Another Easy and Tasty Way To Use Up Leftover Chicken – BBQ Chicken Pizza with Leftover Chicken Recipe

This homemade pizza crust topped with sweet homemade bbq sauce, leftover chicken, red onions, cilantro and lots, and lots of cheese.  This BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe is so easy to make at home it is you soon to be favorite leftover chicken recipe!

I have always loved BBQ Chicken Pizza.  It was usually BBQ Chicken Pizza, or Spicy Perogi Pizza that I used to order at my favorite pizza joint back home – Boston Pizza or BP for short.  The combination of the sweet and tangy BBQ sauce and the crunchy pizza dough made BBQ Chicken Pizza my favorite pizza VERY QUICKLY.

Making this BBQ chicken pizza starts with two things – homemade pizza dough and leftover chicken.  If you have the chance, make your pizza dough ahead of time, and let it rise, then stick it in the fridge over night, and let the yeast go to work.  As the dough rests, bubbles will develop, making the pizza dough light and crispy.  As you’re rolling out your dough, and you find that it keeps springing back, that means that it’s not quite kneaded enough, and the gluten hasn’t had a chance to do it’s thang.  Go ahead, and knead your dough, and then let it rest – or just deal with the springy dough.

If you have a pizza stone – get it nice and hot by sticking it in the oven while you preheat.  Learn more about making great pizza here.

Ingredients:

1/2 recipe homemade pizza dough
1/2 cup homemade bbq sauce
2 cups  leftover chicken, chopped or shredded
1 1/2 cups shredded mexican blend cheese
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped

cornmeal, for preparing pans

Directions:

Prepare pizza dough according to these directions. Stretch out into a pizza pan sprinkled with cornmeal, or onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and sprinkled with cornmeal.  Set aside and wait 20 minutes to allow the pizza dough to relax before you start adding toppings.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Toss 3 tbsp of BBQ sauce with chicken, and set aside.

Spread bbq sauce on the top of the dough, leaving a small border for your crust.  Then layer on the mexican cheese blend, the bbq chicken that you tossed in BBQ sauce earlier, the onion slices and the cilantro.

Bake for 15-17 minutes.  If you have a pizza stone, toss the pizza directly on the stone for 3-5 minutes  after baking on the sheet tray to really crisp up the crust!

Remove pizza from oven and slice and serve immediately.