How to make pizza with BBQ chicken
What is BBQ chicken pizza made of?
Are you just now hearing about BBQ chiciken pizza for the first time? Well, better late than never! I’ts one of my all-time favorite pizzas and I’d love to tell you all about it.
BBQ Chicken Pizza is made of a regular pizza crust, topped with BBQ sauce, fully-cooked shredded or chopped BBQ chicken , shredded mozzarella or Monterrey Jack cheese, and toppings such as sliced red onion, bacon, mushrooms, olives, or bell peppers. It is cooked just as other pizzas are, in a hot oven.
Of course if you’re making your own BBQ chicken pizza at home you can get creative with your toppings and put whatever you like on it. But it should always start with the foundation of a great BBQ sauce smothered over a great pizza crust dough and some delicious, well seasoned and moist BBQ chicken pieces.
Can you use normal BBQ sauce for pizza base?
Looking to try a new pizza flavor? Folks usualy think of changing pizza toppings when looking to experiment with pizza. But they don’t always think about changing the sauce on their pizza! So is pizza any good with normal BBQ sauce on it instead of tomato based marinara sauce? Well I’ll tell ya!
Yes you can use normal BBQ sauce when making pizza if you don’t have pizza sauce or want to try something new. Sauces like alfredo sauce, red chile sauce (NM style) or green or red Enchilada sauce are also great on a pizza. If you can, choose your toppings accordingly- I mean try to stay within the flavor profile for the sauce you are going to use. For example:
Pizza with alfredo sauce works great on a veggie pizza- load up your toppings and sprinkle the pizza over the top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and some fresh chopped herbs.
Pizza with Red chile sauce tastes great with crumbled sausage or ground beef or shredded chicken, onions, cooked pinto beans, tomatoes, olives, and any number of cheeses.
I think Monterrey Jack cheese tastes the best with BBQ sauce pizzas. It not only melts really well, but also complements the taste of BBQ sauce better than other cheeses.
Best BBQ Pizza Toppings
There are some toppings that work/taste better on BBQ Pizza than others. However, pizza toppings are certainly a personal preference, and you can absoluely put whatever you want on it! Here are my suggestions for toppings, and you’ll see a similar list if you happen to be at a restaurant that is serving BBQ Pizza.
Toppings that go well on BBQ pizza include, grilled chicken or pork, vegetables like red onion, bell pepper, bacon, sliced olives, mushrooms and cheeses like Monterrey Jack, Colby, Cheddar, Colby Jack, or Mozzarella.
Veggies can be placed on pizza raw, but any meats that you put on a pizza should be pre-cooked. Pepperoni is an exception; it doesn’t need to be cooked before going on pizza because the curing process used to make it kills off all microbes.
Can you use a BBQ for pizza?
Have you ever thought of using your backyard BBQ (barbecue) or grill to cook a pizza? Would that taste good? I have the answer for you.
Yes you can use a BBQ for cooking pizza, as long as you have a baking stone that will fit on the grate. In fact, cooking pizza using a BBQ grill is even better than baking it in your kitchen oven, because a grill will give the pizza more of the ‘wood fired’ traditional pizza flavor to the crust.
Speaking of pizza crust, here’s the fantastic recipe for pizza dough I used in the photos/videos for this article.
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How to make pizza with BBQ chicken
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 12 slices 1x
Description
An exceptional tasting BBQ Chicken Pizza must check all the boxes- a fantastic pizza dough, great tasting BBQ sauce for the base, moist grilled chicken, and the right kind of cheese. Additional veggies like sliced red onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms can really take this pizza to the next level.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup corn meal
- Pizza dough, enough for approximately two 12″ inch pizzas either homemade or store bought
- 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
- 1 pound of grilled (or cooked*) chicken breast, sliced into bite size pieces or shredded *see note below
- 1 pound of Monterrey Jack, Provolone, or Mozzarella cheese, freshly shredded*
- optional toppings: thinly sliced red onion, sauteed mushrooms, sliced bell pepper, cooked chopped bacon, sliced black olives, chopped arugula or spinach leaves, shredded parmesan cheese.
Instructions
- Move an oven rack to the lowest position and place a baking stone or a flat baking sheet on it and set your oven to heat to 500 degrees F.
- While the oven heats, prepare your pizza crust (if needed) by gently stretching/rolling it into a circle.
- Genrously dust a pizza peel or flat baking sheet with cornmeal. Place the pizza dough onto the peel.
- Coat the crust with aproximately 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce, leaving the edges bare for crust. Sprinkle with cheese, then chicken, then any additional toppings of your choice.
- Using the peel, place pizza directly onto the baking stone (or baking sheet) with quick shaking motions. Bake the pizza for 9-10 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and melted and the crust is golden brown. Remove the pizza with the peel and set the pizza aside to cool. Drizzle another 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce over the top of the freshly baked pizza. Repeat steps 2-5 with the remaining pizza dough and toppings.
Notes
*My favorite Instant Pot trick to make “grilled chicken breast” is to throw a few frozen pieces of meat in my instant pot with a cup of chicken broth and about 5 or 6 shakes of liquid smoke over the top. Sprinkle the frozen meat with salt and cook on high for 20 minutes. I get moist, jucy, tender and smokey grilled tasting chicken without having to fire up a grill! Then simply slice or shred for your pizza.
* It’s always best if you want cheese to melt properly that you shred it from a block just before using. Bags of pre-shredded cheese at the supermarket are tossed with cellulose (sawdust) or corn starch to keep from clumping, which also hinders the ooey gooey meltiness of cheese.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Category: lunch or Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
