This BBQ Chicken Pizza strikes the perfect balance of smoky, spicy, and sweet flavors. It starts with a base of smoky bbq sauce and is topped with melty Colby jack cheese, savory sliced BBQ chicken, red onion, spicy pickled jalapenos, and sweet pineapple chunks.
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Toppings for BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Smokey BBQ sauce: Choose your favorite bottled option like Stubb's Smokey Mesquite or Lillie's Q Smoky, or try making your own with this delicious Spicy Red BBQ Sauce recipe.
- Shredded cheese: I used Colby-jack cheese for this, but feel free to use cheddar, mozzarella, or whatever meltable cheese you like best
- Pickled jalapenos: Go for the spicy nacho variety to add some heat.
- Onion: Red onion adds a great flavor, but sweet yellow onion works well too.
- Pineapple: Balance the heat with a touch of sweetness by adding pineapple chunks.
- Chicken: Sliced BBQ chicken is ideal, but you can also use rotisserie chicken.
- Optional: Ranch dressing to drizzle on top -- Try this Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing for a spicy, creamy kick!
A Shortcut for BBQ Chicken Pizza
Though you can certainly grill chicken specifically for this pizza, I prefer to use leftover chicken for this pizza from a previous night's dinner to make things super easy.
Grilled chicken breasts often show up on our weekly menu during the summer for dinner, with leftovers used to top salads and stuff in sandwich wraps during the week. Repurpose those leftovers for this pizza and cut your cooking time down substantially. If you don't have leftover chicken in hand and simply prefer not to cook a chicken from scratch, a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken makes a convenient and delicious substitute as well!
Choosing the Right Pizza Crust
I prefer to use this Easy Same-Day Pizza Dough recipe to make this BBQ Chicken Pizza. This homemade pizza dough has the perfect amount of chewy texture to complement this pizza and works especially well if you like thin-crust or hand-stretched pizza.
However, if you have a go-to pizza crust recipe that you love, feel free to use it. Alternatively, if convenience is a priority, pre-made dough from the store can also be a great choice.
The best temperature to bake pizza
For a perfectly golden crust and caramelized toppings, the hotter the oven the better. So, simply put, the best baking temperature for pizza is generally the hottest temperature your oven can offer.
Many professional pizzerias keep their ovens heated to 800 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, but most home ovens only reach temperatures between 500-550 degrees Fahrenheit so this recipe is created with those constraints in mind.
I bake my pizzas at 500 degrees Fahrenheit / 260 degrees Celcius and get wonderful results. If your oven tops out at 450 degrees Fahrenheit / 232 degrees Celcius, I have tested that temp many times over as well and it works well, though you’ll want to plan on a few extra minutes in the oven, especially if your pizza has a thick layer of toppings.
REHEATING PIZZA LEFTOVERS
When it comes to reheating pizza, two methods ensure a crisp crust while remelting the cheese:
Oven Method:
Place the pizza on a sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit / 175 degrees Celcius for about 10 minutes or until warmed through and crispy.
Stovetop Method:
Set the pizza in a cast-iron pan over medium-low heat. Cook until the crust reaches the desired crispness. If the cheese isn’t melted enough for your taste you can add a few drops of water to the pan (away from the pizza) and cover the pan for a minute or two to allow the steam to melt the cheese further.
Delicious Pairings for BBQ Chicken Pizza
Take your BBQ Chicken Pizza experience to the next level by pairing it with these mouthwatering recipes. These delicious creations perfectly complement the flavors of the pizza for a complete and satisfying meal.
- Grilled Corn Salad with Spicy Honey Lime Dressing
- Creamy Cucumber Radish Salad
- Spicy Cabbage Slaw
- Chili Lime Watermelon with Labneh and Honey
Don't forget to serve this tasty BBQ Chicken Pizza with a side of Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing to dip!
WHAT TOOLS DO I NEED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE?
- A kitchen scale (or measuring cups for less precise measurements)
- Measuring spoons
- A cutting board
- A chef’s knife
- A cheese grater
- A rolling pin (only if you prefer an evenly thick pie) otherwise your hands are your best tool
- A spoon or silicone spatula (to spread the BBQ sauce)
- A pizza wheel
Are you looking to upgrade your cooking tools or replenish your pantry? Check out my kitchen tools shop page and pantry staples shop page to find my must-have kitchen tools, pantry items, and other Whip & Wander favorites.
