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Turn Your Pizza Upside Down!
Have you ever made an upside down pizza? The premise of it is to adding the toppings, cheese and sauce to a skillet first and then adding the dough on top.
The benefit of this is that you get sauteed and caramelized toppings, a crispy pizza crust and a more even bake. It also prevents the toppings from sliding off during baking and can make for a more convenient and easier-to-clean up pizza.
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Upside Down Pizza Ingredients
- Dough: For ease and convenience, a store bought chilled dough works great for this recipe. Use a gluten-free dough if you have an intolerance, or, you can make your own pizza dough.
- Sauce: Use your favorite store-bought sauce or make your own pizza sauce. Opt for one that’s more thick and chunky so it stays in place. Marinara sauce will also work well.
- Shredded cheese: Low moisture shredded mozzarella works best for this recipe. You can also use shredded cheddar.
- Olive oil: To cook the veggies, as well as helping the pizza crust to get a delicious golden brown. You can also use avocado oil.
- Toppings: I use mushrooms, green bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, onions, basil, parmesan, dried oregano and red pepper flakes, but feel free to swap with any of your favorite toppings. Try cooked shredded chicken or grilled shrimp but make sure you don’t add too many watery toppings as the steam won’t be able to escape and can make your dough soggy.
How to Make Upside Down Pizza
Recipe Tips
- Grease the cast iron skillet well. This helps to make sure that the vegetables layered on the bottom will come off easily from the pan. You can also use parchment paper to make it easier to release the pizza.
- Don’t worry if it looks messy. When you flip the pizza, it’s not going to have neat layers. But all the flavor is baked in there. Just use a lot of garnish to dress it it up after baking.
- Try it in a pan. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can make this in a sheet pan. Just make sure it’s rimmed and deep enough to hold the topping, cheese, sauce and dough.
Serving Ideas
Recipe Help & FAQs
To store leftover pizza, wrap slices individually in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then place them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. For reheating, I recommend the oven or toaster oven for a crispy crust, but you can also use a skillet.
Yes you can freeze upside down pizza just like you would regular pizza. It’s easier to wrap it individually so you can toast one serving at a time.
More Pizza Recipes:
If you try this Upside Down Pizza recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe. I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots, share it on Instagram so we can repost on Stories!
Upside Down Pizza
Ingredients
- ½ pound pizza dough
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 4 ounces mushrooms sliced
- ¼ cup green bell peppers sliced
- ¼ cup cherry tomatoes halved
- ¼ cup onions diced
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper plus more for serving
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shredded low-moisture mozzarella
- ½ cup pizza sauce
- Fresh basil for serving
- Grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Allow store-bought dough to rise at room temperature for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Brush 1 tablespoon olive oil on the cast iron skillet. Layer the ingredients in the cast iron skillet, starting with the mushrooms, then green peppers, followed by tomatoes and onions. Season with oregano, crushed red pepper and salt.
- Add the shredded cheese and spread the pizza sauce over the cheese, keeping the edges dry as much as possible.
- Roll the pizza dough ball into a 12-inch round and gently place on top of the pizza sauce in the cast iron skillet.
- Use your hands to tuck the pizza dough around the edges of the pan to seal in the sauce and the pizza toppings. Brush the remaining olive oil on top of the dough.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until the dough is golden brown.
- Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Then place a cutting board or large plate over the cast iron skillet and flip over onto the cutting board. Add additional parmesan cheese, crushed red pepper and fresh basil and slice into 6-8 pieces.
Equipment
- 10" Cast Iron Skillet
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
I don’t think I could flip a pizza in a cast iron skillet, my wrists are not strong enough, I have enough trouble lifting a cast iron skillet. The pizza does look delicious.
In that case, I have a regular Cast Iron Pizza recipe you might enjoy instead. No flipping required!
Thank you Yumna, for the cast iron pizza recipe, I will try it.
