Grilled pizza gets a patriotic makeover with blue potatoes, goat cheese, and roasted red peppers. Cut some of the peppers into stars and enjoy grilling out this Memorial Day. If you are interested in celebrating Independence Day (or Memorial Day) with food that is red, white, and blue, but you’re not a fan of food dye, this grilled patriotic pizza will be right up your alley. Do check out all the deliciousness we’ve made for you for Progressive Eats. Everything sounds fantastic, as usual!
Another one of my pizza recipes is Grandma pizza dough. Delicious.
For ease of browsing, here are all of my bread and roll (and pizza) recipes in one place. Thanks for stopping by!
Full disclosure, this is the first time I have ever grilled pizza, and I think it went quite well. For a first time. I do suggest that, unless you have a (affiliate) gas grill with special zones, put all the coals on one side and grill your pizzas on the other. This prevents Black Bottom Syndrome (what? It’s a thing.) as well as Cursing.
Once I moved the coals over to one side, things went much more smoothly. And the pizza was fantastic, so there’s that. Worth just a bit of cursing, I think.
The Great Thing About Grilled Pizza
The nice thing about grilling pizza is that, since it goes very quickly, you have to have all of your toppings ready to go. For me, that meant I prepped all my ingredients earlier in the day and grilled a few hours later. Once it’s time to grill, each pizza gets a quick grill on one side, then you flip, add the toppings quickly, and put the lid on the grill for 4-5 minutes to cook your pizza through.
Pastry Chef Online Participates in Affiliate Programs. If you make a purchase through one of my links, I may earn a small commission. For more information click to read my disclosure policy
Since I’m new to grilled pizza, I used long-handled tongs to move mine a quarter turn every minute or so to keep the side nearest the coals from getting too brown (or black). Total cooking time per pizza? About 6-7 minutes. Nice!
So, What’s On That Guy?
Aside from the obvious patriotic toppings–roasted red pepper (I just bought the kind in a jar and used a cookie cutter to cut a few into star shapes), blue potatoes, and white goat cheese–I added some par-cooked bacon. You could absolutely leave it off, but it does add a nice salty-savory note. I also scattered on just a bit of freshly grated mozzarella, because I like stretchy cheese. Maybe my favorite topping, though, is the “sauce” I made. I had some Balsamic Sweet Onion Jam that I bought at the Bruce Julian store, and the lovely folks from Valley Fig Growers sent me some of their fig jam. I chose their Balsamic Pepper version for the pizza. I just mixed the two jams 50/50, added some olive oil, balsamic, salt, and pepper, and voila: a sweet-savory pizza sauce.
Before we get to the Grilled Patriotic Pizza, let me show you what everyone else has made for our Red, White, and Blue Independence Day celebration for Progressive Eats.
Welcome to Progressive Eats, our virtual version of a Progressive Dinner Party. Our menu this month features a cocktail and dishes perfect for your 4th of July bash! We’ve got a great mix from appetizer to desserts; and yes, we have multiple desserts perfect for this summer holiday! Hosting this month is Barb from Creative Culinary.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a progressive dinner involves going from house to house, enjoying a different course at each location. With Progressive Eats, a theme is chosen each month, members share recipes suitable for a delicious meal or party, and you can hop from blog to blog to check them out.
July 4th Picnic
Cocktail
- Red, White and Blue Pina Colada from Spice Roots
Main Course
- Grilled Patriotic Pizza from Pastry Chef Online (you’re here!)
Side Dishes
- Patriotic Composed Vegetable Salad from Mother Would Know
- Hydrating Fruit Salad from Healthy Delicious
Desserts
- Dessert Ice Cream Sundaes with Homemade Blueberry Sauce from The Heritage Cook
- Dessert Stars and Stripes Patriotic Berry Pie from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Red, White and Blue Shortcake with Lemon Pound Cake from Creative Culinary
Grilled Pizza, Patriotic Style
Ready to make grilled pizza with roasted red peppers, blue potatoes, and goat cheese? Of course you are. Let’s get started. Remember, it’s better if you get all your ingredients prepped so you can build your pizza once it’s on the grill.
