Pulled Pork BBQ Pizza

This is a BBQ pulled pork pizza topped with tender, crispy pulled pork, a sweet South Carolina BBQ sauce, crescents of red onions, and a blanket of melted mozzarella cheese. This pizza is a great way to use up leftover pulled pork or leftover carnitas and so good served with a side of coleslaw!

My husband and I first started making variations of this BBQ pizza to use up leftover sous vide carnitas or pulled pork, but now we plan ahead to make it because it's just so good. When we host pizza nights, it's one of the number one pizza requests we get (followed closely by chicken marsala pizza).

If you think that means we might be sick of making it pulled pork pizza by now — guess again! The South Carolina-style mustard-based BBQ sauce is sweet and super tangy with just a bit of a vinegary kick. The pork crisps up beautifully under the broiler, and the red onion provides just the right amount of bite.

Like most homemade pizza recipes, this BBQ pulled pork pizza works best with a little bit of planning ahead. But since you're using leftover pork you can do most of the prep, including making the BBQ sauce, while the oven preheats.

Don't have pulled pork? You can make this BBQ pizza with shredded canned or rotisserie chicken, or even thinly sliced portabella mushrooms for a vegetarian option.

Whether you're making overnight pizza dough (my recommendation) or using store-bought dough, you'll need to divide and pre-shape it for at least a few hours (if not the night before) before you plan to use it. Then, check out my visual guide to hand-stretching your pizza dough — it'll help you get a beautifully circular pizza instead of one shaped like an ode to Pangea.

Ingredient Notes

Here are the ingredients that you'll need to make this BBQ pulled pork pizza recipe! 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.
• Leftover Pulled Pork - I usually use leftover sous vide carnitas when I make this pizza, but any leftover pulled pork will work. Heck, even shredded rotisserie chicken will work here!
• BBQ Sauce - I prefer using a sweet and tangy mustard-based BBQ sauce like my South Carolina BBQ sauce for this pulled pork pizza, but you can use any of your favorite barbecue sauces too.
• Mozzarella Cheese - Low-moisture whole milk mozzarella cheese that you grate by hand is the best melty cheese for pizza. 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!
• Red Onion - Crescents of red onion add a nice bite and a little bit of crunch.
• Powdered Pecorino Romano or Parmesan Cheese - No classic pizza pie is complete without a dusting of finely grated (powdered) cheese. My favorite finishing cheese for pizzas is Locatelli's Pecorino Romano, but any powdered pecorino or parmesan cheese will do.
• Semolina Flour - I use semolina flour on the pizza peel to help launch the pizza into the oven. I find it works better than all-purpose flour because it has a coarser, rounder texture that helps the pizza slide off the peel and onto the baking steel.

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

Preheating Your Pizza Steel

Start by preheating your oven to 500°F with a baking steel or pizza stone (read my baking steel review to know why I recommend a steel over a stone!) arranged as close to the heating unit as possible.

In most ovens, you'll want it about 7 inches below the broiler unit at the top of your oven. In ovens with a bottom drawer broiler, just get the baking steel as close to the heating unit in the oven as possible, and place an inverted sheet pan in the broiler area to slide the pizza on to later.

Give the steel 45-60 minutes to preheat, and take your pizza dough out of the fridge to begin warming up about 60 minutes prior to stretching. Use this time to prep the sauce and pizza toppings.

Make the Barbecue Pizza Sauce

If you don't already have the South Carolina BBQ sauce ready to go, you'll want to make it while the baking steel is preheating so it has a little bit of time to cool before you put it on the pizza.

Making the sauce is easy — mix all the ingredients together, bring them to a low boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes until thickened. Set it aside to cool so it's not piping hot when you go to spread it on the pizza.

I went into a lot more detail about this particular barbecue sauce in my South Carolina BBQ Sauce recipe post so head over there if you want more step-by-step guidance.

Again, you don't have to make BBQ sauce from scratch — if you have a favorite store bought sauce that's fine too.

BBQ Pulled Pork Pizza Assembly

To get the signature bubbly crust and crispy, thin crust bottom of this pizza, you'll want to hand stretch your 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!

When it comes to saucing this pulled pork pizza, less is definitely more. Barbecue sauce has a lot of sugar in it which heats, bubbles, and caramelizes in the high heat of the oven. You really don't want too much here or it will take over the whole pizza.

I like to use a squeeze bottle to get a nice even distribution of sauce across the surface of the pizza, but you can also use the back of a spoon to spread it around. Top the sauce with the shredded mozzarella cheese.

Shredded pulled pork goes down next, followed by the crescents of red onion. I think the crescents look best when you slice the onion root to tip rather than across the middle, but you do you.

Finish with a generous dusting of pecorino romano or parmesan cheese. Get some of the cheese on the bare edges of the crust too — a cheesy crust is a good crust!

Give the pizza 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.

If you don't have a pizza peel, you can use a sheet of parchment paper on the back of a large sheet pan to easily slide the pizza onto the steel.

Cook the pizza for about 2-3 minutes, then use the peel or a long spatula to help rotate the pizza and cook for 2-3 minutes more. This helps avoid any hot spots in the oven for even browning.

To finish, broil the pizza for 1-2 minutes, or until the cheese and crust are as browned as you like.

Finally, use the peel to remove the pizza from the oven (sometimes it helps to use a pair of tongs to gently grip the edge of the crust and tug it onto the peel). Slice and serve immediately!

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!

Storage Notes

Wrap any leftover barbecue pulled pork 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 350°F for 10-15 minutes (or until the cheese is melted again).

Suggested Equipment

• Pizza Steel - I use the Original Baking Steel  to make all of my pizzas (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!). 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. 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.

Practical Tips & Recipe Notes

• Freeze the Mozzarella: If the mozzarella cheese is too soft to grate, pop it in the freezer for about 10 minutes then try again.
• Using Store Bought Pizza Dough: Store bought pizza dough has LOTS of yeast in it to help it stay active longer. I really don't recommend using store bought dough 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 in 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.
• Don't Get Stuck: Once you add the sauce to the pizza, work quickly to add the cheese and 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!
• Let the pizza dough warm up: Hand stretching refrigerated pizza dough takes a bit of practice. You'll have a much easier time if you let it sit at room temperature for 60-90 minutes before stretching it.
• As always, I make my pizzas on a baking steel (use code TPK10 for 10% off!), and use a wooden pizza peel dusted with semolina flour to slide my dough onto the steel. If you don't have a baking steel, check out this post by The Kitchn with some other suggested alternatives and adjust the cook time accordingly. A baking steel really does work best, though.
• The best mozzarella to shred for pizzas is low-moisture, whole milk mozzarella cheese. It melts much better if you buy a brick of it and grate it with a box grater rather than using the pre-shredded stuff.

Recipe FAQ

📖 Recipe