually eat. Yes, that even means vegetables (maybe even vegetables from your own garden). Kids that don’t usually try new foods can often be encouraged to try them as a pizza topping because they’re in smaller quantities. See below for our favorite pizza toppings with a ton of healthy ideas for kids too!
Healthy pizza options
Pizza makes choosing healthy options easier. While pizza may not automatically sound like a healthy choice, it absolutely can be! It’s easy to get healthy toppings and ingredients into pizza, which makes it a good choice for parents! Try using a cauliflower-based crust or wholemeal flour crust to make your pizza even healthier. Veggies are easy to sneak onto a pizza too, especially things such as peppers, spinach, zucchini, or mushrooms! If your kids don’t like seeing their veggies, you can puree them into the pizza sauce for hidden nutrition.
Create memorable moments
Cooking outside is a memorable experience in and of itself! Taking the meal prep, cooking, and eating outside is a simple change, but one that your whole family is sure to enjoy. Changing things up every once in a while can make a regular meal seem much more exciting and will create lasting memories!
Outdoor pizza oven options
Pizza is one of the easiest and quickest things to cook outdoors if you have a pizza oven. The extreme heat of a pizza oven and its open flames help to produce the unique flavor and texture of a Neapolitan pizza. For anyone looking to replicate this style of pizza, then a pizza oven is what you need!
There are a few different options for outdoor pizza ovens. You can buy a pizza oven, build your own pizza oven, or even use an existing gas grill! Any of these methods will produce incredibly delicious mouth-watering pizza, right in your own backyard! Here’s a little bit about each option.
Buying a pizza oven
If you’re looking to buy a pizza oven, our favorite outdoor pizza oven is the Roccbox from Gozney (also available here from Amazon). Although they are expensive, they’re a great investment for social events and parties because they cook pizzas in just 60 seconds! Yes, you heard that right! You’ll always be able to knock out something quickly to feed hungry guests and an outdoor pizza is a perfect thing to create quickly after a long day out on a family adventure!
Building a pizza oven
If you have some time on your hands and are looking for a long-lasting option, you can also build your own pizza oven for your backyard or garden. See here for a great tutorial to help you build your own outdoor pizza oven. If you want to create a temporary and fun family DIY cardboard pizza oven and use the summer sun to cook your dinner, then this Solar Pizza Oven tutorial is for you!
Using a gas grill as a pizza oven
Not everyone has a pizza oven or the time to make one, but many of you may already have a gas grill! Turns out, this is perfect pizza oven equipment! There are a few different ways to convert your gas grill into an easy-to-use pizza oven. The folks over at Baking Steel share one way to use a gas grill as a pizza oven and it is so easy! Or, you can place your pizza dough directly on the grill to par-bake it, then flip and add toppings and finish cooking. Pizza on the grill is simple and fun!
Pizza dough recipe
Making and kneading the dough is my kids’ favorite part of pizza night. Sometimes we’ll buy pre-made dough from a grocery store or even use the dough from a can, but the very best dough is the kind you make yourself. It’s easier to make than you might expect and kids love being involved in the process.
Pizza dough ingredients
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast or 1 packet of pizza crust yeast
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 5.5 – 6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Pizza dough instructions
- Dissolve the sugar, yeast, olive oil, and salt in the lukewarm water. If you’re using instant yeast, you can skip this step.
- Measure your flour by gently spooning it into a measuring cup, then sweeping off any excess (do not pack it down).
- Add the flour, starting with 5 1/2 cups and adding more as necessary to make a soft, smooth dough.
- Knead the dough with your hands until it’s smooth and elastic, about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or other container, cover it, and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, whatever fits your schedule.
- Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into four pieces, for medium-crust pizza; or three pieces, for thicker crusts.
- Use a rolling pin to roll each piece, on a lightly greased surface, into a circle to fit a 12″ pizza pan. Let the dough rest several times to relax it and make it more cooperative.
Assembling your pizza
- Place the dough on pizza pans, baking sheets, or on parchment (if using a pizza stone).
- Preheat your pizza oven to 450°F. While it’s heating, get out your toppings, which you’ve prepared ahead.
- Brush each crust with a bit of olive oil, sauce and toppings of your choice. Sprinkle the top with grated cheese.
