Classic Pepperoni Pizza with homemade pizza dough is quick, easy, and better than delivery! Try making this for your family today!
Homemade Pepperoni Pizza is an amazing, kid-friendly Dinner Recipe perfect for any weeknight. Layers of Pizza Dough, Pizza Sauce, cheese, and pepperoni, baked to bubbly, cheesy perfection. For more classic pizzas, be sure to check out my Hawaiian Pizza and Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza recipes!
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Sabrina’s Pepperoni Pizza Recipe
Homemade Pepperoni Pizza is a delicious meal that’s surprisingly simple to make. Once you have the dough ready, all you have to do is layer on the sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and seasonings. It bakes in just 13 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when it has a perfect golden brown crust and bubbly cheese topping. It’s just as delicious as your favorite takeout, made even better because you can enjoy it fresh out of the oven!
Chef’s Note: Pizza Dough
If you’re in a hurry, or just want an easy and quick meal, you can buy refrigerated pizza dough and jarred pizza sauce from the store. Although it won’t taste quite as authentic as making your own homemade pizza dough and quick pizza sauce, it’s an easy way to speed up the recipe. Without making the dough and the sauce, the delicious meal comes together in just over 20 minutes. The combination of crispy crust, tomato sauce, melty cheese, and pepperoni is absolutely delicious whether or not it’s made entirely from scratch.
Ingredients
- Pizza Dough: Of course, you make the base of any pizza recipe with simple pizza dough. You can use store-bought, make the pizza dough the day of, or prep pizza dough in advance and keep the dough ball wrapped in the fridge until you’re ready to make the Pepperoni Pizza.
- Pizza Sauce: Another good thing about making homemade pizza is that you can adjust the amount of ingredients according to your taste. If you want a lighter layer of sauce, then just spread a little over the dough. But, if you love the tomato sauce taste, you can add extra marinara sauce to what’s already recommended.
- Cheese: Mozzarella makes the perfect pizza cheese topping because it melts bubbly and stringy. While in the oven the mozzarella will brown on top, and come out wonderfully gooey.
- Pepperoni: Of course, it wouldn’t be a pepperoni pizza without pepperoni. This is another ingredient that you can add as much or as little depending on your taste. Or make half the pizza pepperoni and half of it plain cheese. It’s all up to you!
How to Make Pepperoni Pizza
Time needed: 1 hour and 15 minutes.
This meal can be ready in about a half hour once the dough and sauce are ready. Making your own dough and sauce is optional.
- Prepare the Dough
Combine warm water, granulated sugar, and yeast in a stand mixer. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes until it becomes foamy. Add flour, olive oil, salt, and garlic powder to the mixer. Mix on medium speed until ingredients are combined, then switch to the dough hook and knead for 5 minutes. Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Roll Out the Dough
When the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Get out a pizza stone, or baking sheet if you don’t have a pizza stone. If you’re using a baking sheet, prep it with parchment paper or cooking spray. Flour your hands and prep your countertop with flour. Take out your ball of pizza dough. Roll it out on the floured surface with a rolling pin until flattened out about ¼ inch thick and 12 inches across. Place it on your baking pan.
- Assemble the Pizza
Once the dough is formed, spread a layer of sauce over the pizza dough, but make sure you leave some space for the crust at the edge of the dough. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly over the top. Top that off with pepperoni, and finish with a sprinkling of Italian seasoning.
- Bake the Pizza
Put the Pepperoni Pizza in the preheated oven for 12-16 minutes. As the pizza cooks, you can watch for the cheese to become slightly browned and bubbly, and for the edges of pizza to become golden brown. Remove the pizza from the oven. Allow some time to cool, and once you’ve let the pizza rest, slice it into wedges.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Pizza Dough:
- 1 cup warm water , (110 degrees)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast , 1 packet
- 2 1/2 cups bread flour
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
To Make Pizza:
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup pizza sauce
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese , shredded
- 24 slices pepperoni
- 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes , optional
Instructions
Pizza Dough:
- In a stand mixer mix the water, sugar and yeast together and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Add in the flour, oil, salt and garlic powder and whisk together on medium speed until well combined, then swap out for the dough hook and let it knead for 5 minutes on medium speed.
- Remove the dough hook and let it rest, covered with a damp clean towel for 30 minutes before using.
To Make the Pizza:
- Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
- On a floured countertop or on a cutting board, roll the pizza dough out to ½ inch thickness and about 12 inches across.
