The first time I ate BBQ chicken pizza was on Martha's Vineyard during the summer of... well, let's not say how long ago that was. I had never heard of this combination before and thought it sounded strange. Nevertheless, there was a restaurant serving personal pizzas and there I was trying this pizza for the first time. If time travel were real, I think this is a place and time I would revisit.
The Basics about BBQ Chicken Pizza
The tang of the barbecue sauce hit me first. Then the gooey, stretchy, perfect cheese. And the crust - to.this.day.best.crust.ever. The red onion was exactly the right balance. The cilantro? I don't think I even knew what cilantro was yet, but I knew I needed to have more of it. And as I mention in the video - if you're anti-cilantro (and I know there's many of you out there), you can always use basil instead. Just as delicious!
I love how easy this bbq chicken pizza is to make. Store-bought pizza dough left out overnight to proof. Your favorite barbecue sauce. Rotisserie chicken. Red onion, cilantro (or basil!) and lots of cheese. We are all capable of making gourmet dinners with simple ingredients. This easy BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe is a fine example of this.
I always make two since we love it so much! Just cut the recipe in half if you only want one. I cook with leftovers in mind. We need to have dinner and at least a couple of lunches out of one recipe. I also try to cook things where if we do have too much of something - it freezes well. It's not always possible, but with this pizza recipe you can do this.
And if you're looking for other ways to use a rotisserie chicken, you can check out my Indonesian Fried Noodle Dish (Mie Goreng), Thai Lettuce Wraps with Rotisserie Chicken or my BBQ Chicken Panini.
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BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
This sweet, tangy awesome BBQ Chicken Pizza is made with store-bought pizza dough and rotisserie chicken. Super easy to put together and so delicious.
Ingredients
- 2 rotisserie chickens
- ½ red onion
- ½ bunch cilantro (or basil)
- ¾-1 cup of BBQ sauce
- 2 8-ounce bags of mozzarella cheese
- 1 8-ounce bag of Italian blend cheese
- 2 packages of store-bought pizza dough
Instructions
- Put your pizza dough in two separate bowls with olive oil in each. Cover the bowls and let sit out overnight to proof. It should double in size or more. You can also just leave it out a few hours to rise and that is fine too! I do it overnight - personal preference.
- Flour your cutting board and rolling pin and roll out the dough. It took about 3-5 minutes for me to get the dough where I wanted it to be. I rolled it into a rectangle and put it on a sheet pan to rest while I prepped my other ingredients. You can roll it in a circle too! I'm a rectangle person.
- Dice the red onion and set aside.
- Pull the meat off your rotisserie chicken and cut into bite-sized chunks.
- If you’re making two pizzas (like in my video) separate the chicken and onions into two piles – one for each pizza!
- Brush a thin layer of BBQ sauce onto your pizza dough.
- Put your mozzarella cheese on top of that.
- Distribute chicken pieces evenly across dough.
- Sprinkle the diced onion on the pizza.
- Put a layer of Italian Blend cheese on top of that.
- Drizzle BBQ sauce on the top.
- REPEAT THE PROCESS IF YOU’RE MAKING THE SECOND PIZZA.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. My oven runs hot so maybe your will take a bit longer to cook. When the crust is golden brown it's probably done. TIP: If cooking two pizzas at the same time on different oven racks – swap the sheet pans half way through the cooking process.
- While the pizza is cooking, chop your cilantro (or basil) to put on top of pizza.
Notes
- Feel free to use basil instead of cilantro, but don’t skip the fresh herbs. It really makes a difference in the presentation and flavor.
- The cook and prep times don’t include the overnight proofing. I couldn’t make it work somehow on the digital recipe card I use. It takes 2 minutes to put the dough in bowls with olive oil and cover them. It does help if the room is warm. The dough will rise better.
- For the cheese, if making two pizzas I use one bag of mozzarella for each pizza and ½ bag of the Italian Blend for each.
- The dough. If you can use a damp towel to cover your dough you should. If you don’t the top of the dough will dry and crackle. Your dough will likely have crackley pieces in it. I did forget the damp towel and got the crackleys in my dough. In terms of flavor it doesn’t matter. It will still be delicious and you can’t see it at all in the finished product.
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