How to Make Hot Honey Pepperoni Pizza
Hot honey pepperoni pizza takes a classic favourite and gives it a sweet and spicy finish. You still get everything you want from pepperoni pizza, bubbling mozzarella, crispy-edged pepperoni and a golden crust, but a drizzle of chilli-infused honey brings another layer of flavour.
The combination works because each element balances the next. Pepperoni brings salt, spice and richness, mozzarella adds creaminess, tomato adds acidity, and hot honey finishes everything with sweetness and gentle heat.
Cook it directly on a Pizza Steel and you get another important contrast: a crisp, browned base underneath all those soft, melted toppings.
Why Hot Honey and Pepperoni Work So Well
Pepperoni already has plenty going on. It's salty, savoury, slightly smoky and often carries a little chilli heat. Honey might sound like an unusual addition at first, but a light drizzle cuts through the richness and makes those savoury flavours stand out.
Adding chilli to the honey makes the combination even better. Instead of simply making your pizza sweet, hot honey adds a sweet heat that builds after each bite. The trick is restraint. You want enough to taste it without covering up the pepperoni, tomato and cheese.
Why Cook It on a Pizza Steel?
A good hot honey pepperoni pizza needs more than great toppings. The base needs enough heat to become crisp before the toppings overcook.
A Pizza Steel transfers intense heat directly into fresh pizza dough, helping create a well-browned underside, crisp base and airy, blistered edges while keeping cooking times short.
This is particularly useful when making pizza in a home oven, where you don't have the extreme temperatures of a commercial or wood-fired pizza oven.
Ingredients
Makes: 1 x 12 to 13 inch pizza
Pizza Dough
- 250 g high-protein pizza flour, 00 or strong bread flour
- 160 ml cold water
- 5 g fine sea salt
- 2 g instant dry yeast
- 5 ml extra virgin olive oil
For extra flavour and better dough development, make your dough ahead and cold ferment it in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours.
Pizza Sauce
- 80 g crushed tomatoes
- Pinch of sea salt
- Small drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch of dried oregano, optional
There's no need to cook the sauce first. Keeping it simple gives you a fresher tomato flavour and avoids adding unnecessary moisture.
Toppings
- 100 to 120 g low-moisture mozzarella, grated
- 18 to 22 slices quality pepperoni
- 10 to 15 ml hot honey
- 10 g finely grated Parmesan
- A few fresh basil leaves, optional
- Chilli flakes, optional
Don't overload the pizza. Too much cheese, sauce or pepperoni traps moisture and makes it harder to achieve a crisp base.
Equipment
- Pizza Steel
- Pizza peel
- Home oven
- Infrared thermometer, optional
How to Make Hot Honey Pepperoni Pizza
1. Prepare the Dough
Combine the flour, water and yeast until a rough dough forms. Add the salt and olive oil, then knead until smooth and elastic.
Cover and allow the dough to rise until ready to use. For better flavour, place it in the fridge and allow it to cold ferment for 24 to 48 hours.
If refrigerated, remove the dough 60 to 90 minutes before baking so it can come towards room temperature and relax before stretching.
2. Preheat the Pizza Steel
Place your Pizza Steel on the middle oven rack.
Preheat the oven and steel to 240°C for at least 30 minutes before cooking. If your oven reaches 250°C or above, you can experiment with the higher setting once you're familiar with how quickly your oven cooks pizza.
Always use fresh pizza dough on a fully heated steel. Already-cooked pizza bases can cook too quickly and may burn.
3. Stretch the Dough
Lightly flour your work surface and pizza peel.
Use your fingertips to press the dough outwards from the centre, leaving a slightly thicker border around the edge.
Gently stretch it by hand until you have a round approximately 12 to 13 inches across.
Avoid using a rolling pin. Keeping some of the air inside the dough helps create light, airy edges when the pizza hits the hot steel.
4. Add the Sauce and Toppings
Spread approximately 80 g of tomato sauce thinly across the dough, leaving the outer crust uncovered.
Add the mozzarella evenly, followed by the pepperoni and Parmesan.
Less is more here. Leaving a little space between your toppings helps the heat circulate and allows the pepperoni to crisp rather than steam.
Save the hot honey and fresh basil until after baking.
5. Bake on the Pizza Steel
Slide the pizza from the peel directly onto the fully preheated Pizza Steel.
Bake for approximately 5 to 7 minutes, rotating once if your oven has uneven heat.
You're looking for a browned underside, bubbling mozzarella, crispy pepperoni and a golden, blistered crust. Every oven behaves differently, so treat the cooking time as a guide.
If the bottom is ready before the top has enough colour, briefly switch to your oven's grill setting, if suitable for your oven, while watching the pizza closely.
