There are some occasions when a plain cheese pizza simply won’t do. Whether you need football food for a game-day watch party or you’re trying out new pizza recipes for family movie night, this hearty buffalo chicken pizza is a delicious recipe mash-up guaranteed to hit the spot.
Buffalo sauce may be a surprising and unique pizza idea, but it works well, adding richness and a kick of heat to a simple cheesy pie. Best of all, the recipe comes together quickly and is easy to adjust to your tastes.
Ingredients for Buffalo Chicken Pizza
- Pizza dough:Â Premade pizza dough makes this recipe quick to assemble, but if you prefer, you can make pizza dough from scratch. Whole wheat pizza dough works great, too.
- Buffalo wing sauce: Replacing the tomato sauce you typically find on a pizza, Buffalo sauce brings tons of flavor to this pizza. Since the sauce is so prominent on this pizza, you want to use your favorite brand. Alternatively, make your own at home! You can find a simple version on our fried chicken wings recipe.
- Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breast cooks quickly and takes on plenty of flavor from the sauce. Cut the meat into uniform, large bite-sized pieces before cooking.
- Cheese: You’ll use both mozzarella and cheddar cheese on this pie; both melt well and add great flavor. Here are the brands our Test Kitchen has picked for the best cheddar cheese and best mozzarella cheese.
Directions
Step 1: Bake the crust
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Unroll the pizza crust into a lightly greased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Flatten the dough in the pan, slightly building up the edges into a crust. Bake for seven minutes. Remove from the oven.
Editor’s Tip:Â Don’t turn the oven off here! You’ll be baking again before too long.
Step 2: Top with sauce and some cheese
Brush the dough with 3 tablespoons Buffalo wing sauce. In a large bowl, toss together the cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. Sprinkle about one-third of the cheeses over the crust. Reserve the remaining cheese, and set the dough aside.
Step 3: Cook the chicken
In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the chicken, garlic salt, pepper and chili powder, and cook until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink. Add the remaining wing sauce. Cook, stirring, over medium heat for five minutes.
Editor’s Tip:Â You want to cook the sauce until it’s thickened a bit.
Step 4: Top the pizza, and bake
Spoon the chicken over the pizza, and sprinkle with oregano and the remaining cheese. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted, 18 to 20 minutes. Serve with celery and your favorite blue cheese dressing.
Recipe Variations
- Use chicken thighs: Boneless chicken thighs are extra tender and flavorful, making them a good alternative topper. You will need to increase the cooking time in Step 3 to ensure that they’re cooked through.
- Shred the chicken: Rather than topping the pizza with chunks of chicken, shred the chicken. This allows for more even coverage of the pie. Shred fully cooked chicken breasts or thighs with a couple of forks before topping the pizza.
- Add extra toppings: Add chopped peppers (red, green or banana), sliced red or yellow onion, tomatoes, scallions, herbs or other favorite pizza toppings.
- Add a layer of cream: Balance the heat of the sauce with a slather of cream cheese over the crust in Step 2.
- Serve with ranch: Good news, ranch lovers. Ranch dressing is a tasty alternative to the blue cheese dressing. Then again, any recipe with ranch dressing is good.
How to Store Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Keep leftover buffalo chicken pizza in the refrigerator, tightly sealed in an airtight container or covered with foil. It will keep well for up to four days.
Can you freeze Buffalo chicken pizza?
Buffalo chicken pizza freezes well and makes for a tasty homemade alternative to store-bought frozen pizza. Assemble the pizza through Step 4, but do not do the final bake yet! Instead, wrap the assembled pizza tightly in storage wrap, and store in the freezer for up to two months.
When ready to use, unwrap the frozen pizza, and set it directly in a preheated 400° oven (no need to thaw the pizza). Bake as directed in Step 4, increasing the cook time as needed to cook through.
Buffalo Chicken Pizza Tips
How do you make Buffalo sauce for chicken pizza?
Bottled Buffalo sauce is fine, but you can definitely make homemade Buffalo wing sauce. Wing sauce is usually made with butter, spices and hot sauce. Use your fave hot sauce bottle, or choose from our Test Kitchen’s picks for the best hot sauce.
How do you keep the chicken from drying out on the pizza?
Don’t skip the step of cooking the chicken on the stovetop! You don’t want to top the pizza with raw chicken. It might not cook through in the oven, and it will release moisture into the dough, making for a soggy pizza crust. When topping the pizza, make sure to put the cooked chicken under the cheese. It will be well protected from direct heat and is unlikely to dry out.
What can you serve with Buffalo chicken pizza?
In addition to the optional blue cheese and celery sticks, you can pair Buffalo chicken pizza with any green salad (here are some of our favorite side salad recipes) or other cut fresh vegetables like carrot sticks, zucchini and cucumbers.
