Why You’ll Love This BBQ Chicken Pizza:
- Super tasty—smoky barbecue sauce is topped with grilled chicken, thinly-sliced sweet onion, fresh cilantro, and a blend of cheeses. Yum!
- Easy to make—you can be snacking on this BBQ pizza is less than half an hour.
- Use up leftover grilled chicken—if you have some leftover chicken sitting in your fridge, this recipe is for you!
From CPK To Your Home Kitchen
BBQ chicken pizza was introduced to the world on California Pizza Kitchen’s (CPK) original 1985 menu. The recipe was developed by Chef Ed LaDou, who previously worked as the original pizza chef at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant in Los Angeles. The pizza quickly became a hit and helped define the California-style pizza trend, which embraces nontraditional toppings and bold flavors.
Since its debut, BBQ chicken pizza has become a staple in pizzerias and home kitchens across the U.S. Today, I’m sharing my favorite BBQ chicken pizza that you can easily make at home, and we’re incorporating all of the iconic pizza’s main toppings—grilled chicken, barbeque sauce, onion, cheese, and a bit of fresh cilantro.
The result is a smoky, flavorful, cheesy, and delicious pizza that will leave you and your family fighting for the last slice. This pizza is especially delicious during summertime, and makes great use of leftover grilled chicken.
BBQ Chicken Pizza Ingredient Notes
Pizza dough: I use my favorite homemade pizza dough to make this pizza, which can be made the same day as you bake the pizzas. However, you can also use store-bought pizza dough for this recipe (although nothing beats homemade dough, in my opinion).
Chicken: This recipe makes great use of leftover grilled chicken—just dice it up and sprinkle it over the pizza. If you don’t have any grilled chicken on hand, shredded chicken will work as well—I just love the grilled flavor for this pizza!
BBQ sauce: I like mixing half Sweet Baby Ray’s and half KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce to use as the sauce for this pizza, but feel free to use your own favorite BBQ variety! Another great option is the Classic Traeger BBQ Sauce.
Onion: I add some very thinly sliced sweet onion to my pizza. Red onion is another yummy (and traditional) option!
Cilantro: You pretty much either love or hate cilantro—and I am a cilantro lover! I chop up fresh cilantro and add a generous couple of teaspoons to each pizza.
Cheese: I like layering on shredded mozzarella, provolone, mozzarella pearls, and some smoked gouda—but feel free to use your own favorite cheese blend.
Tips For Baking This Pizza
I use a pizza stone (like this one on Amazon) to bake the pizza in our home oven. Make sure you preheat the stone for about 45 minutes before you bake the pizza to ensure it gets extra hot!
No pizza stone? Use a sheet pan. I recommend baking pizzas on a non-ridged light sheet pan, like this one from Nordic Ware (shop on Amazon)—which I love! A dark pan may become too hot, and I don’t recommend using any type of coated pan at the high heat required to bake pizza.
You can bake your pizza on the sheet pan as you would any other baked good, or you can make the pan into a kind of mock pizza stone. Place your sheet pan rim-side down on the middle rack of your oven and allow it to preheat. Then, add and remove your pizza to the pan using your pizza peel. The results may not be the exact same as baking on a pizza stone, but it will work.
Pizzas sticking to your peel/stone? Try baking them on parchment paper. These pre-cut parchment sheets work so well for baking pizzas. The ends never roll and the sheets can withstand heat up to 450 degrees, although we have baked pizzas at 475 degrees with no issues.
This may sound obvious, but make sure you use parchment paper NOT wax paper (which would be a complete disaster)—some people confuse the two. Also, make sure you check your parchment’s heat rating. Some parchment sheets are rated up to 450 degrees, some only to 425 degrees (or less)—so, take a look before you put them in the hot oven.
This BBQ chicken pizza also bakes beautifully in an outdoor pizza oven, like this Bertello one that we use and love (review coming soon!!). My only recommendation is to not pile the cheese and toppings too high—otherwise, it may hit the top of the opening of the oven or the mozzarella pearls may roll off and burn.
