Halloween Pizza is one of our favorite fun dinners to make before trick-or-treating, for a Halloween party, or for a spooky family movie night. It starts with homemade pizza dough, an easy seasoned tomato sauce, and classic pepperoni and olives that can be turned into cute Halloween designs.
We love that this recipe feels festive without being hard. Use olives for little spiders, pepperoni for pumpkins or monster faces, and any extra toppings your family loves to make each pizza fun and kid-friendly.
If you love this recipe, be sure to try Mummy Hot Dogs, Halloween Rice Krispie Treats, Spider Cookies, and Halloween Chex Mix.
Why you’ll love it + Why it works:
- Fun Family Activity: Kids love helping decorate the pizza with a silly or spooky pumpkin face.
- Perfect for Halloween: It’s a festive dinner that’s great before trick-or-treating or for Halloween parties.
- Easy to Customize: Change the face design or add your family’s favorite pizza toppings.
- Simple Sauce: Homemade pizza sauce comes together quickly with pantry spices and rich tomato flavor.
Halloween Pizza Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- Warm Water (1½ cups, 110 to 115°F): Activates the yeast so the dough rises properly. Warm, not hot, water works best.
- Rapid Rise Yeast (1½ tablespoons): Helps the dough rise quickly while creating a soft, chewy crust.
- Sugar (1 tablespoon): Feeds the yeast and helps the dough rise while adding a touch of flavor.
- Salt (½ tablespoon): Strengthens the dough and enhances the overall flavor.
- Vegetable Oil (3 tablespoons): Keeps the dough soft and tender. Canola oil is another good option.
- All-Purpose Flour (3¼ to 3½ cups): Gives the dough structure. Add just enough until the dough is soft and slightly sticky.
- Cornmeal (1 tablespoon): Prevents sticking and adds a little texture to the bottom of the crust.
- Olive Oil (for brushing): Helps the crust brown beautifully and adds flavor.
- Pepperoni (1 cup): Creates the jack-o’-lantern face while adding classic pizza flavor.
- Olives (¼ cup): Make easy eyes, nose, or mouth details for decorating the pumpkin face.
Pizza Sauce
- Tomato Sauce (3 (8 ounce) cans): Creates a smooth, flavorful pizza sauce.
- Basil (1 teaspoon): Adds classic Italian herb flavor.
- Pepper (¼ teaspoon): Gives the sauce a little extra seasoning.
- Oregano (1 teaspoon): Adds traditional pizza flavor.
- Salt (1 teaspoon): Enhances all the flavors in the sauce.
- Sugar (½ teaspoon): Balances the acidity of the tomatoes.
- Garlic Powder (½ teaspoon): Adds savory garlic flavor throughout the sauce.
- Onion Powder (½ teaspoon): Rounds out the sauce with subtle onion flavor.
How to Make Halloween Pizza
DOUGH. In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, and sugar and let sit for 5 minutes, or until bubbly.
Add salt and oil, then mix in flour 1 cup at a time with a wooden spoon until combined and the dough is soft and slightly sticky. Knead for about 3 minutes (dough will be sticky and will stick to your hands).
Cover the dough with a tea towel and let rise at room temperature for 30–45 minutes.
PREP. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place a pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven to preheat as well.
Prepare the sauce by heating all ingredients in a saucepan and bringing it to a simmer, but do not let boil.
This dough makes TWO 12-inch pizza crusts. Divide dough into two pieces and roll each out onto a floured surface to about ½ inch thick. Cut a little pumpkin stem on top.
BAKE. Sprinkle cornmeal onto a pizza peel and, working with one crust at a time, transfer the rolled-out dough to the peel. Brush with olive oil and poke with a fork a few times to eliminate bubbling while baking.
Use the peel to transfer the crust to the preheated pizza stone and blind bake for 6–8 minutes.
Remove from the oven, add sauce, cheese, and arrange pepperoni to form a pumpkin face. Bake for 8–10 more minutes.
Topping Variations
- Spider pizza. Use long thin strips of cheese to form a spider web on the pizza. Use black olives to cut and turn into spiders.
- Mummy pizza. Shape the pizza crust like an oval or rectangle. Use long slices of mozzarella cheese to create “bandages”.
- Ghost pizza. Shape the pizza dough into a ghost shape and instead of using Marinara Sauce use White Pizza Sauce.
- Halloween mini pizzas. Give each person a smaller portion of the dough to make little pizzas.
- Make monster faces using mushrooms, sliced green bell pepper, pineapple chunks, pepperoni, olives, and purple onion.
Kristyn’s Recipe Tips
- Keep the water between 110 and 115°F so the yeast activates properly without being damaged.
- Preheating the pizza stone or baking sheet helps create a crispier crust.
- Don’t overload the pizza with toppings or the crust may become soggy.
- Let kids decorate their own pumpkin faces for a fun Halloween activity.
Halloween Pizza Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1½ cups warm water 110–115°F
- 1½ tablespoons rapid rise yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 ¼ – 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
- olive oil for brushing
- 1 cup Pepperoni
- ¼ cup olives
Pizza Sauce
- 3 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon basil
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, and sugar and let it sit for 5 minutes, or until bubbly.
- Add salt and oil, then mix in flour 1 cup at a time with a wooden spoon until combined and the dough is soft and slightly sticky. Knead for about 3 minutes (dough will be sticky and will stick to your hands).
- Cover the dough with a tea towel and let rise at room temperature for 30–45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place a pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven to preheat as well.
- Prepare sauce by heating all ingredients in a saucepan and bringing it to a simmer, but do not let boil.
- This dough makes TWO 12-inch pizza crusts. Divide dough into two pieces and roll each out onto a floured surface to about ½ inch thick. Cut a little pumpkin stem on top.
- Sprinkle cornmeal onto a pizza peel and, working with one crust at a time, transfer the rolled-out dough to the peel. Brush with olive oil and poke with a fork a few times to eliminate bubbling while baking.
- Use the peel to transfer the crust to the preheated pizza stone and blind bake for 6–8 minutes. Remove from the oven, add sauce, cheese, and arrange pepperoni to form a pumpkin face. Bake for 8–10 more minutes.
Notes
- Keep the water between 110 and 115°F so the yeast activates properly without being damaged.
- Preheating the pizza stone or baking sheet helps create a crispier crust.
- Don’t overload the pizza with toppings or the crust may become soggy.
- Let kids decorate their own pumpkin faces for a fun Halloween activity.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe FAQ
Leftover pizza can be kept in an airtight bag or container and stored in the fridge for about 4 days. Reheat in a microwave.
Or heat the skillet over medium heat then place 1-2 slices of the cold pizza. Let the bottom crisp up for 3-4 minutes. Add a teaspoon of water to the side of the pizza, lower the heat, cover it with a lid, and let it warm up for another 2-3 minutes.
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This recipe was first shared September, 2023.
Can the dough be made 1-2 hours in advance?
Yes it can! Make sure to store it in the fridge so it doesn’t over proof/rise too much before baking.
Really cute idea. The pizza dough and sauce were really good!!
Yay! So glad to hear that. Thanks for giving the recipe a try!