Why make pepperoni pizza in a slow cooker? For starters, because sometimes just the sheer joy of making something a different way is fun! However, making pizza in your slow cooker also gives you a few hours to go do whatever you need without hovering over the stove. Most importantly though, making pizza in a slow cooker as in the recipe that follows makes it really, really hard to burn—perhaps the number one complaint people have when making pizza in an oven.
It's also just as easy as making pizza in the oven. While homemade pizza dough will obviously work, it's even easier to pick up some fresh dough from the grocery store or local baker and have the hard part done for you. It will bake up beautifully in the slow cooker and will provide that crunchy crisp on the outside, while being soft, pillowy, and light on the inside. It will be just as good as any pizza from the oven and no one will know unless you tell them, which you should. Making pizza in a slow cooker is awesome!
Slow Cooker Pepperoni Pizza
6 pieces
5 minutes
6 hours
7 hours, 5 minutes
1 pound fresh pizza dough
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 cup pizza sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup pepperoni, thinly sliced
Torn basil leaves
Line a 6-quart slow cooker with parchment paper. Sprinkle cornmeal evenly on the parchment paper.
Using your hands, press the pizza dough evenly onto the bottom of the slow cooker.
Spread pizza sauce evenly over the pizza dough, leaving approximately 1/2-inch around the edges.
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese evenly over the pizza sauce.
Evenly space out pepperoni slices over top of the cheese.
Place a paper towel or clean kitchen towel over the top of the slow cooker and place lid on paper towel.
Pull the corners of the towel over the top of the slow cooker lid just so they're not hanging down.
Cook on high for 2 to 4 hours, or on low for 7 hours.
Remove pizza from the slow cooker, using parchment paper to pull it out.
Garnish with torn basil leaves.
