BBQ Chicken Pizza

Recipe from Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield

Adapted by Tejal Rao

BBQ Chicken Pizza — Paola & Murray for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky.

Total Time: 30 minutes, plus time for pizza dough
Rating: 4(570)
Notes: Read community notes

This simple recipe celebrates a 1980s classic invented by the American pizza genius Ed LaDou (whose fingerprints are also on Wolfgang Puck’s famous smoked-salmon pizza). The pizza matches the flavors of chicken with barbecue sauce, red onion, two kinds of cheese and a little cilantro. Use homemade dough and barbecue sauce, cook it in the hottest setting of your oven, and the classic pie goes from good to great. Want to make the recipe vegetarian? Simply substitute mushrooms for the chicken and sauté until most of their moisture is evaporated. —Tejal Rao

Featured in: I Ate Mall Pizza and Fell in Love With America

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Ingredients

Yield:2 12-inch pizzas

10ounces chicken breast or boneless, skinless thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
1teaspoon kosher salt
3tablespoons olive oil
¼cup plus 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
217-ounce balls pizza dough (see recipe)
8ounces fresh mozzarella, roughly sliced
½red onion, cut into ¼-inch slices
2ounces Gouda, roughly grated
A few sprigs fresh cilantro, for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 500. Season the chicken with salt, and heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Toss the chicken into hot oil, and cook for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until you no longer see any pink. Add 2 tablespoons of barbecue sauce, and stir well, then set aside off the heat.
Step 2
Working on two separate pieces of parchment paper, use your hands to stretch the 2 balls of dough into 2 rough circles, about 12 inches in diameter. Slide each piece of parchment paper onto a baking tray, and finish assembling pizza there: Drizzle with remaining olive oil, spread with remaining barbecue sauce, then evenly divide the mozzarella all over. Top with chicken pieces, red onion and finally Gouda.
Step 3
Bake for 15 minutes, or until dough is cooked through and edges of the onion and cheese are just starting to color. Once the pizza is slightly cooled, season with salt and pepper and scatter with cilantro.

Tip

To make your own barbecue sauce, mix ¼ cup ketchup with 2 tablespoons cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon brown sugar in a small saucepan over low heat. Add ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon pimentón and ½ teaspoon garam masala. Stir until sugar is melted, and reserve.

Ratings

4 out of 5

570 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Holly5 years ago

(Confession) Lazy girl recipe: dough from the supermarket, BBQ from a jar, leftover chicken, purple onion, fresh mozzarella, cilantro. Fast and still tastes GREAT!

Matt5 years ago

Should this call for two 7oz balls of dough rather than two 17oz balls? I'm wondering whether that larger amount is a misprint because 17oz seems excessive for a 12" pizza. Also, the dough recipe this links to makes only about 11oz of dough for two 12" pizzas.

susan4 years ago

When my kids were young I made a great supermarket version of this that we had every couple of weeks - it was one of their favorites. Take a thin crust boboli pizza crust, spread with BBQ sauce, add some thin sliced red onions, shredded rotisserie chicken and top the whole thing with shredded (we used pepper jack) cheese and bake until hot and the cheese is melted. The whole thing takes just minutes to make and no mess to clean up.

Michael5 years ago

The linked dough recipe is about 17 oz (don't forget the 200g of water). So, it's 17 oz of pizza dough, divided into two balls.

Kyle5 years ago

Maybe it’s just me, but diced or sliced green bell pepper is an essential for barbecue chicken pizza. Try it out!

Ann5 years ago

Why use ketchup (which is mostly sugar) and then more sugar? I use plain tomato paste with vinegar, anchovy paste, tamarind chutney, garlic granules, soy and fish sauce. No cooking involved and will stay good for a month in the fridge...

juliar5 years ago

This is now my go-to week night pizza! Savory and comforting. I used David Tanis’ pizza dough recipe with the cold rise, so you can keep a ball(s) in the freezer, but kept Roberta’s step of using half Italian 00 flour. I’ll take the homemade BBQ sauce recipes under advisement, but Sweet Bobby Rays does just fine in a pinch. Extra Garam Masala never does any harm... 15 minutes at 500 will toast this puppy to an unlovely crisp. Mine did fine at 6-10 minutes.

