Hot Honey Pizza

Ready to bring the heat to your next pizza night? This hot honey pizza is topped with pepperoni, hot peppers, shredded mozzarella, tangy goat cheese crumbles, and is finished with a glorious homemade hot honey drizzle.

Homemade hot honey pizza takes just a few minutes to make on a baking steel, and you can prep all the toppings, including the 5-minute pizza sauce, while the oven preheats!

Jump to:

• About This Recipe
• Ingredient Notes
• How to Make Hot Honey
• How to Hand Stretch Pizza Dough
• Hot Honey Pizza Assembly
• Baking & Topping With Hot Honey
• Substitutions and Variations
• Suggested Equipment
• Storage Notes
• Practical Tips and Recipe Notes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

About This Recipe

My first hot honey pizza experience was the "bee sting" pizza at Roberta's Culver City location in Los Angeles. We didn't even mean to order it; we were a large group and when the waitress dropped it off at our table we were several slices in and marveling at how good it was before we realized none of us had actually ordered it. (I regret nothing!)

The combination of sweet honey, crispy pizza dough, salty cheese, and spicy meat was a revelation. The flavors balanced each other out, the sweet, classic honey flavor smoothing over the slowly building heat with every bite.

In the years since that transformative hot honey pizza experience, I've gone to pastry school and honed my skills as a home pizza maker, baking up tons of unique pizza recipes. So you bet I've developed my own version of a hot honey pizza.

Where Roberta's uses a plain honey on an otherwise hot pizza, I prefer to use an actual hot honey — a hot honey I make from scratch, as will you when you make this recipe! (don't worry, it's easy!) — and I like to add tangy, crumbly goat cheese as well as fresh, thinly sliced Fresno peppers.

Instead of soppressata, I go for a classic pepperoni; it's a little more versatile especially if I'm making other types of pizza that night, and I use a shredded mozzarella instead of fresh because I prefer the way it melts.

If you're not sure if you can handle the heat of this hot honey pizza, there's no shame in that! It took me ages to build up a tolerance for even medium-mild heat, and I generally err on the side of more mild than truly hot when developing recipes.

I've got notes below (see "substitutions & variations") for how to make an extra mild version of this pizza that still has the tiniest bit of lingering warmth.

Why make your own hot honey? Store bought hot honeys often have added vinegar and things like that, and I don't love the flavor vinegar adds to them. I prefer flavor-based heat, not vinegar-based heat. Using a high quality honey with a robust flavor and flavoring it with dried chile peppers is the best way to do that.

The real perk of making your own hot honey from scratch is that you get to control how hot is is. I recommend anywhere from four to eight dried arbol chiles, but if you're really not sure, start by using just two, or even one the first time you make it.

Ingredient Notes

Here are the ingredients that you'll need to make a homemade hot honey pizza! See recipe card for quantities.

• Pizza Dough - I used my overnight thin crust pizza dough recipe here, as usual. You can use any pizza dough you like, but you will get better results with a homemade pizza dough that has a longer rise time because the gluten has more time to relax so it can be stretched thinner, which will bake up crispier.
• Honey - Use a high quality honey with a flavor you like! You will taste it here!
• Arbol Chiles - Dried arbol chiles. You can usually find these in the "International" aisle at the grocery store. The more chiles you use, the hotter your hot honey will be. Be careful when handling them — wash your hands well immediately after so the capsaicin (the spicy stuff in hot peppers!) doesn't have time to get into all the nooks and crannies of your fingertips.
• Pizza Sauce - This is the same no-cook pizza sauce I used in my supreme pizza recipe. You can use any uncooked store bought pizza sauce you like (I don't recommend using a marinara sauce, for example), but I usually use my super simple pizza sauce which uses the following ingredients:
  • Tomato Sauce - Unsalted, a small can (6 oz) is fine.
  • Garlic Clove - Just one is plenty, but if you're a garlic girl you can use two.
  • Salt - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt which half as salty as other brands. If you're using a different brand of salt, even a different brand of kosher salt, cut the amount of salt in half to start, and only add more if it needs it.
  • Oregano & Basil - Dried works best, but finely minced fresh herbs can also add a nice touch.
• Hot Honey Pizza Toppings - The toppings for hot honey pizzas can vary; some people like to use spicy sopressata, others use fresh mozzarella, it's really up to you what combination you like best. I've gone ahead and used my favorite hot honey pizza toppings because this is my recipe, but you can definitely mix things up based on your preferences!
  • Mozzarella Cheese - Low-moisture whole milk mozzarella cheese that you grate by hand is the best melty cheese for pizza. That said, if you can't or don't want to grate cheese by hand, pre-shredded is fine. Just make sure it's low-moisture AND whole milk for the best melt!
  • Goat Cheese Crumbles - The goat cheese you buy already crumbled in a tub melts best without spreading out too much. This is one of the few times I will tell you NOT to use fresh homemade goat cheese or a goat cheese log; it turns your pizza into soup!
  • Fresno Pepper - These mild hot peppers look like red jalapeños but have a milder heat. They can be a bit hard to find, depending on the season, but I'm usually able to find them reliably at Whole Foods year round.
  • Pepperoni - Classic pepperoni, pepperoni cups, or spicy pepperoni, it's up to you what kind of pepperoni you like best.
  • Powdered Pecorino Romano or Parmesan Cheese - No classic pizza pie is complete without a dusting of finely grated (powdered) cheese. Pecorino Romano is my favorite, but any pecorino or parmesan cheese will do.