TIP
I cannot stress this enough–learn from my mistakes! If using a charcoal grill, grill over indirect heat. That is, build the fire/pile the coals on one side of the grill and cool over the other side. Otherwise, you will end up with a burnt bottom crust, and that is no fun.
Now let’s get grillin’.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
It will help me and other readers so much if you take a moment to rate and leave a review for this recipe.
You can use the stars to rate 1-5 (5 is best), and leave a review in the comments. It helps me make adjustments if any are needed, and comments help others decide whether the recipe is worth making.
Other ways to share include pinning, and/or sharing on your favorite social media platform.
Thank you so much for taking the time!
Grilled Patriotic Pizza
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 24 oz your favorite pizza dough recipe*
For the Sauce
- ¼ cup onion balsamic jam
- ¼ cup balsamic black pepper fig jam
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar or vinegar of choice
- heavy pinch kosher salt
- several grindings black pepper
Toppings
- 6 oz bacon par-cooked (some of the fat rendered but not crispy)
- 4 oz freshly grated mozzarella cheese
- 5-6 small blue or purple potatoes washed and sliced about 1/16″ thick, Boil for 1 minute in well salted water. Drain and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process
- 8 oz fresh goat cheese crumbled
- 8 oz roasted red pepper diced. Use a small star cutter to cut some larger pieces into star shapes
Instructions
For the Dough
- Cut the dough into 4 6oz pieces. Roll each piece into a ball on the counter. Stretch and/or roll the dough into 8″ rounds (or round-ish-es)
- Brush the less attractive side of each round with olive oil.
To Grill and Assemble the Pizzas
- Set up a two-zone grilling situation. You’ll be grilling on the cooler side.
- Place one round of dough, oil-side-down, on the grill. Grill 1-2 minutes, turning the dough 180 degrees halfway through. (I used long-handled tongs for this)
- Flip the dough over and brush on some of the fig balsamic sauce.
- Top with 1/4 of the bacon, mozzarella, blanched purple potatoes, goat cheese, and roasted red peppers (including 1-2 stars per pizza. No need to get crazy)
- Put the lid on the grill and let the pizza cook 4-5 minutes, turning the pizza 90 degrees every minute or so to help it cook evenly. There may be a better way to do this, but I’m telling you how I did it. If you are a pro at grilling pizza, please do what has worked for you in the past.
- Serve hot, and enjoy.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
And that’s it, friends. Thanks so much for spending some time with me and the Progressive Eats bloggers! Take care, enjoy the grilled patriotic pizza, and have a lovely day.
Hi, y’all! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and hopefully also learned a thing or two.
If you like my style, I invite you to sign up for my occasional newsletter, The Inbox Pastry Chef.
Expect updates on new and tasty recipes as well as a bit of behind-the-scenes action. I hope to see you there!
Join in Today!
We eat a lot of homemade pizza here, but haven’t tried grilled. Must take your great tips and venture forth! Wonderful contribution to Progressive Eats:)
I really should practice more, but I like to live on the edge! lol I love our menu for this month–so great!
Bill is an expert at the black bottom grilling syndrome—especially when it come to pizza. I’ve finally convinced him that a gas grill has its purpose and I can’t wait to try your fun, festive pizza once we get one!
I’m pretty sure I’ll be holding out for a gas grill before I make this again, but dang it was good! =) Tell Bill we might be related! lol
I adore this idea for a patriotic pizza and know everyone will be diving in head first to grab the first slice! Another winner Miss Jenni!
Thanks, Jane! Good stuff! Getting ready to dive into everyone else’s posts, too. Can’t wait!
That is the cutest looking pizza I ever saw. So colorful and so unique! Let’s go for a picnic Jenny!
Sold!! 🙂