Making pizza on a gas or charcoal grill is a great summer hobby that many people discover after seeing a random video on TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram. It’s super easy to set up with most standard grills. There are a few different pieces of equipment you’ll need, one of which is a pizza stone. There are some pizza stones you can use on a barbecue grill, and others that don’t do so well.
The ones on this page have a variety of positive and negative reviews, and come in a range of prices. To get started, I’ll just let you know which pizza stone I own and use for my personal pizza grilling.
Top Pizza Stones To Use On The Grill
Cordierite Pizza Stones
The pizza stone I own is designed to resist thermal shock (getting hot/cold fast), and can resist temperatures up to 1000ºF. These are going to be your main battles when cooking wood-fired pizza!
This stone is made of cordierite, which is the best material for pizza stones intended for the backyard grill. I am not gentle with this thing, and it’s been used on both gas, as well as charcoal grills, in temperatures up to 1000ºF.
I also own several of their other products and am happy with the construction, so this pizza stone would be my #1 recommendation for those looking to barbecue their pies, regardless of gas or charcoal fuel. The downside to this stone is that it only comes in a 13-inch size.
It’s good for a medium pizza, but for large pizzas, it won’t work. For most people, a “medium” size is good enough, especially if you’re making your own dough and cooking in the backyard. Still, many other brands have 16-inch options that may be more suitable for your cooking needs.
For more sizes and options, then try this brand instead. They have 14-inch, 16-inch, plus some square stones. Other brands offer cordierite pizza stones too, but make sure any you find have good reviews.
Thermarite Pizza Stones
I looked it up, and thermarite doesn’t seem to be a kind of special stone, as I previously thought. As far as I can tell, it’s just a trademarked word that the Cast Elegance uses to describe a special style of, or way to, specially formulate cordierite. This style of marketing is not uncommon, but it is a bit confusing!
Regardless, this particular stone has racked up numerous amazing reviews. It’s marketed as being safe for ovens and grills, and many users have reported using it safely on their barbecues. It is a little more expensive than other brands though! It comes in a 12.5-inch, 14-inch or 16-inch round, or 14 x 16 rectangular.
==> Get A Thermarite Pizza Stone Here
Stopper AKA “No Spill” Stones
At one point, you could find pizza stones with a lip along the edge that acted as a stopper to prevent spills. Some were square, with a long raised edge, while others were circular, with a smaller raised edge.
This is actually a really useful style of pizza stone particularly for people using accessories to turn their charcoal grill into pizza ovens. I have found that bending over and trying to angle your pizza peel into the mouth of a grill insert accessory can be a kind of balancing act. More than once, I have accidentally pushed the pizza off the stone, and onto the grill grates, burning the crust on the wood/coal flames.
The style doesn’t seem to be available anymore. I’m not sure why. Perhaps the stones didn’t work as advertised or there simply wasn’t enough demand.
The closest alternative is the pictured version. This time the pizza stone itself is flush, with no raised edges. But, it can sit inside a metal rack with handles and a raised edge. The pizza stone itself is made from cordierite, so it’s a food option for your grill.
Presumably, you can cook using the stone on its own or in its rack. The rack also makes the pizza stone easy to carry, which is great, as pizza stones are heavy and often quite unwieldy.
==> Get The Skyflame Round Ceramic Pizza Stone Here
Island Grillstone Brand
Island Grillstone is a brand that makes grilling stones made of porous volcanic rock. The idea is that fewer juices drip through the grilling grates, and smaller items won’t fall through as well. For grilling things like veggies on the barbecue, it makes total sense!
For grilling pizza, I’m not sure there’s a real advantage other than the look. The stone doesn’t impart any flavor, and it seems to be a bit finicky about how to heat it up so it doesn’t cracked. Reviews are mixed, with lots of people complaining about cracking stones.
I have seen videos of people making pizza on these stones, but I’m not sure they are worth the extra cost and extra weight.
==> Get It Here
Colorful Pizza Stones
Emile Henry (Made In France)
Though most of the pizza stones on this list have that traditional “stone” look, these are glazed with various colors. You can choose from burgundy, granite, black, or red.
This one can stand temperatures of up to 900 degrees so will be good for Neapolitan-style pizzas. Available in a variety of colors, including black, red, granite, and gray. Comes with handles on each side for carrying, and surprisingly, it’s made of clay instead of cordierite
Personally, I think it looks too fancy for an outdoor grilling session, but your taste may differ.
==> Get It Here
Rectangular Pizza Stone With Handles
This Rectangular Pizza Stone With Handles is still made from cordierite, like many of the others. This choice of materials means that it will be resilient and highly functional, particularly on a grill.
The first difference is simply that this is a rectangular pizza stone rather than a circular one. Rectangular stones allow you to get more creative with your pizza shapes. They’re also helpful if you want to use the stone for other purposes as well, like baking cookies. Besides, you can still make a circular pizza on a rectangular pan. There’s no reason why not.