6. Add the Hot Honey
Remove the pizza from the oven and immediately drizzle 10 to 15 ml of hot honey over the top.
Adding it after baking keeps the honey's flavour and consistency while reducing the risk of the sugars scorching in the intense heat.
Add fresh basil and a pinch of chilli flakes if you want a little more heat.
7. Slice and Serve
Give the pizza about a minute to settle, then slice and serve while the cheese is still hot.
The finished pizza should have a crisp base, airy crust, bubbling cheese, crispy pepperoni and little hits of sweet chilli honey in every few bites.
How Much Hot Honey Should You Use?
For one 12 to 13 inch pizza, start with 10 ml, or about 2 teaspoons.
For a stronger sweet and spicy finish, increase it to around 15 ml or 1 tablespoon.
Don't drown the pizza in honey. You should still taste the pepperoni, mozzarella and tomato first. Think of hot honey as a finishing condiment rather than another sauce.
Tips for the Best Hot Honey Pepperoni Pizza
- Choose good pepperoni. Thin slices crisp quickly, while slightly thicker pepperoni tends to curl and develop crisp edges.
- Use low-moisture mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella can release a lot of liquid. Low-moisture mozzarella makes it easier to achieve a crisp base.
- Go easy on the sauce. Around 80 g is plenty for a 12 to 13 inch pizza. Too much sauce can leave the middle soft.
- Fully preheat your steel. Give the Pizza Steel at least 30 minutes at 240°C so it stores enough heat to cook the fresh dough quickly.
- Watch the base and top separately. If your base is perfectly browned but the cheese needs more colour, a short blast under the grill can finish the top.
- Add hot honey last. Drizzle it over the pizza as soon as it leaves the oven rather than baking the honey for the entire cooking time.
Make Your Own Hot Honey
You don't need to buy hot honey. A simple homemade version takes only a few minutes.
- 100 g Australian honey
- 1 to 2 teaspoons dried chilli flakes
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, optional
Add the honey and chilli flakes to a small saucepan. Warm gently over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Don't let the honey boil.
Remove from the heat and allow the chilli to infuse for around 10 minutes. Stir in the apple cider vinegar if you'd like a little acidity.
You can strain out the chilli flakes for a smooth hot honey or leave them in for extra heat.
Hot Honey Pepperoni Pizza Variations
Hot Honey & Jalapeño
Add thinly sliced jalapeños before baking for extra heat and acidity. Finish with hot honey as usual.
Hot Honey & Prosciutto
Use slightly less pepperoni and add torn prosciutto after the pizza comes out of the oven. Finish with hot honey and fresh rocket.
Hot Honey & Burrata
Bake the pepperoni pizza without burrata. Once cooked, add torn burrata to the centre and drizzle hot honey over everything.
Extra Spicy Hot Honey Pepperoni
Add fresh chilli or chilli flakes before baking, then finish with an extra-spicy hot honey. Great if the standard version isn't hot enough for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is hot honey pizza?
Hot honey pizza is pizza finished with honey infused with chilli. The honey provides sweetness while the chilli brings heat, creating a sweet and spicy contrast with salty toppings such as pepperoni.
Do you put hot honey on pizza before or after cooking?
Add hot honey after cooking for the best result. This keeps the honey's flavour fresh and prevents its sugars from scorching in the oven.
What cheese goes best with hot honey pepperoni pizza?
Low-moisture mozzarella is an excellent choice because it melts well without releasing too much water. A small amount of Parmesan adds extra savoury flavour.
How much hot honey should I put on pizza?
For a 12 to 13 inch pizza, start with around 10 ml or 2 teaspoons. Increase it to approximately 15 ml if you prefer a sweeter and spicier finish.
Can I make hot honey at home?
Yes. Gently warm honey with dried chilli flakes for a few minutes, allow it to infuse, then use it as a finishing drizzle. Adjust the amount of chilli to suit your preferred heat level.
What temperature should I cook pizza on a Pizza Steel?
Preheat your Pizza Steel at 240°C for at least 30 minutes. If your oven can reach around 250°C, you can experiment with the higher temperature and a longer preheat to get more heat into the steel.
Why is my pizza base not crispy?
The Pizza Steel may not have been fully preheated, or the pizza may have too much sauce, cheese or other wet toppings. Start with fresh dough, preheat the steel properly and keep the toppings relatively light.
Can I cook hot honey pepperoni pizza in a normal home oven?
Absolutely. A Pizza Steel is designed to help a conventional home oven produce a crispier, better-browned pizza base by storing heat and transferring it rapidly into fresh pizza dough.
Looking for your next pizza to make? Explore our Pizza Steel recipes, including our classic Pepperoni Pizza.