- Layer the pizza (except for the outer 1 inch ring) with the pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and Italian seasoning.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes until the cheese is browned and bubbling and the crust is golden brown.
Nutrition
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Can This Be Made Ahead?
Yes, pizza is always best baked fresh, but you can make parts ahead of time. Option 1 is to prepare the dough and let it rise, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 24 hours. Assemble the pizza just before baking. Option 2 is to partially bake the crust, add toppings, and refrigerate overnight. Bake when ready to serve.
Nutritional Facts
Ideas for Homemade Pizza
- Toppings: Once you realize how easy it is to make homemade pizza, you won’t want to stop at just Pepperoni Pizza. Enjoy experimenting with your favorite cheeses, meats, and veggies to the top. Adding the toppings to your homemade pizza is a fun step that your kids can easily help you with to get them involved.
- Sides: If you want the full pizzeria experience from your home, you can also make finger foods like Garlic Bread and Hot Wings to serve on the side of your homemade pizza. Don’t forget the Ranch Dressing for dipping!
How to Store
- Store: After baking, Homemade Pepperoni Pizza can be at room temperature for up to 2 hours before it should be stored. Cool before storing. Keep any leftover pizza in an airtight container or wrap it in tin foil to store in the fridge. It will stay good for up to 5 days. Reheat the pizza in the oven to keep the crust nice and crispy.
- Reheat: Reheat in the microwave, the toaster oven, or the air fryer on 350 degrees for 3-5 minutes.
- Freeze: As long as you carefully seal pizza, you can freeze it for up to 2 months. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in a freezer-safe bag or airtight container. Reheat in the oven until heated all the way through.
Grilled Pepperoni Pizza
Making your pizza on the grill outside is a great technique that helps give your pizza that fresh, fire-roasted taste loved by people around the world. You’ll need a pizza stone for this. For food safety, be sure the temperature of the pepperoni reaches 165 degrees.
- Prepare the Dough and Preheat the Grill: Make the dough according to the recipe.
- Par–Grill the Dough: Flour the pizza stone and place the rolled-out dough on it. Close the lid and let it bake for 5-7 minutes until the dough can easily slide without bending. If you have one, use a pizza peel (the massive flat pizza spatula) to remove the dough.
- Add Toppings to Pizza: Keep the hot pizza stone on the grill but remove the dough to spread pizza sauce, sprinkle shredded cheese, and add pepperoni slices.
- Grill Pizza: Return the pizza to the grill, close the lid, and let it bake for another 5-7 minutes.
Frequent Questions
Yes. Bread flour is used because it has a chewier texture due to its higher protein content. Both work great!
Absolutely! This is a fun activity to do with the kids. Mix the ingredients by hand, then knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth.
No this is not necessary as pepperoni slices are already cured and safe to eat, and most brands actually sell them cooked. Regardless, they will cook fully during the baking time.
Good questions. You can technically do either but typically the pepperoni is put on top of the cheese so that the cheese only melts and doesn’t get too crispy.
Variations
- Seasonings: You can add any of your favorite Italian herbs and spices to the top of the pizza for some extra flavor. Fresh oregano, fresh garlic, basil, rosemary, or extra red pepper flakes would taste delicious over the Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza.
- Cheeses: There are lots of different cheese varieties that taste great with pizza. Try sprinkling on some parmesan cheese, cheddar, Havarti, or provolone along with the mozzarella.
- Toppings: There are just so many options for pizza add-ons, you can really add any of your favorite pizza toppings. Try cooking up some bacon, and sausage to make a meat lovers pizza. You could also just use sausage to replace the pepperoni for a classic sausage pizza. There are lots of fresh ingredients you could add too, like green peppers, mushrooms, black olives, or jalapeno peppers.
- Specialty Pizza Ideas: You could make yourself an exciting specialty pizza like Basil Spinach Artichoke Pizza, Broccoli and Mozzarella, or Buffalo Chicken pizza. Whatever your favorite takeout pizza is, you can use the same toppings to make it for yourself at home.
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Photos used in previous versions of this post.
We tried your recipe and it was delicious, just one minor thing that maybe you forgot! It says in the directions to add oil into the mixer with all the other ingredients, but you didn’t give the specific amount to use! We added 1 TBPS of olive oil, and the dough was puffy and airy! Other than that little mistake, it was REALLY GOOD! Thanks for the recipe!