How to Make Hot Honey

Making hot honey from scratch is super simple — you're really just infusing honey with heat and flavor from some dried chiles.

The first step is to crack the dried chile peppers into the pot. Toast them in a bare sauce pot just until you start to smell them. Stir frequently so they don't burn — just a minute or so!

(This step is technically optional, but encourages the dried peppers to start releasing their oils before you add the honey.)

Let the honey cool for at least 20-30 minutes before drizzling it over the pizza. Just like when you make homemade hot sauce, it's hard to tell how hot the flavors are until it's cool.

I recommend making the hot honey while your baking steel is preheating. This will give you enough time to make the hot honey and let it cool; it will be ready just as the pizza is coming out of the oven!

You can also make this homemade hot honey in advance. Store it in an airtight container at room temperature and it will stay good for up to 6 months!

How to Hand Stretch Pizza Dough

To get the signature bubbly crust and crispy bottom of this homemade supreme pizza, you'll want to hand stretch your pizza dough.

Pre-shaping before you stretch is key to getting a perfectly round pizza dough. I've written all about how to do this in my guide to hand stretching pizza dough so head there for more detail.

As always, make sure you use plenty of flour, let gravity do most of the work, and always stretch on the backs of your hands so that you don't poke through the dough!

If at any time the dough seems like it's going to tear or it's fighting you and doesn't want to stretch, let it rest for a few minutes (even just 60 seconds!) on the counter.

Dust a pizza peel with semolina flour and plop your stretched pizza dough on top. It's now ready for sauce and toppings!

Why semolina flour? Semolina flour is coarser and rounder than all purpose flour and will help your pizza slide off the peel and onto the baking steel easily. This is a tip I picked up from Andris, the founder of the Baking Steel company. He uses a 50/50 blend of all purpose and semolina flours, but I find I prefer just the semolina.

Hot Honey Pizza Assembly

Start by preheating the baking steel in the oven at 500F for about an hour.

Make sure you have all of your pizza topping ingredients and hot honey made and ready to go before you start stretching the pizza dough. Dust your pizza peel with semolina flour (or use parchment paper) to make sure the pizza dough can slide off it easily.

Once your pizza dough is stretched, work quickly and efficiently to get it on the pizza peel and add the toppings so that the dough doesn't have time to stick to the peel.

Why do you spread pizza sauce with the back of a spoon? The curved back of the spoon glides gently over the delicate pizza dough. Because the edges of the spoon are curved away from the dough, they won't catch or tear it the way a knife or spatula would!

Don't go overboard with the goat cheese — even with the crumbles, too much goat cheese will turn the top of your pizza into a soup!

Finish by covering your hot honey pizza with a medium-to-generous dusting of finely grated Pecorino Romano or parmesan cheeses. Pecorino Romano is my favorite, but parmesan works too.

Pro-tip: Get some of that finishing cheese on the crust, too! It's so delicate it melts right onto the thin crust and gives it a really nice flavor.

I'm one of those people who loves eating the pizza crusts, so if I can add some cheesy flavor to it — that's a win.

Baking & Topping With Hot Honey

Once your hot honey pizza is loaded up with toppings, give it a little shimmy back and forth on the pizza peel to make sure it isn't stuck. If any parts seem to be sticking, carefully lift them up and dust additional semolina flour underneath.

Bake for about 2-3 minutes, then use the peel to help rotate the pizza and bake 2-3 minutes more.

To finish, broil the pizza for 1-2 minutes, until the cheese and crust are as browned as you like. Then remove from the oven with the peel.

Note: Broilers are VERY hot and their power can vary widely from oven to oven. Once you switch to broiling, check on your pizza every 30 seconds to make sure it doesn't burn!

Every oven is different, but pizza does cook quickly — after the first 5 minutes on the steel, the pizza dough will be cooked through.

What you're really looking at to determine if it's "done" is the browning on the crust and cheese. Some of that comes down to personal preference!

