Sheet Pan Homemade Pizza with Store Bought Dough

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No pizza stone needed! Make delicious homemade pizza with this easy sheet pan pizza recipe. Use pre-made pizza dough or use my favorite homemade pizza dough recipe and any toppings you like.

I don’t know if you got the memo, but pizza is kind of a big deal. Not only is it pretty much everyone’s favorite food, but it has basically claimed Friday nights for countless homes across the world. Friday night is officially pizza night, and I try my best to work it in when I can.

Often, that means a call to the local pizza joint, and waiting the alleged 30 minutes for it to arrive on your doorstep.

Except its Friday, and so everyone in a 10 mile radius has the exact same thought, and now that 30 minutes is 90 minutes, and by the time the dang thing arrives, everyone is hangry and it just becomes a situation.

What if I told you that you can have a fresh, homemade sheet pan pizza in less time than it will take for it to actually get delivered? And probably even less if you use a few quick-start ingredients like a pre-made pizza crust.

You’d probably say I was crazy, but I promise you that you have have a hot, bubbly, and delicious sheet pan pizza on your table in just 45 minutes. Don’t believe me? Keep reading.

Oh, and if you love simple recipes that the whole family can enjoy, I highly recommend that you try a few of my easy meal ideas. My personal tortilla pizzas are always a hit, as are these baked turkey and cheese sliders, this baked taco casserole, and my Nashville style shredded hot chicken. Just to name a few!

When you think about the high cost of getting take out pizza, you figure it must be really hard to make, right?

And while there is certainly an artisan style pizza that requires A LOT of work, and a lot of technique, your standard takeout pizza is pretty simple.

We have a crispy, yeasty crust, topped with a smooth tomato-based sauce, sprinkled with shredded mozzarella cheese, and dotted with your favorite pizza toppings.

How hard can that be to recreate at home?

The answer is, of course, not very hard at all. While you can certainly make your crust and pizza sauce from scratch, you don’t have to. If you use store-bought versions, you’re looking at a 10-15 minute prep time.

Can it get any easier than that?

You might be pleasantly surprised how quickly a from-scratch pizza dough can be made, too. The secret is choosing the right recipe. What’s that recipe, you ask? Well, I’ve got you covered (I mean, duh).

For this sheet pan pizza recipe, you will need:

• store-bought or homemade pizza dough
• pizza sauce
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• toppings of your choice

One of the options is my homemade pizza dough, of course. Not only is it shockingly simple to make, but it is a no rise recipe. Yes, you read that right! A yeast based pizza dough that requires no rising time.

What sorcery is this?? I know. I didn’t believe it until I tried it.

But thanks to a quick proofing, as well as allowing the dough to rest after kneading, our yeast can do its thing in the oven.

Since pizza dough doesn’t need the same lift that something like a loaf of sandwich bread does, it doesn’t need that double rise time that a lot of yeast based recipes require.

Instead, it gets all the lift it needs from the heat of the oven and the short resting time before being shaped.

All you need to make this basic homemade pizza dough is flour, warm water, yeast, sugar, olive oil, salt, and cornmeal for dusting. I’m willing to bet you have every single one of those ingredients in your pantry right now!

You can use a frozen dough ball that you thaw and shape, or even a can of the roll-out pizza dough that you find in the refrigerated section. These cans of dough are super convenient, since they come already pre-rolled. All you have to do is stretch it to the size of the sheet pan. No rolling pin or fancy dough tossing tricks needed.

But to be fair, you don’t really need those things for my pizza dough either. Just saying!

Of course, you have the classic pepperoni and cheese, but you can expand and add whatever your heart desires!

Love bacon? Throw it on!

Adore mushrooms? Go for it!

Crave pineapple chunks? Well, you could certainly find some opposition to that idea, but help yourself if that’s what you like best.

My favorite thing about homemade pizza is having some fun with the toppings, and inviting everyone to make their own creations. It’s easy to divide the pizza in half or even quarters, and let each person pick their favorite toppings.

It’s not often that you can please every eater with a single dish, but this sheet pan pizza recipe makes it easy.

Just prepare your homemade dough according to the recipe instructions, or remove your store-bought dough from the packaging. Set that aside while you get everything straightened away.

Once your dough is prepped, move one of your oven racks to the lowest position in your oven. This will make sure your crust gets nice and crispy.

Once the oven rack is in place, preheat the oven to 450°F (232ºC). You really want your oven to be nice and hot once the pizza is ready to go in. That helps cook your crust rapidly, which prevents the sauce from making the top layer of dough soggy.

You’ll use your hands to pat your dough into the size of your sheet pan. Start off by flattening it with the palm of your hand, and just patting it into a flat rectangle, pressing the dough from the middle outwards.

If your dough is too stretchy and keeps springing back on you, just let it rest for 5 minutes or so, and then come back and continue shaping.

If you’re using a store bought dough that rolls out into a thin layer, just spread it out so that it fits the size of your sheet pan. You can do this with a rolling pin, or just with your hands.

Pre-bake your pizza for 10 minutes. Then, remove from the oven and score again with your fork. Then add the sauce and cheese.

Add your favorite toppings, and bake for an additional 15 minutes, OR until the cheese has melted and the crust is browned lightly.

Make sure to let it cool for 5 minutes or so before slicing. Slicing your pizza right out of the oven will cause the cheese and toppings to shift around, so it’s best to wait for the everything to cool down just a bit first.

I would recommend that you do one of two things: prep all the components of the pizza ahead of time, OR prepare the pizza crust right up to the pre-bake stage, and then store for later use.

Prepping the components individually is probably the most straight forward approach, and it will definitely save you time when it comes time to actually pull everything together.

Basically, just grab your sheet pan pizza dough, sauce, shredded cheese, and all of your choices of toppings. Stash those items in the fridge in airtight containers, and break it all out when it’s time to throw down.

Alternatively, if you want to have some of the baking already taken care of, there’s an option for that too. I would recommend completing up to the pre-bake stage of the dough, and allowing it to cool on the baking sheet to room temperature.

Once the pre-baked crust is cool, add the sauce, cheese, and toppings and store in the fridge for 6-8 hours. Alternatively, to keep that sheet pan pizza crust nice and crispy, you could just store the pre-baked crust and add everything else when its time to bake.

A third option would be to completely bake the pizza and reheat it when the time comes to serve it, but everyone knows there is nothing like freshly baked pizza, right?

To make a homemade frozen pizza, all you have to do is pre-bake the crust and allow it to cool to room temperature. Then, layer on the sauce, cheese, and toppings.

Place your prepared pizza in the freezer and freeze on the sheet pan until hard. Once the pizza is completely frozen, wrap in several layers of plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.

When you’re ready to enjoy your homemade frozen pizza, bake it for 16-18 minutes at 450­°F (232ºC), or until hot and bubbly.