Mexican Street Corn Grilled Pizza

This post may contain affiliates links, if you choose to purchase something through these links there is no additional costs to you, but I may receive a small commission.  

Grilled pizza is basically the best pizza you will ever eat. In my opinion, it’s also one of the easiest ways to make good pizza at home. Today’s pizza isn’t your traditional red sauce and pepperoni (although who doesn’t love the classics?) but a twist on one of my favorite summer side dishes, friends meet Mexican Sweet Corn Grilled Pizza.

Mexican Street Corn is a street or fair food that’s delicious. Typically it’s served as an ear of corn that has been grilled and covered with cojita cheese, a mayo like sauce, chili powder, and cilantro. The traditional name for this amazing treat is Elote.

So I guess you could also call this Elote Grilled Pizza if you like.

 Don’t have a grill? Don’t worry! In all honesty, until about a month ago my husband and I had never turned on the grill since we moved almost 3 years ago.  Instead, I love to use a cast iron grill pan like this Lodge Brand Reversible Grill and Griddle to make grilled pizza indoors.  So skip the frozen food section and I’ll show you how to make a great pizza at home!

It’s Labor Day weekend, which pretty much means the end of summer here in the Mitten State. But please forgive me as I savor and share one more summer recipe before we are overwhelmed with pumpkin spice for fall. (I really do love all things fall, but each season is brief enough on it’s own, let’s not rush things).

Anyway, Mexican street corn is delicious and the flavors that compose the traditional dish can be manipulated to make so many good recipes.  It has such a great summery feel with the scorched sweet corn, spicy jalepenos, creamy cojita cheese, and a little bit of brightness from lime juice.  I just love the combination so much that I knew I had to try it as a grilled pizza.

Before we delve into the specifics of making Mexican Street Corn Grilled Pizza, let me show you how to grill a pizza in general.

Grilling a good pizza is all about the crust.  Unlike a traditional brick oven or homemade pizza you aren’t going to want to pile the toppings on raw dough and let it bake. Simply put: that won’t happen.  You will end up with melted toppings and raw crust.

Instead, start by rolling out a personal pizza sized amount of dough. For the average person that’s probably a ball smaller than the size of your fist.

If you are looking for a great pizza crust but don’t want to make your own I have a few suggestions:

1. Boxed mix. Not fancy but the Jiffy Mix (made in Michigan) actually makes a decent crust, and all you have to add is water and oil.
2. This 30 minute recipe from a fellow food blogger is great, I have been using it for years.
3. Buy it from your local pizza place.  Our local pizza parlor in town will sell you pre-made and risen dough for a couple of bucks (they even will see you sauce too). Ask around, and you might be surprise to find that some of your local parlors will do the same.
4. Frozen dough. Check near the garlic bread section of the frozen foods at your grocer. Ours sells balls of frozen pizza dough that work great and are cheap.

Once you’ve selected your dough for the crust, got a personalized ball, and rolled it out thin (you should do this on a piece of parchment or wax paper that is lightly dusted in flour), you are ready to grill the crust.

Time to Grill that Pizza.

Brush olive oil on one side of the dough and lay that side on the preheated grill pan (I always spray my pan with cooking spray first as a precaution). Let the dough cook for approximately 5 minutes until it begins to bubble up slightly. You can check the doneness by lifting the edge of the dough with tongs,  You want the dough to be lightly browned with darker brown grill marks.

Remove the dough from the grill. Lightly oil the uncooked side of the dough. Flip the dough so that the grilled side is facing up (do this on your wax paper work station). Place your topping on this side.

For the Mexican Street Corn Pizza my toppings included my chili lime sauce, cojita cheese, bacon, cilantro, scorched sweet corn, and red onions. But you can top with whatever you would like. My husband’s favorite is pepperoni, sausage, and onion.

Place the pizza back on the grill with the toppings side up. Let the pizza cook for another 5-7 minutes.  If the pizza is not getting done, or is burning, adjust your heat. Also if your toppings aren’t melting I would suggest using the lid from one of your pots to create a warm dome over the pizza.

Once the bottom is crisp, and the toppings are melted, remove from heat and bam! The best grilled pizza you’ve ever had. One thing I love about grilled pizza is the ability to be creative with toppings. Let me know what kind of pizzas you decide to tryout!