As soon as the pizza comes out of the oven, top with thinly sliced fresh basil and drizzle generously with your homemade hot honey.

Why do we put fresh basil on pizza after baking? To prevent the leaves from oxidizing and absorbing oil in the oven so they stay fresh and green!

Substitutions and Variations

The best thing about making any type of pizza is you can really customize the toppings to suit your personal preference. Here's some suggestions for how you might adjust this hot honey pizza!

• Roberta's Bee Sting Pizza (Copycat) - Whether or not Roberta's was the first to make a hot honey pizza, it has undeniably been the driving force behind its popularity. Roberta's Bee Sting pizza uses fresh mozzarella, olive oil, red pepper flakes, thinly sliced soppressata, pelati (a very speicific type of tomato sauce), and a drizzle of plain honey to finish.
• Extra Mild Hot Honey Pizza - Remove the seeds and ribs from the Fresno peppers and wait to add hot honey until after the pizza is sliced. People who want hot honey can use hot honey, anyone who doesn't want the added heat from the honey can use plain honey.
• Extra Spicy Hot Honey Pizza - Leave the seeds and ribs in the Fresno peppers, use spicy pepperoni, and add a pinch of cayenne to the hot honey infusion.
• Deluxe Hot Honey Pizza - Add ham cubes, sausage crumbles, crispy bacon, green hot peppers, thinly sliced fresh tomatoes, and/or or sub in fresh mozzarella instead of shredded. Don't add a third type of cheese; use the fresh mozzarella to replace either the shredded mozzarella or the goat cheese crumbles.
• White Hot Honey Pizza - Skip the red sauce and use a garlic infused olive oil sauce instead.

Remember: Pizza toppings should always be pre-cooked (or ready-to-eat) before adding to your pizza!

Suggested Equipment

• Pizza Steel - I use the Original Baking Steel (note: I bought my Baking Steel with my own money but love it so much I became part of their affiliate program; use code TPK10 for 10% off!) to make all of my pizzas. A pizza stone will also work if that's all you've got, but it may take slightly longer to cook.
• Pizza Peel - A wooden pizza peel is the best tool for getting your pizza in and out of the oven. If you don't have a pizza peel, an upside down sheet pan will work for sliding it on to the steel. To remove it from the oven without a peel, use tongs (gently) or two spatulas to slide it off of the stone and onto a sheet pan.
• Pizza Cutter - You'll want a good, sharp pizza cutter to slice through all the toppings on a supreme pizza. There are plenty of trendy, unique pizza cutter designs out there but you really can't beat one like Winco's 4" pizza cutter which is less than $10 and was designed for restaurants and the food service industry. If style is as important to you as functionality, however, Mercer Culinary makes a great pizza cutter with a "millennial purple" handle.
• Honey Wand - A honey wand is one of the neatest and cleanest ways to drizzle honey over your pizza. Hold it horizontally and twirl it and the honey will stay neat and tidy in the grooves of the bulb at the end. Switch to holding it vertically and the honey will drip off the end in a delicate ribbon, perfect for drizzling.

Storage Notes

Because of all the toppings, homemade hot honey pizza is best same day, eaten as soon as possible after it comes out of the oven. (Don't burn your mouth!)

That said, you can wrap any leftover hot honey pizza slices in foil or plastic wrap and store them in the fridge for about 3-4 days.

Reheat day-old or cold pizza in a dry skillet over medium heat, or on a foil-lined baking sheet in the oven at 350F for 10-15 minutes (or until the cheese is melted again). Keep an eye on it — the honey has sugar in it, you don't want it to burn!

Practical Tips and Recipe Notes

• Once you add the sauce, you'll want to work quickly to add the toppings and get the pizza into the oven. The longer the pizza sits on the peel with the moisture from the sauce and the weight of the toppings, the more likely it is to stick to the peel!
• Store bought pizza dough has LOTS of yeast in it to help it stay active longer. I really don't recommend using it as it's almost impossible to get a truly thin and crispy crust with it. If you DO use store bought pizza dough, you'll want to divide it in half or thirds when you get home, pre-shape it into balls, and let it rise in the fridge (if not using immediately) or at room temperature if using within an hour or so.
• IMPORTANT: If you're using a pizza peel without parchment paper peel, give the assembled pizza a few good shimmies back and forth on it to make sure the dough isn't stuck. If it is, gently pick up the stuck edge and dust some semolina flour under it.
• Always add the hot honey after the pizza comes out of the oven. There's so much sugar in honey, you don't want it spending so much time in the oven at such a high heat. There is a bit of a debate as to whether or not you should drizzle the honey before or after slicing the pizza, but to that I say: "Why not both?" I do one drizzle as soon as the pizza comes out of the oven, and then usually a second personal drizzle over the slice of pizza on my plate. But you do you!

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