BBQ Chicken Pizza
This BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe is simple to make and so tasty! It’s a great way to use up extra cooked chicken.
We make homemade pizza about once a week for dinner or lunch. When you make pizza yourself, it’s often healthier than takeout pizza. And it’s always more budget-friendly.
We’ve gotten pretty good at putting together a homemade pizza around here, and it really doesn’t take long at all. This BBQ chicken pizza is one of our favorites! We make this pizza whenever we have leftover chicken from making slow cooker BBQ chicken, crockpot shredded chicken or this Instant Pot whole chicken recipe.
I love making this pizza and my BBQ Chicken Salad with homemade BBQ sauce. Store-bought BBQ sauce also works well.
If you haven’t tried making your own pizza crust yet, don’t be intimidated by the thought of it. My homemade pizza dough recipe is so easy! One pizza dough recipe yields two balls of pizza dough, so you can use one and freeze the other for next time. Of course, you can always make this BBQ chicken pizza with store-bought pizza dough or a prepared pizza crust if you prefer.
How to Make Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Prepare the Pizza Pan: You can bake homemade pizza on a pizza pan, a flat baking sheet, or a baking stone. To prevent the pizza from sticking to the pan, you can sprinkle the pan with cornmeal or use a sheet of parchment paper. For more tips about making pizza with crispy crust, see my whole wheat pizza dough recipe.
- Prepare the Pizza Crust: Use a rolling pin and/or your hands to roll and stretch the pizza dough out until it is the shape and size that you want your pizza crust to be. Finish shaping the crust either on a sheet of parchment paper (which you can then slide onto the pan) or directly on your pizza pan.
- Add Pizza Toppings: For this pizza, you’ll first spread a thin layer of BBQ sauce on the crust. Then sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the sauce. Before you add the shredded cooked chicken to the pizza, you’ll toss it with some BBQ sauce. This keeps the chicken from drying out as you bake the pizza. Finally, spread the sliced red onions evenly over the pizza.
- Bake Pizza: Bake the pizza at 450° F for about 10 minutes, until the crust and cheese begin to lightly brown. Let the pizza rest for a few minutes when it comes out of the oven. Then sprinkle on some chopped fresh cilantro or green onions for extra flavor, slice and enjoy!
Recipe Tips & Variations
- This pizza is a great way to use up leftover cooked chicken. If you need to cook chicken quickly, try my Instant Pot shredded chicken recipe.
- I like to use a combination of mozzarella cheese and Gouda cheese on this pizza. The Gouda goes well with the barbecue flavors. You can use just mozzarella if that’s what you have, or do a combination of mozzarella and cheddar.
- Chopped fresh cilantro is the best garnish for this BBQ chicken pizza. If you don’t have cilantro, sliced green onions are also delicious on this pizza. Be sure to add the cilantro or green onions after baking the pizza.
More Homemade Pizza Recipes:
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Ingredients
- ½ recipe pizza dough, see notes
- ¾ cup BBQ sauce, divided
- 4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 ounces shredded Gouda cheese, (or sub mozzarella or cheddar)
- 1 cup cooked shredded chicken
- ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
- chopped fresh cilantro or sliced green onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450° F. Sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza pan, pizza stone or baking sheet. This will prevent the crust from sticking to the pan. Alternatively, you can assemble and bake the pizza on parchment paper, which you can slide right onto your pizza pan. (Most parchment papers have a temperature limit of 425° F, so adjust your oven temperature if needed.)
- Roll/stretch out the pizza dough to a 12 to 14-inch round and place it on the prepared pizza pan.
- Spread ½ cup of the BBQ sauce over the pizza dough. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the sauce.
- Put the chicken in a small bowl and toss it with the remaining ¼ cup BBQ sauce. Evenly distribute the chicken and sliced red onion over the pizza.
- Bake the pizza for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cheese and crust begin to lightly brown. Remove the pizza from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Sprinkle on the chopped cilantro or green onions, slice, and serve.
Notes
- You can make my whole wheat pizza dough recipe with all-purpose flour if that is what you have in your kitchen. Store-bought pizza dough or crust will also work.
- My homemade pizza dough recipe makes two balls of pizza dough, enough for two pizzas. You can freeze the second ball of dough for later.
- Recipe can be doubled to make two pizzas.
I have been wanting to make a BBQ chicken pizza! I will have to try your whole wheat crust when I do.
BBQ Chicken Pizza sounds like a really good idea right now. And even though it seems like common sense now…I never thought of using BBQ sauce instead of tomato sauce! Great idea:) Must try soon!