This copycat recipe of Papa John’s pizza is a delicious, homemade alternative to the classic pepperoni cheese pizza.
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We have pizza every weekend. We live right around the corner from a Papa John’s, and we eat it more than I should admit. I decided to try to make this copycat recipe – it was so delicious and the sauce was amazing!
Recipe Ingredient Notes
To make copycat Papa John’s Pizza, you will need the following ingredients:
Pizza Crust Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Fast rising yeast
- Salt
- Water
- Vegetable oil
Pizza Sauce Ingredients
- Tomato Puree
- Water
- Sugar
- Olive oil
- Lemon juice
- Salt
- Oregano
- Basil
- Thyme
- Garlic Powder
Equipment Needed
For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:
How to Make Our Copycat Papa John’s Pizza
- Preheat oven to 450℉.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Gradually add water and oil to mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed until dough pulls away from sides of the bowl.
- On a lightly floured surface, knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for 15 minutes.
- Press out dough onto 3 pizza pans. Poke the dough randomly with a fork. Let rise again in a warm place for 10-15 minutes.
- Brush crusts lightly with oil and bake them for 5 minutes. Remove from oven.
- Combine all sauce ingredients in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Top pizza crusts as desired. Bake for 4-5 more minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
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Papa John’s Pizza Recipe
This copycat recipe of Papa John’s pizza is a delicious, homemade alternative to the classic pepperoni cheese pizza.
Serving pizzas
Ingredients
Pizza Crust
- 8 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 Tablespoons sugar
- 6 ¾ teaspoons fast rising yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 3 cups very warm water, (120 to 130 degrees F)
- 6 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Pizza Sauce
- 3 cans tomato puree, (10.34 ounces each)
- ¾ cups water
- 3 teaspoons sugar
- 3 teaspoons olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon lemon juice
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon oregano
- ⅜ teaspoon basil
- ⅜ teaspoon thyme
- ⅜ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450℉.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Gradually add water and oil to mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed until dough pulls away from sides of the bowl.
- On a lightly floured surface, knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for 15 minutes.
- Press out dough onto 3 pizza pans. Poke the dough randomly with a fork. Let rise again in a warm place for 10-15 minutes.
- Brush crusts lightly with oil and bake them for 5 minutes. Remove from oven.
- Combine all sauce ingredients in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Top pizza crusts as desired. Bake for 4-5 more minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Notes
Recipe modified from Food.com.
Nutrition
Calories: 1754 kcal · Carbohydrates: 310 g · Protein: 48 g · Fat: 38 g · Saturated Fat: 24 g · Sodium: 1816 mg · Potassium: 1375 mg · Fiber: 20 g · Sugar: 37 g · Vitamin A: 888 IU · Vitamin C: 19 mg · Calcium: 101 mg · Iron: 19 mg
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
Very Cool! I will definitely have to give this a try, I do love their pizza crust.
Hi, we make homemade pizza on friday nights but three is just to many for us…does this dough freeze well and when in the rising/resting process would you suggest putting it in the freezer if yes…
Have you tried freezing this recipe? Three would be too much for our family of 2 and a not quite pizza eating aged baby 🙂
Is fast acting yeast the same as instant yeast?
Now that garlic dipping sauce and it’ll be complete!
Yes, it is basically the same.
We haven’t tried freezing this, so not sure how it would turn out when thawed. Let us know if you give it a try. 🙂
My husband LOVES Papa John’s pizza. This would be fun for him for Father’s Day. Thanks for sharing!
Oh yum, Papa John’s pizza is definitely my favorite, so I have to try this! Pinning it!
Wonderful site. A lot of helpful information here. I?m sending it to a few friends ans additionally sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks in your sweat!
This was an easy recipe. After letting the dough rise the first time for 15 min., I divided it into three, bagged them, and put them in the freezer. When I need one, I just take it out and let it defrost for a few hours. Now I don’t have to buy the dough anymore. I can make my own 🙂
My favorite is the BBQ Chicken Hawaiian. Any recipes for the BBQ sauce?