Extra Notes
- As I mentioned earlier—these parchment sheets on Amazon are very helpful if you have issues with your pizzas sticking. You’ll still get a nice crispy crust without the hassle of dough sticking to your stone or peel. If you don’t want to use parchment, try coating the bottoms of your pizzas with semolina flour instead. The flour has a very coarse texture, allowing your pizza to slide off the peel more easily.
- This recipe makes 1 BBQ chicken pizza (10″). My homemade pizza dough yields 4 pizzas (10″)—I like to make a couple different types of pizza when having pizza night, like a garlic butter white pizza, one or two of these BBQ chicken pizzas, and/or a mushroom pizza.
My Favorite Ways to Make & Serve BBQ Chicken Pizza
Shop linked products on Amazon!
- Bake this pizza in an outdoor pizza oven, like the Bertello SimulFIRE oven we have. It adds a beautiful smoky flavor.
- You can also par-bake the pizza in your home oven and finish it in the Ninja 7-In-1 Grill & Smoker, which will also add some great woodsmoke flavor. You can read my full review of the grill here.
- Dip the pizza in some extra BBQ sauce, blue cheese dressing, or ranch.
- Cut and serve the pizza on a beautiful round cutting board.
Read on for the recipe for this BBQ chicken pizza.
Then leave a rating and review below! Also, tag the blog on Instagram (@happytobehere.blog) if you make this BBQ pizza for your next pizza night—I would love to see what you made!
Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza
Equipment (Shop on Amazon)
- Pizza Stone OR
Ingredients
- ¼ batch my homemade pizza dough recipe here; each batch makes 4 pizzas (10")
- 2-3 tbsp your favorite BBQ sauce I mix half KC Masterpiece and half Sweet Baby Ray's
- 2 tsp thinly sliced sweet onion
- ¼ cup diced grilled chicken
- 2-3 tsp chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup shredded provolone and mozzarella blend
- ¼ cup mozzarella pearls optional
- 2-3 tbsp shredded smoked gouda optional
- Oil or melted butter to brush the crust
Instructions
Prep Your Dough & Preheat Your Pizza Stone
- Make sure your homemade dough is prepped, proofed, and ready to use! You can read my homemade pizza dough recipe here (it can be made the same day you bake the pizzas). Of course, you can always use store-bought pizza dough in its place.
- At least 45 minutes before you plan on baking the pizzas, begin preheating your pizza stone at 475°.
Assemble & Bake Your BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Form your pizza. If you are using my homemade pizza dough (or most other homemade doughs), do not roll the dough out! Instead, lightly press and stretch the dough into a 10" circle using your fingertips, starting at the center and working your way outward. Leave a slightly thicker border for your crust. Place the dough onto your pizza peel, either on top of a sheet of parchment or on a sprinkling of semolina flour (to prevent sticking).¼ batch my homemade pizza dough
- Add 2-3 tbsp of BBQ sauce to the pizza. Use a pastry brush to spread it all over the pizza, leaving the crust bare.2-3 tbsp your favorite BBQ sauce
- Sprinkle a generous 2 tsp of thinly sliced sweet onion, about ¼ cup diced grilled chicken, and 2-3 tsp of cilantro over the pizza. Then, add your cheese. I sprinkle on about ¼ cup shredded mozzarella and provolone before adding a bit of smoked gouda and topping everything off with some mozzarella pearls.2 tsp thinly sliced sweet onion, ¼ cup diced grilled chicken, 2-3 tsp chopped cilantro, ¼ cup shredded provolone and mozzarella blend, ¼ cup mozzarella pearls, 2-3 tbsp shredded smoked gouda
- Brush the crust of your pizza with melted butter or oil. This will help the crust brown when baking.Oil or melted butter to brush the crust
- Bake your pizza at 475° for 9-11 minutes, or until the crust is golden, the cheese is melted and just starting to brown, and the toppings are heated through.
- Serve this BBQ chicken pizza right away! Store any leftovers in an airtight container or bag in the fridge. The pizza reheats well, especially if you put it back on the pizza stone.
Notes from the Happy To Be Here Kitchen
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