BBQ Chicken Pizza with Blue Cheese

My first experience with BBQ chicken pizza was at my best friend Christy’s house.  We were having a last minute and low key dinner.  Christy threw together what she had on hand; she made a nice salad and warmed some frozen pizzas in the oven.  I was shocked by how much I enjoyed it, always assuming that BBQ sauce would be a little too sweet for my liking on a pizza.  My favorite homemade Memphis BBQ sauce was hanging out in my freezer so I decided to try a BBQ pizza at home for myself and Terry on a lazy summer evening.  I went online and found Cooking Light’s BBQ Chicken Pizza with Blue Cheese.

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Blue Cheese
Adapted from Cooking Light, August 2011

 Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) prebaked thin pizza crust (such as Mama Mary's)
• 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 1/2 cups shredded skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast
• 1/2 cup vertically sliced red onion
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
• 2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced (about 1/4 pound)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 500°.

2. Place pizza crust on a baking sheet. Spread sauce over the crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Top with chicken and remaining ingredients. Bake 10 minutes or until cheese melts and crust is crisp. Cut into 12 wedges.

Nutritional Information

Amount per serving

• Calories: 252
• Fat: 8.5g
• Saturated fat: 3.1g
• Monounsaturated fat: 2.2g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 2.7g
• Protein: 16.7g
• Carbohydrate: 27.4g
• Fiber: 1.8g
• Cholesterol: 38mg
• Iron: 1.6mg
• Sodium: 494mg
• Calcium: 92mg

Preheat oven to 500°.  Place pizza crust on a baking sheet (I prebaked my own homemade whole wheat dough).

Spread sauce over the crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border.

Top with chicken (I coated the chicken with a little more BBQ sauce and at this point I also added 3/4 a cup of Mozzarella cheese).

Top with the remaining ingredients (at this point I also added 1/4 cups red pepper slices and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro). Bake 10 minutes or until cheese melts and crust is crisp. Cut into 12 wedges.

My adaption of Cooking Light’s BBQ Chicken Pizza with Blue Cheese was an excellent change of pace from the usual pizzas that I make.  I think that the quality of the finished product will rely heavily on the BBQ sauce that you use.  The changes that I made were creating my own whole wheat crust from scratch, coating the chicken in a small amount of BBQ sauce, adding about ¾ cups of Mozzarella cheese, adding red peppers along with the yellow ones and finally sprinkling a small handful of cilantro over the pizza before baking.  I had two slices and a chopped salad and Terry had...half of the entire pizza.  We enjoyed leftover slices the following day by reheating them in a sauté pan in order to preserve the crispness of the crust.  This pizza will be made again the exact same way.

-Heather