I tried this pizza for the first time today. I did add pepperonis and ham to the dish, but overall it was a fantastic recipe and easy to follow. The outcome was very delicious!! 5 ✨
So glad it worked out well for you!
Scarlett & I revisited this challenge and this time I oiled the cast iron skillet liberally, making sure the sides were included and it made our upside-down pizza a perfect “10”. No burned fingers this time either! I used Pillsbury’s Pizza Dough and it tasted great and oh-so-easy. Scarlett’s mom thought we’d changed our minds and splurged on a professional pizza for dinner ((^_^)).
Yumna – your wonderful challenges continue to be one of our favorite ways of bridging our generational gap.
This doesn’t work.
So sorry to hear that it didn’t work out for you.
When frozen pizza saves time, try re-topping your favorite variety before inverting a 2nd pizza on top of the first. Will need more oven time.
It worked great stuffing 2 pizzas with pineapple, chicken and extra sauce & cheese.
Hmm, sounds like a fun way to switch it up!
This is DELICIOUS! Everyone loved it! We weren’t sure how we were going to flip it, but it came right out. So much flavor! We’ll definitely be making this again!
Thank you so much! That makes me so happy to hear!
I Follow you since 2015 i have tried many of your easy and delicious recipes.I love your energy and definitely i am gonna try this upside down pizza 😉🥰 Keep going you nail it ❤️
Aww, thank you!! So excited for you to give it a go!
DELICIOUS , easy and fun to make! The whole family love it so much that I had to make it again. Toppings got stuck to the cast iron, but I just scraped it back to the pizza, no body noticed it and it was “so good”.
Thank you so much! I love that.
Excited to try this!🍕 What kind of flour do you use for your pizza dough? You mentioned ‘00’? Is it King Arthur ‘All Purpose’ bleached/unbleached or Bread flour?
Yay! I use the Unbleached King Arthur All Purpose Flour (https://amzn.to/3DWrL4G).
I just watched your live and i’m inspired to make it now! I love the runny egg idea someone mentioned. I’ll report back with the results 🙂 thank you for the inspo!
Can’t wait for you to do so! Yay!!
Sooo Good!
Everything went according to recipe and smelled wonderful as it baked.
Unfortunately, I baked the pizza too close to the bottom of my oven and for too long. NOTE: If you’re using Pillsbury’s Pizza Crust – you may want to adjust your backing time & temp. I baked at 400 for 35 min – too long!
My toppings stuck to the skillet, separating from the crust. No fear, I was able to scrape it all back onto the pizza and as it cooled, it just got tastier & looked great!
This recipe is so good, I forgot to add the Parmesan cheese.
Perfect for 2 people.
Thank you! That’s great to know for next time. Glad you both enjoyed!
I give it a 10 out of 10. It’s so easy to make and you can change it up based on your family’s likes and dislikes.I’m trying to decide what toppings or bottomings to use this weekend.
Thank you so much! The versatility is one of my favorite things about this recipe!
This was so fun for my whole family and everyone loved it! We can’t wait to try it again.
Yay!! That makes me so incredibly happy to hear!
This was so fun to try and turned out well. We used pepperoni and mushrooms for toppings. We liked that the crust wasn’t too thick.
Yay!! Love those toppings.
Made and loved..I at the end when its turned back up I added some sunny side up eggs and peppery greens.
The runny yoke added a little something , something.
Thank you,
Love your site, “Health and taste all rolled into one”
Thank you so much! I love the sound of those toppings on this pizza.
Looks so yummy! I never tried making pizza upside down before.
Thank you! Definitely give it a go!
Loved it! I did veggie plus beyond meat sausage!! Delish!!! I sauteed the sausage and veggies a couple min. First
Yay! That sounds so good!
Positively amazing!
Thank you!!!
Super quick, delicious 😋
Thank you!
I made this tonight and it was so tasty!! Thanks for the great recipe!
Yay!! That’s amazing to hear. You’re welcome!
Great idea!
Thank you!