Diavola Pizza with Hot Honey
My version of this spicy Italian Diavola pizza is topped with a spicy tomato sauce, pepperoni, a drizzle of hot honey, jalapeños, and melty mozzarella on a light and airy Neapolitan-style crust.*Quick Note Before You Dive In: This recipe card covers the basics, but if you want to know how to stretch the dough and get that light, airy crust, scroll back up! Everything you need for foolproof results is in the post.
Ingredients
- 1 (16-ounce) ball store-bought pizza dough
- 1 (28-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes divided
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon crushed Calabrian chiles in oil * see note below
- 4 ounces (113g) full-fat Mozzarella cubed
- ⅓ cup (45g) cup-and-char pepperoni slices * see note below
- 1 fresh jalapeño sliced
- 2 tablespoons hot honey
- all-purpose flour for dusting
Instructions
- Remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator about 2 hours before baking and prepare it according to these dough-handling instructions.
- Place a pizza stone in a cold oven and preheat to 550°F using convection bake. If your oven does not reach 550°F, set it to the highest temperature available.
- Shape and stretch the dough to about 15 inches in diameter (or the size of your pizza stone) and place it on a lightly floured surface.
Prepare the Tomato Sauce
- Empty the can of San Marzano tomatoes (with their liquid) into a medium bowl.
- Crush the tomatoes by hand, and set aside ⅓ cup. Store the remaining crushed tomatoes for another use.
- To the ⅓ cup of tomatoes, add the salt and chilies. Stir to combine.
- Spread a thin layer of sauce over the dough, leaving a 1½-inch border around the edge for the crust. You should still be able to see some of the dough through the sauce (about 4 tablespoons should be enough).
Bake the Pizza
- Transfer the sauced pizza to a lightly floured pizza peel and slide it onto the hot pizza stone.
- Bake for about 5 minutes, then check the underside of the crust. It should be lightly golden and slightly firm; if not, continue baking a little while longer.
- Using the pizza peel, remove the pizza from the stone and add the mozzarella and pepperoni.
- Return the pizza to the stone and continue baking until the cheese is melted, the pepperoni is crisp, and the crust edges are deeply browned (about 7 minutes more).
- Using the pizza peel, remove the pizza from the oven, add the sliced jalapeños, and drizzle with 1 to 2 tablespoons of hot honey.
- Let the pizza rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes:
Convection Bake vs. Regular Bake: You can make this pizza on a regular bake setting if you don't have a convection oven.
I tested this recipe two ways: a) with convection bake and b) regular bake setting, both at 550°F. If your oven only goes up to 450° or 500°F, add a few extra minutes to the bake time.
The Results: The convection bake produced a nice dark outer crust. The time it took to parbake the pizza was 5 minutes, and 6 minutes for the final bake with toppings. In the regular bake, I first brushed the edges of the dough with olive oil to help achieve a dark brown crust. It took 7 minutes for the parbake, followed by a 9-minute final bake. This recipe uses the same dough-handling technique found in my How to Make Incredible Pizza with Store-Bought Dough's guide, which produces a light, airy crust with crisp edges. A very small amount of Calabrian chilies goes a long way. Start with ½ teaspoon, and taste the sauce. Depending on how spicy you want the pizza, you may want to increase the amount of chilies to 1 teaspoon total. Use any type of mozzarella you wish, such as Fior di Latte or mozzarella di Bufalo. I don't recommend burrata as the center is very runny. If you are using regular mozzarella, make sure it is full-fat. If you are using fresh mozzarella and it feels very wet, pat it dry with a paper towel before adding it to the pizza. This helps prevent excess moisture on the crust. Cup-and-char, also called Cup-and-Crisp pepperoni, works especially well for this pizza because the curled edges create small pockets that hold the hot honey drizzle. If you use canned tomatoes other than San Marzano, the sauce will be quite liquid. You can thicken it with some tomato paste or boil the mixture down to evaporate some of the juices. A note on Kosher salt: This recipe uses kosher salt. If you’re using table salt, use half the amount. Kosher salt has larger, airier crystals that take up more space, so a teaspoon of kosher salt actually contains less salt by weight than a teaspoon of table salt. Nutrition information is automatically calculated and provided as an estimate. It is not intended as a substitute for professional dietary advice
I tested this recipe two ways: a) with convection bake and b) regular bake setting, both at 550°F. If your oven only goes up to 450° or 500°F, add a few extra minutes to the bake time.
The Results: The convection bake produced a nice dark outer crust. The time it took to parbake the pizza was 5 minutes, and 6 minutes for the final bake with toppings. In the regular bake, I first brushed the edges of the dough with olive oil to help achieve a dark brown crust. It took 7 minutes for the parbake, followed by a 9-minute final bake. This recipe uses the same dough-handling technique found in my How to Make Incredible Pizza with Store-Bought Dough's guide, which produces a light, airy crust with crisp edges. A very small amount of Calabrian chilies goes a long way. Start with ½ teaspoon, and taste the sauce. Depending on how spicy you want the pizza, you may want to increase the amount of chilies to 1 teaspoon total. Use any type of mozzarella you wish, such as Fior di Latte or mozzarella di Bufalo. I don't recommend burrata as the center is very runny. If you are using regular mozzarella, make sure it is full-fat. If you are using fresh mozzarella and it feels very wet, pat it dry with a paper towel before adding it to the pizza. This helps prevent excess moisture on the crust. Cup-and-char, also called Cup-and-Crisp pepperoni, works especially well for this pizza because the curled edges create small pockets that hold the hot honey drizzle. If you use canned tomatoes other than San Marzano, the sauce will be quite liquid. You can thicken it with some tomato paste or boil the mixture down to evaporate some of the juices. A note on Kosher salt: This recipe uses kosher salt. If you’re using table salt, use half the amount. Kosher salt has larger, airier crystals that take up more space, so a teaspoon of kosher salt actually contains less salt by weight than a teaspoon of table salt. Nutrition information is automatically calculated and provided as an estimate. It is not intended as a substitute for professional dietary advice
Nutrition
Serving: 75gCalories: 229kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 9gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 882mgPotassium: 50mgFiber: 1gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 151IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 94mgIron: 2mg
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