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.
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’.
If you have questions about this post or recipe, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.
If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I’m asleep.
NOTE: Most of my recipes are written by weight and not volume, even the liquids.
Even though I try to provide you with volume measurements as well, I encourage you to buy a kitchen scale for ease of measuring, accuracy, and consistency.
This is the scale I use, love, and recommend. If you’re unsure, please read my post about how to use a food scale.
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.
If you make this recipe and/or have enjoyed or learned from reading this post, I’d appreciate it if you could share this!
I have Convenient share buttons that float to the left on desk top and on mobile which invite you to share on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter or Yummly.
If you make the recipe, please consider rating it a rating and a review. You can do this via the recipe card in the post.
Reviews really help sell the recipe, and negative reviews help me tune into what people really want to have explained better, so any ratings and reviews are helpful!
Also feel free to tag me on Instagram at @onlinepastrychef with #pcorecipe so I can find your creation. Thank you!
Grilled Patriotic Pizza
This grilled pizza celebrates Independence Day with the red of roasted peppers, white of creamy goat cheese, and blue of blue potatoes. Oh, and bacon. Enjoy!
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 24 oz your favorite pizza dough recipe*
For the Sauce
- 1/4 cup onion balsamic jam
- 1/4 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.
Notes
*I used the pizza dough recipe from Revolutionary Pizza, which magically makes alomst exactly 24 oz of dough. You can find the recipe here. Note: the dough does not need any help getting charred spots on the hot grill, so leave out the sugar.
Nutrition Information
Amount Per Serving Calories 1005Saturated Fat 19gCholesterol 76mgSodium 2686mgCarbohydrates 109gFiber 4gSugar 26gProtein 36g
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.
Want me to shoot new recipes and an occasional email into your inbox?
You can do that by signing up here for my newsletter, The Inbox Pastry Chef.
I’ll be seeing you!
Ansh says
That is the cutest looking pizza I ever saw. So colorful and so unique! Let’s go for a picnic Jenny!
Jennifer Field says
Sold!! 🙂
Jane, The Heritage Cook says
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!
Jennifer Field says
Thanks, Jane! Good stuff! Getting ready to dive into everyone else’s posts, too. Can’t wait!
Liz says
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!
Jennifer Field says
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
[email protected] says
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:)
Jennifer Field says
I really should practice more, but I like to live on the edge! lol I love our menu for this month–so great!