Suzy5 years ago

Been making this a long time, and we love it! My favorite rendition so far has been with smoked Gouda, rotisserie chicken leftovers, Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and diced red onion. The smoked Gouda is really special!

FlawLESS5 years ago

I'm ashamed how much I liked this (lol). Usually I'm like "hey, I want some butter poached scallops and..." You know, foodie stuff. Fancy stuff. Expensive stuff. I just demolished this pizza, made with store bought BBQ sauce, and it was awesome. Sometimes cheap and easy wins. Don't skimp on the cilantro, btw. That makes it.

kniterati5 years ago

15 minutes at 500° is perfect. Make sure the oven has come to temp first.

Cathy5 years ago

I made this with a fresh sourdough pizza dough available locally. It was awesome. (serves 4)

maryanne4 years ago

Suzy, you are SOO right. I'd made this recipe over and over again 20 plus years ago while my kids were little, and always used smoked gouda or smoked mozzarella and rotisserie chicken. This blast from the past made me smile....and bake this again.....so good!

Tim5 years ago

Great way to use up leftover chicken in the fridge as well. My teenager loves this pizza.

Maggie5 years ago

Yes, they are different. But I just made the recipe with smoked Gouda and thought the smokiness of the cheese paired really well with the pimenton in the barbecue sauce....

LH5 years ago

This is a tasty recipe and easy for kids. We also used store-bought balls of pizza dough. We tripled the sauce and weren't sorry. Perfect bbq sauce sweetness to balance the cheeses. Also added garlic powder to the sauce.

Anna S.5 months ago

Some possible modifications that I enjoyed: use flatbreads instead of pizza dough, they’re less fussy. Just make sure to oil & bake the flatbread alone for about 10 minutes before you add toppings so it stays crispy. Lil chunks of cream cheese or goat cheese are a fun topping addition. If you’re spicy, pickled jalapeños work too!

Olivia1 year ago

Tasty but could use a little more kick. Either red pepper flakes or hot sauce. We topped with Truff hot sauce and it was superb!

Marissa1 year ago

Add fresh peach slices to yours. Trust me.

anna2 years ago

made this tonight with leftover chicken and sauce from lidey huek’s barbecue chicken recipe - absolutely incredible. only alteration we made was using high quality pre-shredded mozzerella, which i prefer because the final pizza is slightly less soggy than if we’d used fresh sliced mozzerella. i can’t recommend this enough

pineapple girl2 years ago

seems discriminatory this recipe doesn’t have pineapple..a bbq chicken pizza essential…

C2 years ago

Loved this! Garam masala in bbq sauce is particularly clever. Garnished with tarragon

LBT3 years ago

This has been my family’s go-to homemade pizza for years. We’ve tried many bbq sauces (nope! I don’t make bbq sauce!) and the fave is Guy Fieri’s Kansas City. I make dough in the bread machine & do all the rest of the prep while it does the kneading & resting. Yum!!!

Chandler3 years ago

Absolutely amazing recipe. Simple yet delicious.

mimi3 years ago

The dough amount is very confusing as shown by other comments as well. I used 2 1-lb balls of dough (purchased) and they turned out like focaccia...

Jason3 years ago

This is probably one of the most searched recipes the day after Thanksgiving.

Momo3 years ago

Delicious! Added diced jalapeños. Old school, so good!

Tracy3 years ago

So good! Definitely sauté the onions. I used smoked Gouda - totally worth it if you can get your hands on some. Dipped the crust in hot honey - heavenly!

Dina3 years ago

This was so easy & delicious I cooked it two nights in a row! I highly recommend!

Paula3 years ago

Did the vegetarian version with portobello mushrooms! Really good, high praise from my companion. BRAVO!!

maureen3 years ago

Easy, quick and good.

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