LOOKING FOR MORE PIZZA INSPIRATION?
Love this BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe? Here are some additional favorites for your next pizza night:
- Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza
- Taco Pizza
- Meatball and Ricotta Pizza
- Eggs Benedict Pizza
- Sausage, Fennel, and Calabrian Chili Pizza
- Pizza Quattro Stagioni
- Canadian Bacon, Pineapple, and Sauerkraut Pizza
BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 24 minutes
- Yield: 1 large pizza 1x
- Category: Pizza, Mains
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This BBQ Chicken Pizza starts with a base of smokey bbq sauce and is topped with melty Colby jack cheese, savory sliced bbq chicken, red onion, spicy pickled jalapenos, and sweet pineapple chunks. It's equal parts smokey, spicy, and sweet and makes for a well-balanced BBQ Chicken Pizza that is one of my favorites!
Ingredients
- ½ recipe Easy Same-Day Pizza Dough
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz (about 1 cup) Smoky BBQ Sauce (homemade Spicy Red BBQ Sauce or bottled Stubb’s Smokey Mesquite or Lillie’s Q Smoky)
- 6 oz (about 1 ½ cups) Colby jack cheese, shredded
- 60 g (about ½ cup) pickled jalapenos (I prefer the hot ones!)
- 40 g (about 3 slices) red onion
- 8 oz can pineapple chunks, drained of juice
- 125 g (about 1 cup) pre-cooked chicken breast, sliced (leftover grilled BBQ or lightly seasoned chicken or rotisserie chicken)
- Optional: Serve with this Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing for a spicy creamy kick
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F / 260 degrees C and set a baker's half sheet to the side.
- Shape your dough. If you prefer a classic pie-shape with a thicker crust compared to the center of your dough, I suggest hand-stretching your dough. If you prefer your pizza to be an even thickness, I suggest rolling your dough out with a rolling pin.
- If you are hand-stretching your dough:
- I like to rub a small amount of olive oil into my hands first; this allows me to shape the dough easier without it ripping accidentally from friction.
- Press the dough down with the palm of your hand into a disk shape, then use your fingertips to gently press down on the dough disk, further flattening it.
- To further extend the dough, I prefer to press one palm on top of one side of the dough and with the other hand lift the alternative side of the dough and gently work the dough outward, pulling very gently with the tips of my oiled fingers (like a very discrete “come hither” motion) to slowly stretch the dough out. Rotate slightly and repeat until the dough is shaped and stretched to your liking. If you find that the dough starts to snap back or is beginning to tear, allow the dough to relax for a minute or two before proceeding again. Transfer your stretched dough to a sheet of parchment paper.
- If you are using a rolling pin
- I prefer to place my dough between two sheets of parchment paper to avoid the dough sticking to my rolling pin, but if you prefer you can also sprinkle a bit of flour over the dough ball as well as wiping some over your rolling pin by hand to prevent sticking instead. Once the dough has been rolled to your preferred size and shape, peel the top layer of parchment paper off (if using). The bottom layer that the dough is resting on can be utilized for your baking sheet. If you find that the dough starts to snap back or is beginning to tear, allow the dough to relax for a minute or two before proceeding again.
- If you are hand-stretching your dough:
- Transfer your shaped dough to the reserved baking sheet.
- Brush olive oil onto the pizza dough lightly and evenly. This can be done with a pastry brush or the back of a spoon
- Pour BBQ sauce over the top of the pizza dough and using the back of a spoon spread the sauce out evenly over the dough.
- Top the pizza with shredded Colby jack cheese, sprinkling evenly across the top of the pizza dough. Then top with pickled jalapenos, red onion slices, pineapple chunks, and sliced chicken.
- Bake for 14-20 minutes or until the crust has reached your preferred level of crispness and the cheese is fully melted. I find that pizzas that have a thinner topping layer take less time to bake and heavier-topped pizzas generally take a bit longer to bake so watch your pizza closely after the 14-minute mark and adjust as desired.
Notes
Nutritional information on Whip & Wander is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼th of the pizza
- Calories: 604
- Sugar: 25 g
- Sodium: 1408 g
- Fat: 20 g
- Saturated Fat: 8 g
- Carbohydrates: 78 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 24 g
- Cholesterol: 63 mg
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