- Bake the pizzas for 15 to 20 minutes, until they’re golden brown, the toppings are hot and bubbly, and the cheese is melted. Remove the pizzas from the oven.
- Immediately transfer pizzas to a cooling rack, so their bottoms don’t get soggy. After about 10 minutes (to allow the toppings to set), slice and serve.
Pizza topping ideas for kids
We asked our Creative Team members what their (and their kids) favorite pizza toppings were. See below for their fun and creative pizza topping answers! Use these ideas to create some new pizza topping combinations in the future!
- BBQ chicken with cilantro and red onion
- Pineapples, chicken, barbecue sauce
- Pepperoni and olive (a classic)
- Roasted red pepper and goat cheese
- Mushrooms and olives
- Garlic and ricotta cheese
- Sweetcorn and goat cheese
- Broccoli and olives
- Red sauce and olives only (some kids just don’t like cheese)
- Fresh tomatoes and mozzarella
- Pineapple and ham (or Canadian bacon)
- Taco pizza – taco meat, tomatoes, lettuce, salsa, cheese and black olives
- Feta, sundried tomatoes, and turkey kielbasa
- Potato and goat cheese
- Bacon, egg and arugala
Not seeing your favorite or your child’s favorite topping choices above? No worries! Making pizza with your family is all about having fun! Offer different topping options, including those you know will be chosen by your family members, but also new toppings too! Let each person create their own topping combinations and then share the different outdoor oven-baked pizzas. This isn’t just a meal, it is a way to get outside while making memories!
Outdoor pizza oven tips and tricks
For pizza with a crispy crust and perfectly cooked toppings, high heat is required. This is where purpose-built pizza ovens shine since they can withstand temperatures far greater than those of regular home ovens. How long it takes to cook your pizza will depend upon your oven’s internal temperature, and can vary from as long as 10 minutes to as quickly as just 90 seconds! Once your oven is up to temperature, you’ll need to actually put your pizza in the oven.
We don’t advise throwing a raw pizza into your oven with your bare hands, so a trusty pizza peel will be a valuable investment in your outdoor baking arsenal. A pizza peel is a flat, wide tool that helps you move pizza pies around. Some pizza peels are better designed to transfer a pizza from the countertop to your pizza oven while others are better for turning the pizza while it’s cooking in the oven.
Since the pizza dough can be a bit sticky, you’ll need something to keep it moving freely on the peel. You can use another sprinkling of flour or cornmeal on your pizza peel to prevent the dough from sticking and help it slide off the peel and into the oven in one swift movement.
You can cook all kinds of other food in your outdoor pizza oven, not just pizza. Try cooking and serving roasted vegetables, focaccia bread, cinnamon rolls, or even peach cobbler, all of which cook up amazingly well in an outdoor oven.
Make outdoor pizza night a summer tradition
We hope you’ll enjoy making pizza outdoors with your family – it may even become a tried and tested household summer tradition. If your kids have got the outdoor cooking bug, then you’ll love our outdoor skills posts. Have a read of this one here giving tips for fire safety to help kids know how to use fires safely.
If you liked reading our ideas for pizzas you’ll love our other ideas for camping cookouts with kids!
Caution: You must be careful when using outdoor pizza ovens near kids. Pizza ovens are exceptionally hot and you should take extra care when using them around kids.
What pizza toppings will you choose?
About the author
Jemma lives in London, England with her husband and kids. Her all-time favorite thing to do is take photos and capture memories of her family. She’s on a mission to ensure parenthood doesn’t rush by so quickly by creating mini family outdoor adventures and hopefully some big adventures too, one day! She’s a mum to four and an English teacher to many. She loves sharing her passion for storytelling, adventures, and nature crafts on her blog and here.
Find more from Jemma in the following locations:
Instagram: @thimbleandtwig
Blog: www.thimbleandtwig.com
Facebook: @thimbleandtwig
Etsy shop: ThimbleandTwig
RWMC posts: Jemma
Pizza is love but I have never ever tried making it at home but after reading this post it excites me to try making it by myself and this holiday I will surely make a delicious pizza for myself. Thank you so much for sharing the toppings idea.