Not yet! We will definitely work on that! 🙂
what size pizza pans are needed for this ? Thanks
i also forgot to ask if highly active rapid rise yeast is the same as fast rising yeast and can you also use olive iol instead of veg. oil ? Thanks
Both of the yeasts take about the same time to rise. We have only used vegetable oil in the crust. So not sure how olive oil would turn out.
We used 12 inch pizza pans.
Yum! Sounds amazing & I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for sharing!
We made this for dinner tonight, it was delicious! I cut the recipe in thirds and used the Pampered Chef rectangle stone. It was just a little too big, so we used the extra dough as breadsticks and added garlic salt and butter….yum! Thanks for sharing, we will be making this again!
is far from Papa Johns crust. I used to manage a PJ restaurant and this is not the recipe or how to make it. Nice try though.
DrTravis, do you have a closer recipe of the crust?
What kind of cheese did you use?
We like mozzarella and colby jack cheese on our pizza.
I made this for dinner tonight and was very happy with the results. The crust turned out really well and wasn’t soggy like my previous attempts at pizza crust. My husband really liked it and I am happy to finally find a great pizza crust recipe.
Wanting to know if your crust or sauce has any dairy products in it. Butter, non fat dry milk, whey, cheese? I cannot eat dairy but would love to try your pizza! Cheeseless. Thank you very much. Susan
Hi Susan, the ingredients are listed on the recipe.
You know, we do sell the dough at the store….
We keep the dough in the fridge and make breakfast pizza the next morning, and it works great!
This might be a dumb question, but is tomato purée the same thing as tomato paste? I just want to make sure I don’t mess it up. I would love to try this for pizza night this weekend! ?
Tomato puree is a thick sauce of pureed, briefly cooked tomatoes that have been strained of seeds and skins; usually, there are no added herbs or seasonings (except salt). Tomato puree typically comes canned, and you’ll find it with other canned tomato products. Hunts and Kroger both make tomato puree. I hope this helps.
Thank you so much!! ?
And I actually JUST made this and used “crushed tomatoes” and love it!
I’d try Sweet Baby Ray’s Original.
I know this one! It’s Mark’s Feed Store’s Red sauce.
Am I the only one that notices that this pizza recipe call for no cheese???
It says “top as desired.” For most of us, I think that means cheese.
Its a pizza DOUGH recipe idiot
Pizza was good but can out biscuitsy
You’re right, this recipe is so much better! I love this recipe ao much! Thanks!
I just made this for dinner and my husband said “No more Papa John’s for us”
Fantastic! My 12 year old son is a Papa Johns pizza connoisseur and he says, though it doesn’t taste like Papa Johns, it’s a 4 1/2 to 5 star! I’ve tried so many homemade recipes and we FINALLY found one he likes!
Small changes I made:
– used crushed tomatoes and no water because I didn’t have sauce
– halved the recipe to make one big pizza on parchment on a Pampered Chef pizza stone
– olive oil instead of vegetable oil
– slightly less sugar
Maybe that’s why it didn’t taste the same! Lol
The rest of my family enjoyed it too. Thanks so much for sharing!
Best homemade pizza dough I’ve tried to date (this is the fourth recipe I’ve tried). Love that it doesn’t have to rise for hours. Not super close to Papa John’s but next best thing for sure! I broiled the pizza for 1-2 minutes after following the instruction cook time and it made the crust perfectly brown.
I miss the sweetness of papa johns dough, but now diagnosed celiac. Can I swap out wheat flour with gluten free equivalent? Will it still “rise.”
We haven’t tried this with gluten free flour so we have no advice. But it’s worth a try! Let us know how it turns out!
Can this recipe be used in a pizza oven? Also, can this recipe be used in a bread machine?
This should work great in a pizza oven! And the dough can be made in a bread machine