Halloween Ghost Pizza is a fun and frightfully easy recipe that combines a crispy homemade crust, rich pizza sauce, and ooey-gooey Mozzarella ghosts for a spooktacular Halloween dinner. Made in a cast-iron skillet, this festive pizza delivers pizzeria-quality flavor with a playful ghostly twist. It's perfect for parties, family movie nights, or trick-or-treat gatherings.
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Quick Look at the Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 13-15 minutes
- Dough Rising Time: About 1½ hours
- Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
- Yield: One 11-inch pizza, about 6 servings
- Make-Ahead: Yes. The pizza dough can be refrigerated for 8-16 hours, and the pizza sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.
- Special Equipment: 12-inch cast-iron skillet, food processor, ghost cookie cutters
- Best For: Halloween dinner, parties, or a fun pre-trick-or-treat meal
- Shortcut: Use store-bought pizza dough and sauce-or even start with a prepared cheese pizza and add the mozzarella ghosts after baking
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Adorable and Fun: The Mozzarella ghosts make this pizza a Halloween show-stopper.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: Prep the dough and sauce in advance for a quick assembly.
- Kid-Approved: Easy steps that little chefs can help with.
- Cast-Iron Perfection: Bakes evenly with a crisp edge and melty center.
Ingredients
- Pizza Dough: Bread flour, instant yeast, salt, olive oil, warm water.
- Super Simple Pizza Sauce: Tomato sauce, tomato paste, fresh garlic, dried oregano, dried basil, granulated sugar, onion salt, and salt.
- Mozzarella Ghosts: Sliced Mozzarella cheese and sliced black olives.
- Assembly: Prepared pizza dough, olive oil, super simple pizza sauce, freshly grated parmesan cheese, shredded mozzarella cheese, and mozzarella ghosts.
Make the Pizza Dough
- Add the bread flour, yeast, and salt to the bowl of the food processor fitted with a steel blade. Then, pulse the ingredients 5 or 6 times to ensure they are well combined.
- Next, add the olive oil and water, and process the dough until a rough ball forms, about 40 seconds. Let the dough rest for about 2 minutes, then process it for an additional 30 seconds.
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface and form it into a round ball. Place the dough ball in a greased 4-cup measuring cup, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise until it doubles in size. This should take approximately 1.5 hours.
Make Super-Simple Pizza Sauce
Add all of the tomato sauce, tomato paste, fresh garlic, dried oregano, dried basil, granulated sugar, onion salt, and salt to a blender and purée them for about 30 seconds. Transfer the pizza sauce to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate the sauce until ready to use. That's it!
Ingredients for Halloween Ghost Pizza
I used the following ingredients for the Ghost Pizza: Prepared pizza dough, olive oil, super-simple pizza sauce, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, shredded Mozzarella cheese, sliced Mozzarella cheese, and black olives.
Making the Ghosts
I conducted a fair amount of experimentation on how best to create the ghosts and use them effectively.
- Ghost Shapes: Use 3½-inch and 2-inch ghost cookie cutters to cut the ghost shapes from Mozzarella slices.
- Eyes and Mouth: Cut out eyes and mouths from black olives using round pastry tips (#7 for small ghosts, #12 for large).
- Form the Ghosts: Arrange the ghosts on a circle on parchment paper in the desired pattern for your pizza.
Assembling the Halloween Ghost Pizza
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 450°F (232°C). Then, grease a 12-inch cast-iron skillet with 1½ tablespoons of olive oil.
- Pizza Dough: Roll one half (8 ounces) of the pizza dough into an 11-inch round and place it in the skillet.
- Pizza Toppings: Spread ⅓ cup of the pizza sauce evenly on the dough, leaving a ½-inch border. Sprinkle with Parmesan, then Mozzarella.
- Bake: Cook the pizza on the stovetop over medium heat for 5 minutes, just until the edge sets. Then, transfer the pizza to the preheated 450°F oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden and bubbly.
- Ghosts: Remove the pizza from the oven and immediately position the Mozzarella ghosts on top. The residual heat from the pizza melts the ghosts perfectly.
- Olive Oil: Transfer the pizza to a cutting board and drizzle lightly with olive oil before serving.
The Halloween Ghost Pizza was so cute that I hated to cut into it! However, it was time to eat, so...
The Halloween Ghost Pizza was as delicious as it was cute. The crust was perfect, with just the right amount of ooey-gooey cheese and pizza sauce. Yum!
PudgeFactor's Test Kitchen Tips
Homemade pizza dough: I prefer making my own pizza dough - it comes together quickly in the food processor and is way easier to roll out than store-bought.
Ghost cookie cutters: I experimented with different ghost cookie cutters and ultimately thought that a 3-½ inch ghost cookie cutter for the large ghosts and a 2-inch ghost cookie cutter for the small ghosts was the perfect combination.
Eyes and mouth: I also experimented with different materials and techniques for the ghost's eyes and mouth. Ultimately, I thought that black olives worked best. I used a #7 round pastry tip to cut out the eyes for the small ghosts, and a #12 round pastry tip for the eyes of the large ghosts. I just used scraps of the black olives for the mouths.
Timing: Through a lot of experimentation, I concluded that the best time to add the ghosts was when the pizza came out of the oven, but was still hot.
