Grilled Pizza with Sausage and Swiss Chard

We’ve gone through the dough, the sauce, a cast iron skillet method, and even a side, but now it’s time to feature our favorite pizza cooking method - the grill. As mentioned with the Cast Iron Skillet Pizza method, you can mix and match the toppings here to your preference, but the method generally stays the same.

The toppings we’ve used on this grilled pizza are inspired by Bon Appetit’s Hot Sausage and Crispy Chard Pizza. We love the original recipe, using a ricotta base instead of a tomato pizza sauce and fontina cheese in place of mozzarella, but we also like to use up ingredients we have on hand. Our variation sticks with a classic tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese - it does not disappoint.

Yield: one 12” pizza

Ingredients

• 1/2 recipe of the Simple Pizza Dough OR 1 bag fresh pizza dough from store (such as Trader Joe's Ready to Bake Pizza Dough), at room temperature

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup Simple Pizza Sauce, or your favorite homemade/store bought pizza sauce (amount varies depending on how saucy you like your pie)

• About 6 oz. fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced and pressed*

• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

• 1/2 lb. fresh sausage, casings removed (sweet, spicy, andouille, etc. - pick your favorite)

• 1 bunch Swiss chard (about 1/2 lb.)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• Pizza stone**

• Pizza peel or a rimless baking sheet (for easy transfer of the pizza to the stone)

• Flour or cornmeal (to aid in transferring the pizza to the stone - if you have it on hand, semolina flour is particularly useful for this purpose)

Instructions

Start the charcoal on your grill. You’re aiming for a temperature of at least 500°F. Add the stone to the grill while you’re starting it up, to allow the stone to also come up to temp. The stone should preheat about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, bring the pizza together.

For the Sausage and Swiss Chard Topping

Prepare the Swiss chard by trimming the ends of the stems and then separating the leaves from the stems. Clean and dry the stems and leaves (such as in a salad spinner). Slice the stems into about 1/4” to 1/2” pieces and set aside. Give the leaves a rough chop and set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer/ripple in the pan, crumble in the sausage. Cook the sausage in the pan for 3-5 minutes, until almost browned. Add the chard stems to the pan and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes. Transfer the sausage and chard to a small bowl, reserving the drippings in the skillet. Lower the heat to medium and add the chard leaves to the skillet. Toss the leaves in the drippings and cook until just slightly wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside in another small bowl.

Assemble the Pizza

On a lightly floured surface, roll out your dough to about a 13” diameter circle (adjust as needed for the size and shape of your pizza stone). Lightly dust your pizza peel or rimless baking sheet with flour or cornmeal and transfer the rolled out dough to the peel/sheet.

Use a small spoon or ladle to add your sauce to the dough, forming an even, thin layer. Next up, distribute the mixture of sausage and chard stems over the crust. Cover with the slices of pressed mozzarella and finish with the Parmesan cheese. You’ll add the chard leaves to the pizza once it’s on the grill.

If you’re using different toppings: Prepare the desired toppings (brown the sausage, slice the olives/peppers/onion, etc.) and then assemble the pizza. Roll out the dough as above. Transfer to the peel and add sauce. Distribute the pressed mozzarella over the sauce and then add your toppings. Finish with the Parmesan cheese.

Grill the Pizza

With your grill and pizza stone now ready to go, carefully slide the prepared pizza onto the stone. We find it helpful to have two people on this job - one person holding the peel and one person with a metal spatula or two to help ease the dough from the peel and to the stone.

Close the lid of the grill and cook the pizza for about 4-5 minutes. Add the sauteed chard leaves to the top of the pizza and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Depending on the temperature of the grill, we usually have a total cook time of 7-9 minutes. Remove the finished pizza to your peel/sheet (we usually have one person use two metal spatulas to lift the pizza and have a second person holding the peel nearby for the pizza to slide onto).

A note on burning the crust: Keep an eye (and your nose) on the bottom crust for burning - take a peek at the bottom of the crust when you’re adding the chard leaves to the top. If it’s looking dark and seems to be cooking too quickly, and the cheese is not quite as bubbly as you’d like, don’t sweat it. Simply remove the pizza to your peel/sheet as above and set your oven to broil. Place the pizza (preferably on a sheet pan) under the broiler for 1-2 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and golden.

Slide the finished pizza onto your cutting board. To prevent a sauce and cheese overflow, let the pizza rest for a few minutes before slicing.

Notes

*We love fresh mozzarella for its creamy texture and flavor, but the water content can sometimes be problematic for pizzas. We get around this by pressing out some of that moisture. Line a plate with a sheet of paper towel. Thinly slice the cheese from the ball of mozzarella and placing the slices on the paper towel. Cover with another sheet of paper towel and another plate. Place this arrangement in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. For extra “pressing” action, set something heavy on top of the upper plate while it’s in the fridge. If you don’t want to mess with pressing, use a low-moisture mozzarella (shredded or sliced) instead.

Mozzarella on paper towel-lined plate, ready to be pressed.

Mozzarella slices between two, paper towel-lined plates. Strongbow Cider optional, but highly recommended.

**We have a Char-Griller Akorn (kamado-style grill). It utilizes a deflecting stone in the lower portion of the grill to allow for it to be used as a smoker. We’ve found that this stone works perfect as a pizza stone. If you’re using a standard charcoal or gas grill, use a standard pizza stone and place it on a rack as close to the heat source as you can get it. In order to get the best crust, you need the stone to really heat up.