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–+ servings
a hand drizzles honey on a pizza slice with a honey wand.

Hot Honey Pepperoni Pizza with Goat Cheese - Sweet & Spicy!

Rebecca Eisenberg
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.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Oven Preheating 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 1 pizza

Ingredients
  

Hot Honey

  • 6 ounces honey
  • 4-8 dried arbol chiles (depending on how hot you want it)
  • ⅛ teaspoon cayenne (extra spicy!)

Pizza Sauce

  • 6 ounces salt-free tomato sauce
  • 1 clove garlic
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon dried basil
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

Hot Honey Pizza

  • 1 ball overnight thin crust pizza dough (200-250 grams)
  • 3 tablespoons pizza sauce
  • 1 cup low-moisture, whole milk mozzarella cheese
  • 1 Fresno pepper (thinly sliced)
  • ¼ cup pepperoni
  • ⅛ cup goat cheese
  • 1-2 tablespoons hot honey

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven with baking steel at 500°F for 1 hour prior to baking. Remove pizza dough from fridge (if refrigerated) and allow to come to room temperature at least 60-90 minutes prior to stretching.

Homemade Hot Honey

  • In a small, 1 quart sauce pot crack dried arbol chiles in half to release the seeds. Toast pods and seeds until lightly fragrant over low-medium heat for about 60-90 seconds, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
  • Add the honey (and ground cayenne, optional) and cook, swirling occasionally until the honey is just starting to bubble around the edges. Remove from heat immediately and let sit for 10 minutes.
  • Pour the honey through a wire mesh strainer into a glass jar or container and let cool to room temperature before use.

Prep Hot Honey Pizza Toppings

  • Make the pizza sauce. Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of a mini food processor and blitz on high speed until well combined.
  • Slice the peppers. Thinly slice the Fresno pepper into rounds. For less heat, remove the seeds and ribs before slicing.
  • Grate the cheese. Use the large holes of a box grater to grate the mozzarella cheese.
  • Thinly slice fresh basil. Stack a few basil leaves on top of each other and roll them into a log. Slice thin and unfurl for thin ribbons. NOTE: Wait to do this while the pizza is in the oven. But you may want to get the basil out now so you don't forget about it!

Hot Honey Pizza Assembly

  • Lightly dust a wooden pizza peel with semolina flour.
  • Hand stretch pizza dough. Stretch the pizza dough into a round about 10-16" in size, depending on how thick you want it or the size of your dough ball. (See: How to Hand Stretch Pizza Dough.)
  • Sauce it. Use the back of a metal spoon to spread the pizza sauce almost all the way to the crust. You don't need as much sauce as you think — start with two spoonfuls, and add more only as needed.
  • Cheese and toppings. Add the mozzarella cheese, top with pepperoni, Fresno peppers, and goat cheese crumbles. Finish with a dusting of finely grated pecorino romano cheese.

Hot Honey Pizza Baking

  • Shimmy. Give the hot honey pizza a shimmy on the wooden pizza peel to make sure that no parts of the crust have stuck. Dust additional flour underneath any stuck spots if needed.
  • Launch. Open the oven and line up the tip of the pizza peel with the back of the steel. Tilt it at an angle (20° or so) and give it a quick thrust to help the pizza begin sliding off. As the pizza slides, pull the peel straight back, keeping the tip of the peel on the steel, depositing the pizza on to the hot surface to begin cooking.
  • Bake. Bake the pizza for 2-3 minutes, then use the pizza peel to rotate it in place on the steel so it cooks evenly. Bake 2-3 minutes more, then broil for 1 minute or until as browned as you like. Remove from the oven.
  • Basil & Hot Honey Drizzle. Top immediately with fresh basil and a drizzle of the cooled homemade hot honey. Slice and serve with both hot honey and plain honey on the side to allow guests to further customize the heat and sweetness of their pizzas!

RECIPE NOTES

  • Once cooled, hot honey can be stored in an airtight container for up to 6 months. 
  • This pizza sauce recipe makes enough sauce for 3-4 medium 10-15" pizzas. Topping quantities provided are for 1 medium pizza. 
  • If the cheese is too soft to grate, pop it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes prior to grating.
  • Once the pizza has sauce on top of it, don't let it sit too long on the peel. The longer it sits, the more likely it will get stuck! You don't need to rush like you're in a pit crew, but try to get the pizza toppings on and the pizza in the oven in less than 10 minutes.
  • If you're nervous about the heat of the hot honey, you can use as few as just one arbol chile for the most mild heat. In that case, you may want to let it infuse for even longer, at least 20 minutes, before straining it.
  • Homemade hot honey pizza is best same day, eaten as soon as possible after it comes out of the oven. To store, wrap any leftover hot honey pizza slices in foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 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). Keep an eye on it — the honey has sugar in it, you don't want it to burn!