The other interesting feature is the handles. There are actually four of these – one above and one below the stone on each side. Some other pizza stones have metal handles instead, but these can be frustrating and not as resilient as you might hope. The embedded style is much better and the handles are surprisingly easy to use.
Do you need handles with your pizza stone? Not necessarily. Most products don’t have them and I’ve never needed them myself. However, if you struggle to get a grip on the stone when you want to, handles could be a good idea. The same company even has a round stone with four handles.
==> Get It Here
Bonus: Pizza Steel
Pizza steel deserves a mention too, like this Pizza Steel Pro by Hans Grill. As the name suggests, this product is made from steel rather than stone, which gives it a different feel and changes its performance as well.
Basically, steel is excellent at both conducting and retaining heat, much more so than a pizza stone. Pizza steel can be a good choice for the grill too, as they’re not sensitive to thermal shock.
The big catch is the price. Pizza steel tends to cost much more than a pizza stone, so they’re best reserved for serious pizza enthusiasts. If you don’t cook pizza often and don’t plan to use the steel for much else, it might be better to stick to a pizza stone instead.
Thankfully, there are plenty of options for pizza steel. Many of the companies that offer pizza stones also have at least one pizza steel product. This makes it easy to stick with a brand that you already know and love.
==> Get It Here
What Does A Pizza Stone Do?
Here’s the question of the day – why use a pizza stone anyway? Not only are they expensive, but there’s the risk of them cracking, which could force you to buy a new one.
Honestly though, pizza stones are seriously worth it. They quickly absorb heat and hold onto it. This results in a much higher temperature, which is exactly what you need for cooking pizza.
The high temperature of the stone gives you an amazing pizza crust that’s hard to get any other way. This is particularly important if you’re making thin Neapolitan style pizzas. These pizzas are amazing when cooked on a pizza stone and lack appeal when you make them in your home oven instead.
How To Clean A Pizza Stone
First, it’s important to wait until your pizza stone has cooled down before you clean it. This reduces the risk of cracking it during the process.
Most of the time you’ll want to stick to plain water for cleaning. Don’t use detergent or similar products, as they can seep into the stone and give you weird tasting pizza next time around.
A simple approach is to add just a little water to the stone, then use tools like steel wool to remove stains and food particles. Baked on food may need to be scraped off using a metal spatula instead.
Remember that your pizza stone isn’t like regular kitchen cookware. It’s not going to stay as clean and good looking as when you first bought it. Instead, it becomes darker over time and often ends up with black marks. This isn’t an issue at all. It’s simply a side effect of how pizza stones work and shouldn’t impact the flavor of your pizza at all.
How To Season A Pizza Stone
You can season pizza stones and there’s a helpful video for doing so below. The basic idea is to add a layer of oil to the stone, then heat it just like you would for baking pizza. You can also cook oily dishes on the stone before you use it for pizza. Cookies are an easy way to get things started.
Seasoning is meant to make your pizzas taste better – but it’s crucial to check the instructions from the pizza stone manufacturer first. Most pizza stones don’t need to be seasoned. If the stone has been glazed or sealed by the company, seasoning could even damage it.
Video: How To Use A Pizza Stone On A Weber Grill
How To Prevent A Cracked Pizza Stone
Good pizza stones are not cheap, so cracking one is frustrating because it means you’ve got to buy another one. On top of that, you’ve probably gotten a bit attached to your trusty stone after using it for so many delicious pies.
There are many ways to avoid cracking pizza stones in general, but once you start cooking pizza outdoors on your barbecue, you need to start looking into pizza stones you can use on a barbecue grill to prevent heartache as well as wallet-ache.
In general, here are some common tips for preventing a cracked pizza stone:
- Don’t heat or cool your stone too quickly
- Don’t heat a wet stone
- Don’t handle the stone too roughly
- Don’t use direct heat or too high of temperatures
The last one is where regular pizza stones get in trouble with a barbecue. When working with charcoal, there’s a good chance that you’ll end up spilling some charcoal or wood chunks under the pizza stone, so it could be heated by direct flame.
When making pizza on a gas grill, hopefully you have an infrared setup, so it can evenly heat the stone, but even then, you’ll have high heat coming from the bottom of the stone, without the option to raise or lower the stone like in a traditional oven with racks.
Unfortunately for me, I did not know any of these things when I started making pizza on the barbecue. I just tossed my stone on the grill and started cooking. Lucky for me though, I got a pizza stone that was made for the grill, so after 20 or so pizzas I still haven’t cracked it. Only afterward did I discover that you can actually crack a stone quite easily, so I did some research to find which brands of stones are grill safe.
8 Ways To Make Pizza On A Weber Charcoal Grill
Nice article about Pizza stones.
Be sure to measure your grill and make sure the stone you select will fit. My 4 burner CharGrill gas grill is just 16″ deep. I need a stone less than that.