Shortcut: If you don't want the hassle of making your own pizza, you can still make an adorable Ghost Pizza with a store-bought cheese pizza. Cut out the ghosts, eyes, and mouths as described. Bake the pizza according to the package directions. When the it comes out of the oven, position the ghosts on the still hot pizza.
In Case You Were Wondering
You can use store-bought pizza sauce in this recipe. However, homemade sauce is much better and easy to make. Bottom line, it's your choice.
If you'd prefer, you can use store-bought pizza dough in this recipe. One pound of pizza dough will make two pizzas.
When I make this pizza dough ahead of time, I form it into a ball, coat it with olive oil, and put it in a quart-sized Ziploc bag as soon as I process it in the food processor. I then store the pizza dough in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours and up to 16 hours.
I like to cook the pizza as indicated above. Once it cools, I cover it tightly with aluminum foil and freeze it for up to a month. Then, I heat the pizza as suggested by Cook Illustrated above.
If you like the idea of using a cast-iron pan to make a pizza, then you should check out my Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza Margherita. It's amazing!
Other Savory Halloween Treats
If you're looking for some more savory recipes for Halloween, check out these:
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Halloween Ghost Pizza
Equipment
- Food Processor
- 12-inch cast iron pan
- Ghost cookie cutters
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons (11 ounces, 312 grams) bread flour
- 1 ⅛ teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast (See Tip 1)
- ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon (0.5 ounces, 14 grams) olive oil
- ¾ cup (6 ounces, 177 ml) filtered water (See Tip 2)
Super-Simple Pizza Sauce
- 16 ounces (2 8-ounce cans) tomato sauce
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon onion salt
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Ghosts for Pizza
- 6 slices (4 ounces, 113 grams) sliced Mozzarella cheese
- 1 Tablespoon sliced black olives
Halloween Ghost Pizza
- 8 ounces Pizza Dough, room temperature (See Tip 3)
- 1 ½ Tablespoons (0.75 ounces, 22 grams) olive oil
- ⅓ cup Super-Simple Pizza Sauce
- ¼ cup (.75 ounces, 22 grams) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 ½ cups (6 ounces, 170 grams) shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 1 teaspoon olive oil, for drizzling on cooked pizza
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- Add bread flour, yeast, and salt to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse 5 times to combine. Add olive oil and water. Process until a rough ball forms, 30 to 40 seconds. Let rest for 2 minutes. Process an additional 30 seconds. Transfer to a lightly floured surface; knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball. Place in a large, lightly greased bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours. (See Tip 4) Yield: 1 pound of pizza dough - enough for two pizzas.
Super-Simple Pizza Sauce
- Add all ingredients to the blender. Purée for 30 seconds, or until all ingredients are well combined. (See Tip 5) Yield: 2 ½ cups.
Ghosts for Pizza
- Trace an 11-inch circle on a piece of parchment paper. Flip to the other side. Set aside.
- Using ghost cookie cutters, cut out ghosts from sliced Mozzarella cheese. Position them on parchment as you want them to appear on the finished pizza. (See Tip 6)
- Cut out eyes and mouths from black olive slices and place them on the ghosts. Set aside until the pizza comes out of the oven. (See Tip 7)
Halloween Ghost Pizza
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Brush 1 ½ Tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a 12-inch cast-iron skillet; set aside.
- Divide the pizza dough in half (for 8 ounces). Press and roll one piece of dough into an 11-inch round. Transfer to a prepared cast-iron skillet; gently push it to the corners. Spread ⅓ cup super-simple pizza sauce over the dough, leaving a ½-inch border around the edge. Top with ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese and 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Set the skillet over medium heat and cook until the outside edge of the dough is set and the pizza is lightly puffed, about 5 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven; bake until the edge of the pizza is golden brown and the cheese is melted, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and place the ghosts on the hot pizza. (See Tip 8)
- Remove pizza from the cast-iron skillet. If desired, drizzle with olive oil and serve.
- Yield: 1 11-inch pizza (See Tip 9)
Video
Tips/Notes
- Instant or rapid-rise yeast (sometimes called bread machine yeast) does not need to bloom like active dry yeast. So you can add it directly to the other ingredients.
- I always use filtered water rather than tap water. Tap water contains chlorine that can inhibit yeast growth.
- The included recipe for pizza dough makes 16 ounces. You need 8 ounces for one ghost pizza.
- Alternatively, the pizza dough can be refrigerated for at least 8 hours or up to 16 hours. If only making one pizza, refrigerate the remaining dough for another use.
- Super-Simple Pizza Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 1 month.
- I use a 3-½ inch ghost cookie cutter for the large ghosts and a 2-inch ghost cookie cutter for the small ghosts.
- I used a #7 round pastry tip to cut out the eyes for the small ghosts, and a #12 round pastry tip for the eyes for the large ghosts. I just used scraps of the black olives for the mouths.
- Through a lot of experimentation, I concluded that the best time to add the ghosts was when the pizza came out of the oven, but was still hot.
- If you don't want the hassle of making your own pizza, you can still make an adorable Ghost Pizza with a store-bought cheese pizza. Cut out the ghosts, eyes, and mouths as described. Bake the pizza according to the package directions. When it comes out of the oven, position the ghosts on the still-hot pizza.
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