Fully Loaded Barbecue Chicken Pizza Recipe

Pizza is an ever-popular dinner option. With its endless array of toppings and flavors, there is a pizza variation out there for everyone. This ultra-satisfying meal is one of the many culinary gifts originating in Italy, and the only thing better than ordering a pizza is making your own at home. While a delivery straight to your doorstep is certainly convenient, there's nothing quite like making something exactly as you like it, straight from your oven.

This fully-loaded barbecue chicken pizza recipe, created by Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye, offers you a real homemade treat that can be on the table in under an hour. It combines the delicious sweet, tangy, and smoky flavors of barbecue sauce with garlicky and herby oven roasted chicken, peppers, and red onions. Finished off with a double cheese whammy of fresh mozzarella and sharp cheddar, then topped with fresh oregano and a drizzle of garlic oil, this is definitely a pizza to be proud of.

To begin this fully loaded barbecue chicken pizza recipe, first you'll need chicken breast, red onion, a green pepper, olive oil, granulated garlic, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper. To assemble the pizza you will need tomato puree, barbecue sauce, all-purpose flour, prepared pizza dough, fresh mozzarella, cheddar cheese, corn, fresh oregano, and garlic oil. You may additionally want jalapeños peppers and garlic sauce for serving.

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Add the chicken breast, sliced red onion, and peppers to a baking sheet.

Drizzle the chicken and vegetables with the olive oil, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the veggies are soft. 

In a bowl mix together the tomato puree and the barbecue sauce.

Slice the chicken and set aside.

Lightly dust a clean surface with flour and place the dough on it.

Divide the dough into two.

Stretch out each dough in circular motions to form a round base. Transfer each to its own baking sheet, stretching if needed until it comes close to all four sides of the pan.

Top each pizza with half the sauce mixture, mozzarella, and cheddar.

Top each pizza with half the oven roasted onions and peppers, sliced chicken, and corn.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotating racks halfway through, until the dough is golden and crisp and the cheese is melted and bubbling.

Serve immediately, topped with fresh oregano and a drizzle of garlic oil, and with jalapeño slices and garlic sauce on the side, if using.

With our increasingly busy lives it can be hard to make the time to cook recipes from scratch. Luckily, this pizza recipe can be prepared ahead, making it a great option for those busy evenings when you want a delicious meal that doesn't take a long time to put together.

The chicken, green pepper, and red onion can be roasted, cooled, and sliced in advance, then stored in the fridge in an airtight container. The barbecue and tomato sauce mixture can likewise be combined and then stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. Then all you need to do while your oven heats up is stretch out your dough and cover it with cheese and your precooked toppings before baking.

Alternatively, you can prepare this pizza on a freezer-suitable tray, and then freeze it whole. This is a great way to enjoy homemade pizzas straight from the freezer, and the pizzas can be safely stored for much longer. Though for best results, par-bake your crust to make sure your resulting pizzas retain their shape when cooked.

There are almost endless enjoyable ways to adapt this barbecue chicken pizza according to your individual tastes or whatever you may have lying around in the cupboards. A great way to change up this recipe is by trying different types of pizza bases. If you are up for making your own homemade pizza dough, the sky really is the limit. You could mix up your own sourdough pizza base, try out a rustic grain, or go for a classic Chicago deep dish pizza. Alternatively, you could try making your very own stuffed pizza crust.

For a tasty toppings switch, why not add a different combination of vegetables such as chopped tomatoes or mushrooms? Or, to make it more of a meat feast, pile on bacon or cubed pancetta. Additionally, you could swap out the chicken entirely for pork or beef. 

And this pizza wouldn't be complete without cheese, but that doesn't mean you need to stick with mozzarella and cheddar. Smoked Gouda, provolone, or Monterey Jack are some of the best cheeses for pizza and go really well with the barbecue flavors of this particular recipe, giving you a different yet equally delicious finish.