Give Leftover Chicken New Life As A Frozen Pizza Upgrade

When you don't want to cook, frozen pizza is the ultimate meal to which we can always turn. Not only is it quick to make and often as delicious as fresh pizza, but it's incredibly versatile. For example, if you start with a plain cheese pie, you can pile on various canned ingredients to spruce the pizza up — in fact, raw vegetables also work wonders on frozen pizza — or even protein options as you like. When it comes to the latter, there is perhaps no easier pick than leftover chicken.

If you have a rotisserie chicken, it's often impossible to use up a whole bird in a single meal, so you'll typically have plenty of leftovers to work with — and these cooked poultry favorites from the grocery store are generally deployed throughout the week anyway. While a rotisserie chicken is an ideal and easy pizza topping, practically any type of cooked chicken will work here. 

Adding your poultry to your frozen dinner ensures you won't waste your leftovers, and whether you have a plain or already-seasoned chicken breast, you can massively upgrade your pie by mixing and matching easy topping options. The best part? You don't have to do extra work since cooked chicken is ready to go.

As we mentioned, the key here is starting with cooked chicken — not just because you don't have to do any extra work, but also because raw poultry won't have enough time to cook on your pie. Since this is a delicious and easy way to use rotisserie chicken, simply shred it and place it on top of your frozen pizza before tossing it in the oven. If you have leftover chicken breasts, tenders, or thighs, however, you'll want to either shred them or cube them before using them as a topping to ensure they heats up thoroughly. Leftover breaded chicken works as well.

Now for the fun part: Making a delicious dinner. Sure, plain rotisserie chicken on a cheese pie will taste pretty good, but you can upgrade your meal even more with complementing toppings, seasonings, and sauces — and still not have to do much extra work. 

For example, why not make a barbecue chicken pizza with barbecue sauce, gouda, and red onion? A chicken cordon bleu-inspired dish would also be delicious with diced ham, red onion, Swiss cheese (layered on top of what's already there), and a white garlic sauce. You could also go the tangy route by incorporating Buffalo sauce, blue cheese, and banana peppers.

Of course, you don't just have to stick to a plain cheese base here. Leftover poultry can add a hearty protein to pepperoni, supreme, or margherita frozen pizzas as well, especially if it was initially cooked with herbs, garlic, or Italian seasoning. It all just depends on what flavors you're craving.