Is it a Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza? Or a BBQ’d BBQ Chicken Pizza? Or just a BBQ Chicken Pizza? I have no idea. What I do know is that it turned out delicious!
I’m a huge fan of BBQ Chicken Pizza from just about any pizza restaurant, and I’m a huge fan of making our own BBQ’d pizza. Have you ever made a BBQ’d pizza? If not, you need to give it a try! They’re fun to do as “make your own” with the kids, but tonight I made one large one for my hubby and I.
I’m never ashamed to admit to taking a few short cuts. Today I used Trader Joe’s pizza crust and also their BBQ sauce. I had the cooked chicken in the freezer, so this turned out to be a quick meal.
I’m also not ashamed to say that I wasn’t into styling and propping this meal. We had a basketball game on TV that we wanted to watch, I had a pizza to BBQ, and honestly, I just didn’t feel like it. However, I knew that if it turned out really good and I wanted to share the recipe, that I needed some pictures. So I grabbed my camera and snapped a quick shot of each step. The pizza turned out perfect and definitely share worthy, the pictures are okay, but our basketball team lost tonight. Oh well, I’ll settle on 2 out of 3 (as long as they win tomorrow night)!! Excuse the overload of pics, but I wanted to include a few of the steps (I don’t usually do that, but felt I needed to with this recipe).
I started by stretching out the dough, working on a floured surface. Once I got it into the shape I wanted, I carefully transferred it onto a sheet pan lined with waxed paper and a good drizzle of olive oil. Since I already had the chicken cooked, I just heated it quickly with a little BBQ sauce and a crushed garlic clove. I then prepped the rest of the toppings: bbq sauce,mozzarella cheese, red onion, cilantro, cashews, and jalepenos (be careful, they bring a lot of heat).
We waited until half time, then headed out to the preheated grill (500*-ish). Carefully transfer the dough onto the hot grill, olive oil side down. I picked up the dough on the wax paper and flipped it onto the grill (then peeled off the wax paper). Drizzle more olive on top at this time. Don’t be afraid to put your dough straight onto your grill (just make sure you clean it well and use some olive oil on the dough. Shut the lid and within about 2 minutes, you can easily flip the dough.
Have the rest of your ingredients ready, you need to move quickly at this point.
As soon as you’ve flipped the dough, layer on your toppings. BBQ sauce, chicken, cheese, red onion, cashews, cilantro, and jalepeno.
Close lid and let it cook, checking it occasionally. You want the top to get bubbly hot, but don’t want the bottom to burn. If needed lower heat or turn off one side of your grill and finish cooking using indirect heat.
It was such a nice evening out, we dined outside!
Just me, my hubby, some awesome Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza, a cold Corona, and……..
the basket game!
**If you like this recipe, please feel free to share onto your Facebook page, and don’t forget to PIN!
- One Pizza Crust (make your own, or not), mine was from Trader Joe's
- ¾ cup BBQ sauce (use a little for heating the chicken and garlic, and the remainder is used as your pizza sauce)
- 1-1½ cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken
- 1 garlic clove (crushed)
- 1-1½ cups grated mozzarella cheese
- 2 TBSP chopped cilantro
- ¼ med red onion (thinly sliced)
- ⅓ cup cashews (rough chopped)
- **Optional: 1-2 TBSP jalepeno pepper (very finely chopped)
- Work pizza dough on a floured surface into desired shape and thickness (mine was a thin rectangle). Set aside on olive oil drizzled waxed paper.
- Warm chicken in a small amount of BBQ sauce (1/4 cup) along with clove of crushed garlic.
- Grate cheese, chop cilantro, finely slice red onion, rough chop cashews, finely dice jalepenos.
- Preheat outdoor grill to 500*
- Place dough on clean grill grates by picking of dough on waxed paper and flipping onto grill, peel off waxed paper.
- Close grill lid and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Carefully flip dough using tongs and/or large spatula.
- Top with remaining bbq sauce, chicken, cheese, onion, cilantro, cashews, and jalepenos (*optional).
- Close lid and cook until bubbly, checking occasionally making sure bottom doesn't get too charred.
- Adjust heat and cook indirectly if bottom begins to char too much before top is bubbly.
*Please use caution when handling hot peppers. Wash your hands thoroughly after handling them.
Looking for more grill ideas?
Blue Cheese BBQ’d Ribs 
Chimichurri Steak 
Chicken Caesar Salad 
marcie says
April 24, 2015 at 3:38 pmI’m all for taking short cuts when I need to — store bought pizza crust is a lifesaver. I love the toppings you chose and grilling it was an amazing idea!
Leah says
April 25, 2015 at 12:17 pmWe love BBQ Chicken pizza! Great idea to grill it!
Lauren B. says
April 25, 2015 at 8:32 pmHow have I missed that sriracha bbq sauce!? I’ll have to look closer next time. I always reach for their Carolina Gold bbq sauce! Looks delicious!
Sarah | Sarah's Heart Writes says
April 26, 2015 at 2:58 amThis looks absolutely delicious. We have family over every Friday night and I’m thinking this might just be the ticket for this coming friday :-). And I definitely love the short cut idea too.
Amy says
April 29, 2015 at 12:27 amLooks delicious! We’ve lived overseas-in Europe for the past 4 years, and I MISS Trader Joe’s!!! Is that Sriacha BBQ sauce from TJ’s?! Can’t wait to move back stateside in a few months to try it!!
Elizabeth says
June 15, 2015 at 12:26 amOh yes please! Pass us over a slice will you, this sounds heavenly!!!!!!
Catherine says
June 15, 2015 at 4:31 amDear Renee, your grilled pizza looks delicious! This is something I would definitely like to try this season. I know my family would love this. xo, Catherine
Kirsten says
June 15, 2015 at 10:45 amRenee,
Cashews, cilantro, and that sriracha BBQ?! Your pizza looks wonderful–and I love the addition of the game on the table. Thanks for keepin’ it real! 😉
I fix pizza for my family every Friday night, and now that I’ve got a grill big enough and hot enough I’m delighted to say I’m grilling my pizza. It keeps the kitchen cool which in turn keeps my bedroom cool and I am all for that in the summertime. I wish I could be a fast worker in the kitchen/on the grill, but I cannot. I’m slow, so I’ve developed my own grilling method that suits my inability to flip and top pizzas with flair or ease. Maybe someday I’ll get the clue that everyone else has and not have lopsided pies, but for now I’m ok with being Captain Slow.
Brian Jones says
June 28, 2015 at 11:13 pmWho cares what you call it, it looks and sounds divine… I am sure the purists will be seething but I love BBQ sauces on a Pizza 🙂
Kristen says
March 30, 2016 at 9:10 amI love grilling pizza. Adds so much flavor
Megan @ MegUnprocessed says
March 31, 2016 at 10:05 pmLove making homemade pizza!
Simon says
April 1, 2016 at 12:33 pmYes yes yes! That’s the way 🙂 Tomorrow we’ll eat pizza’s from the Q over here! I’ve never made them directly on the grid. I tend to use a pizza stone but it seems like this works well too 😉 Nice work!
Hanady says
May 17, 2016 at 7:07 amOk that looks crazy easy! I seriously expected this to be harder. Looking forward to trying this!
Ashley @ Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen says
June 15, 2017 at 7:24 pmI have yet to try grilling a pizza – it looks SO good!