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Halloween Mushroom Skull Pizza

Homemade cheese and tomato pizza with mushrooms carved into little skulls. Spooky, fun and easier than it looks.

By Dan15 October 2026Prep: about 1 hourCook: 15–20 minsMakes 3 × 12-inch pizzas
Homemade cheese and tomato pizza cut into slices, topped with mushrooms carved into skulls
My Halloween mushroom skull pizza, sliced and ready to eat.

This is my Halloween pizza. It's a simple homemade cheese and tomato pizza, but the mushrooms are carved into little skulls, with the stems cut into teeth. Carving them is the fiddly bit, but all you need is a small knife, a metal straw and a cocktail stick. The recipe makes three 12-inch pizzas, and I cook them in my kitchen oven.

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 500g plain flour
  • 7g dried baking yeast
  • 2 teaspoons caster sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 325ml warm water (not hot, or you'll kill the yeast)

For the sauce

  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon chicken seasoning

For the topping

  • 750g grated mozzarella
  • 500g closed cup white mushrooms

Makes: 3 × 12-inch pizzas, each cut into 8 slices.
You'll also need: 3 × 12-inch round pizza trays, a rolling pin, a sharp small knife, a metal straw, a cocktail stick, a pizza cutter, and disposable gloves (optional).

Method

Make the sauce

  1. Pour the tin of tomatoes into a saucepan and season with a teaspoon of chicken seasoning.
  2. Cook on the hob for 15 minutes.

Make the bases

  1. Dust three 12-inch round pizza trays with flour and set them aside.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. I like to wear disposable gloves for this.
  3. Pour in the warm water and use your hands to mix it into a dough.
  4. Split the dough into 3 balls and leave them to rise for 15–20 minutes, if you have time.
  5. Spread flour over the worktop. Take the first dough ball and roll it into the best circle you can, about 12 inches across and 3–5mm thick. Keep dusting the rolling pin and dough with flour, and flip and turn the dough as you go, so nothing sticks.
  6. Lay the base in one of the dusted pizza trays, then do the same with the other two dough balls.
  7. Spread the tomato sauce evenly over the bases, then sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the top.

Carve the mushroom skulls

  1. Cut each mushroom in half, from the stem through the cap.
  2. Here comes the fiddly bit. Lay each half flat on a chopping board and carefully cut the stem into 5 strips. Remove the 2nd and 4th strips to leave three “teeth”.
  3. Use a metal straw to punch out two eyes, and a cocktail stick to cut the nose.
  4. Place the finished skulls on the pizzas.

Bake

  1. Bake in an oven preheated to 200°C for 15–20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and golden and the base is cooked.
  2. Cut each pizza into 8 slices with a pizza cutter and serve.
Mushroom skulls on a cheese and tomato pizza in a round pizza tray, fresh from the oven
Straight out of the oven. The skulls keep their shape well at 200°C.

Tips

  • Getting the water temperature right: I boil about a cup of water and add it to about 1½ cups of cold water. That gives warm water that won't kill the yeast.
  • Keep everything floured when rolling: the worktop, the rolling pin and the dough. Flip and turn the dough often.
  • Carve the skulls while the dough rises to save time.
  • Choose firm, closed cup mushrooms. Their tight caps and thick stems are easiest to carve.
Close-up of mushrooms carved into skulls on a melted cheese pizza
A metal straw makes neat eye holes, and the stems become the teeth.

Handy kit

12-inch pizza trays Pizza cutters Metal straws Rolling pins

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Thinking about an outdoor pizza oven? Read pizza oven vs kitchen oven to see what changes. In a very hot pizza oven, delicate toppings like these skulls are best added towards the end of the cook.

Dan, founder of Blaze & Graze
Dan, founder of Blaze & Graze

Home cook and keen DIYer, cooking for family and friends on the deck I built. More about me.