BBQ Chicken Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella

Grab your favorite BBQ sauce & a pre-made pizza crust, flatbread, or naan. This easy, sweet-and-smoky chicken pizza recipe will be ready in 15-20 minutes!

Does your family enjoy pizza as much as mine does?

It's not just that I live in New York and married into an Italian family... I've always loved pizza night!

But once you start doing homemade pizza for dinner, things can get a lot more interesting!

Not that we don't still do takeout from some of our favorite local NY-style pizza shops (including, yes, the frequent pineapple pizza from Dominos. Don't judge! It's my son's absolute FAVORITE, and I love how much he loves it).

But pizza delivery or takeout isn't always faster than making pizza at home, especially if you pick up a few staples while you're doing your grocery shopping for the week. And the topping combinations are only limited by your imagination!

This BBQ chicken pizza came about as a way to use up a few chicken cutlets that I had in the fridge. The first time I made it, I made 2 different pizzas on flatbreads - this one and Rachael Ray's Thai Chicken Pizza, which is a longtime favorite in my house.

We had my in-laws over, and I served both pizzas for dinner. As much as we love the Thai one, the BBQ chicken pizza totally stole the show!

I was excited to make this pizza recipe again and photograph it so I could share it here. It really was a quick, easy way to enjoy pizza at home with my family.

The second time around, I decided to go with naan as my pizza crust. I found that one chicken cutlet was the perfect amount for each piece of naan.

Cooking Chicken for BBQ Chicken Pizza

I seasoned my chicken with one of my favorite seasoning blends from Penzeys - their Saté Seasoning (which, on the label and the main title on their site is spelled "Sate", but in the description, it's spelled "saté", which honestly makes me twitch a little). This blend is Indonesian-inspired, but the flavors remind me and my husband of Caribbean/Jamaican seasoning.

If you don't have the saté seasoning, go for a Caribbean jerk seasoning instead. Just go lightly with it at first, as some jerk seasonings can be pretty spicy.

I cooked my seasoned chicken in a few tablespoons of peanut oil in a cast iron skillet. Feel free to use any type of heavy skillet that you have, or even pop them on the grill for some nice charred bits on the outside of your chicken.

While the chicken was cooking, I slathered 2 pieces of naan with some BBQ sauce (my family loves Stubb's Original Bar-B-Q). A spicier BBQ sauce would work well with this pizza, too, but I wanted to keep it a little milder for my kiddo.

What is Smoked Mozzarella?

Fresh mozzarella cheese is a thing of beauty. I didn't try it fresh (the kind that comes in a container filled with liquid) until I moved to New York, and it is a total game-changer!

We love using fresh mozzarella on pizzas, but for this particular BBQ chicken pizza I wanted to up the smoky flavor by using smoked mozzarella. If you haven't tried smoked mozzarella before, you're missing out! It has that wonderful, fresh mozzarella texture with the addition of wood smoke.

I used smoked mozzarella from a local cheese shop here in New York, but there are many brands out there. Murray's has some great information on how they make their smoked mozzarella, and you can order it online if you aren't able to find it near you.

Cooking BBQ Chicken Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella

Since the pizza crust or naan is already pre-cooked, the actual cooking time for this pizza is pretty minimal. You could, of course, use homemade or store-bought pizza dough, but be sure to factor in some extra cooking time.

Preheat your oven while you season and cook the chicken and chop your toppings. Place your pizza crust(s) on a baking sheet lined with an oven-proof baking rack. If you don't have a baking rack, you can place it directly onto the baking sheet. I like having the heat be able to circulate all around it, which is why I put it on top of a rack.

The first time I made this, I cooked it at 500°F on my pizza steel, but that ended up overcooking the crust before the mozzarella could properly melt. So I lowered the temp and went with this method instead.

Top crusts with slices of smoked mozzarella, thyme, and red bell pepper. Drizzle a little olive oil over the cheese to keep it from burning, then pop it into the preheated oven. Let it bake until the cheese is nicely melted, about 10 minutes, depending on your oven and the thickness of your cheese.

Be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn!

When your chicken is cool enough, slice it into strips. Once the crusts are out of the oven, top each with the sliced chicken and a scattering of green onions.

Slice 'em up and dinner.is.served.

Quick, easy, and most importantly, DELICIOUS.

Pizza night is pretty much always a good idea, am I right?!

What's your favorite pizza topping combination? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section below!

Looking for more pizza and flatbread favorites? Check out these 5-star recipes:

• Garlicky Mushroom Ricotta Pizza with Wild Arugula + Aged Balsamic
• Spicy Italian Sausage and Peppers Pizza
• Deep Dish Southwest Salad Pizza
• Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza with Brussels Sprouts, Bacon + Pomegranate
• Falafel-Spiced Chickpea Flatbreads
• Charred Veggie Ciabatta Pizza with Crispy Fried Eggs + Parmesan
• Bacon and Caramelized Onion Jam Naan Pizza with Gorgonzola and Apples
• Grilled Niçoise Salad Flatbreads

Recipe for BBQ Chicken Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella

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