This BBQ chicken pizza recipe features delicious BBQ sauce, layers of melted cheese, chicken, and red onions for a scrumptious bite. Serve it up any night of the week for a quick dinner fix.
BBQ chicken pizza is one of our favorite ways to use my homemade pizza dough recipe and leftover BBQ chicken. You can make the chicken fresh if you want to but always keep in mind that this chicken BBQ pizza recipe is perfect for rotisserie chickens and leftovers.
Ingredients for BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Cooked BBQ chicken
- Mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- BBQ sauce
- Red onions
- Pizza dough
For the exact amounts needed, please see the recipe card below.
How to Make BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F and place a pizza stone in the oven as it preheats. Alternatively, you can turn a baking sheet upside down and use that instead of a baking stone.
- Roll out or stretch your pizza dough until it reaches 12 inches in diameter.
- Place the dough onto a piece of parchment paper or foil.
- Top the dough with BBQ sauce before adding layers of cheese on top.
- Add some sliced red onions and your BBQ chicken too.
- Slice the pizza into the oven while it is still on the parchment paper.
- Bake for 8 minutes on our pizza stone or baking sheet.
- Remove from oven once baked, slice into triangles, and serve.
- Enjoy!
Farmhouse Recipe Tips for BBQ Chicken Pizza
If you don’t have any leftover BBQ chicken, you can easily bake some in the oven. Once your chicken is baked and cooled, chop, slice or shred it up. I like to slice it really thin and layer it on the pizza. For the dough, I use my homemade pizza dough recipe. I keep it in the freezer and pull out what I need for pizza night.
BBQ Pizza Toppings
- Use your favorite BBQ sauce for the base sauce on the crust.
- Then layer cheese (mozzarella or Monterey Jack or a mix of both), the BBQ chicken, and red onions.
- If you wanted to get fancy, you could caramelize the red onions before putting them on the pizza. It adds another great layer of flavor, and if you’re an onion lover like me, you won’t be disappointed.
How to Get a Crispy Pizza Crust
The trick to crispy pizza crust is to use a super hot oven and a preheated stone or baking sheet. The oven temperature in this recipe is HIGH! 500ºF is correct, not a typo.
It’s super important to preheat your oven and let it get nice and hot before you top your pizza. If the pizza is topped and waiting around for the oven, it can get soggy, and it will be hard for the crust to set up.
The combination of the high heat and preheating a pizza stone (or an overturned cookie sheet) will immediately start cooking the crust and ensure it gets nice and crisp. There are more detailed instructions in the pizza dough recipe.
This recipe for BBQ chicken pizza is a great dinner to serve up any night of the week or a simple lunch recipe when you want something easy. Use store-bought or homemade pizza dough, and it’s sure to turn out wonderful.
Traditional toppings on BBQ Chicken pizza are those listed in the ingredient list – chicken, cheese, and red onions. But you can put just about any toppings that your heart desires. From black beans to pineapple, cheddar cheese, blue cheese, and more, this pizza recipe is completely customizable.
A pizza stone is a slab of ceramic or stone that you use to cook pizzas on in your oven. You can cook other things too, but it’s mostly used for pizzas because they are great at creating a crispy crust and not sticking to the bottom of the pizza as it bakes. They help to keep a regulated heat under the pizza because they preheat in the oven for an immediate impact.
You can keep your leftover pizza slices in an airtight container or a large zip-top baggie in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. Enjoy them cold or reheat them until warmed through before eating.
BBQ Chicken Pizza Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup BBQ chicken cooked, sliced thin
- 1 cup mozarella cheese or montery jack cheese, or a combination of both
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce see note
- 1/2 cup red onions see note
- 1 recipe homemade pizza dough linked in notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven and baking stone or overturned baking sheet to 500ºF.
- Roll or stretch out pizza dough until it is about 12 inches across. Place it on a piece of parchment paper. Foil also works.
- Top with BBQ sauce, then layer cheeses, red onions, and BBQ chicken over the top.
- Slide the pizza into the oven still on the parchment. Bake for 8 minutes on a pizza stone or an overturned baking sheet that was preheated with the oven.
Erica says
If you are not into making dough or don’t have time can you use store bought? If so what do you recommend.
Thanks
Erica
Alli says
Yes for sure! I actually like using Rhodes Rolls for pizza crust when I’m in a hurry. I use 2-3 roll portions of dough for one pizza.
Alli says
So easy and such a good recipe!