Make one recipe of my homemade pizza dough and set to rest. You can also use store-bought pizza dough. I won’t tell anyone.

Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.

In the meantime, peel and devein 35-40 medium (sorry, I didn’t weigh them). Heat 1 tbsp olive in a large skillet over high heat. Add the shrimp and sear very briefly. I meant it – VERY briefly. As you are laying down the last of the shrimp, go back and turn over the first ones. In other words, the shrimp should sear about 30 seconds per side. Oh yeah, remember to sprinkle the shrimp with salt.

Remove the shrimp from the skillet and set aside.

Roll out the dough into six 6-inch rounds. Do not layer them on wax paper as I show here. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Yep, they stuck and I had to re-roll them. A few choice words were uttered. “No honey, Mummy said ‘Oh, sugar!’ ” A cutting board sprinkled with flour works much better – trust me.

Before the pizzas go on the grill, be sure to have all of your ingredients ready and sitting right beside the barbecue. This next part goes quickly.

Now, I will admit that I used store-bought pesto. Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater. I highly recommend making your own pesto, but sometimes there are not enough hours in the day, right? You’ll need about 2 tbsp pesto per pizza.

I found some adorable little fresh mozzarella balls – really tiny guys. I cut each of them in half and used about a dozen halves per pizza. Use whatever amount you like, just make sure you use the fresh mozzarella. I beg of you – none of that rubbery supermarket stuff.

Place the pizza dough rounds on the grill. Depending on the size of your grill, you may have to do this in two batches.

Close the lid and grill for about 2 minutes, or until the dough is puffed and there are grill marks on the bottom of each round.

Flip the rounds and press down slightly with the back of a metal spatula to get rid of some of the air inside the dough. Now, quickly slather on the toppings – pesto, shrimp, and mozzarella.

Close the lid and grill until the cheese melts, about 3 more minutes. Remove from the grill and let the pizzas sit for about 5 minutes. Some of the olive oil in the pesto will separate while cooking. If you let the pizzas rest, they will absorb the oil, producing a soft, flavorful crust.

Other shrimp and pesto recipes:

Sidewalk Shoes’ Shrimp Skewers with Cilantro Pesto
The City Cook’s Shrimp with Green Garlic Pesto
Relish’s Shrimp, Orzo, Pistachio Pesto Salad

Grilled Shrimp & Pesto Pizza

1 recipe of my homemade pizza dough, or store-bought dough
35-40 medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup basil pesto
35-40 mini fresh mozzarella balls (or slices of fresh mozzarella)

Heat 1 tbsp olive in a large skillet over high heat. Add the shrimp, sprinkle them with salt, and sear very briefly. The shrimp should sear about 30 seconds per side. Remove the shrimp from the skillet and set aside.

Roll out the dough into six 6-inch rounds. Lay them on a flour-covered cutting board until you’re ready to use them.

Before the pizzas go on the grill, be sure to have all of your ingredients ready and sitting right beside the barbecue.

Place the pizza dough rounds on the grill. Depending on the size of your grill, you may have to do this in two batches. Close the lid and grill for about 2 minutes, or until the dough is puffed and there are grill marks on the bottom of each round.

Flip the rounds and press down slightly with the back of a metal spatula to get rid of some of the air inside the dough. Quickly divide the pesto, shrimp, and mozzarella evenly amongst the pizzas.

Close the lid and grill until the cheese melts, about 3 more minutes. Remove from the grill and let the pizzas sit for about 5 minutes so that the crust absorbs the olive oil released from the pesto.

Makes six 6-inch pizzas.

Printable recipe

Tagged as: cheese, grilled, mozzarella, pesto, pizza, shrimp