I made this one for my brother. It was his last visit and I wanted to do something special for him before he went back home to the States.
Buffalo chicken is hands down one of his favorite things. And I know he’s not alone in this. Buffalo chicken wings, buffalo chicken dip, Buffalo chicken mac ‘n cheese, Buffalo chicken grilled cheese, Buffalo chicken bites, Buffalo chicken quesadillas, Buffalo chicken tacos…. you can pretty much make Buffalo chicken into anything.
I wanted to make it into a pizza for him though. We have a local pizza shop that makes one up and whenever we would order from there, my Dad would be sure to get a Buffalo chicken pizza for my brother.
By the way- my brother is HUGE. Not fat. But he is seriously tall and built pretty darn well. Weird for me since he is my little brother and he is like a giant. Anyways, he could easily tackle a whole pizza by himself.
Truth be told, I don’t particularly like the whole buffalo chicken thing. I’ve always been grossed out by chicken wings. Or any meat that was still attached to the bone and/or had chewy tendon like pieces on it… yuck.
This pizza is a different story though. The flavors are there, but it is made with crispy, boneless Buffalo chicken strips so you don’t get the gross-ness. Of course, you wouldn’t want that on a pizza anyways- chicken with bones? Yeaaaah, doesn’t make sense.
Most Buffalo chicken pizza recipes that I came across called for shredded chicken or cubed chicken. I did things a little differently here.
I used the frozen boneless Buffalo chicken strips you can buy. I cooked those up and then cubed them for the pizza. Not only does this give you a double dose of Buffalo flavor, but it gives the pizza extra texture! Now the chicken has a beautiful, crispy-crunchiness to it : )
Oh, baby. Look at all that TEXTURE!
Mmmm, so good. I just couldn’t stop takin’ pictures of it.
- 1 batch pizza dough (13-inch pizza)
- 4 ounces (1/2 block) cream cheese, softened (will make mixture lumpy if too cold!)
- ¼ cup red hot sauce
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 cup chopped, cooked crispy buffalo chicken strips (such as Tyson)
- Blue cheese dressing for dipping or drizzling, optional
- SHAPE DOUGH: One hour before baking, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position, set baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 500°F. Transfer dough to clean counter, form into smooth, tight ball. Place on lightly greased surface and cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Coat ball of dough generously with flour and place on well-floured counter top. Use fingertips to gently flatten dough into 8-inch disk, leave 1 inch of outer edge slightly thicker than center. Using hands, gently stretch dough into 12-inch round, working along edges and giving disk quarter turns. Transfer dough to well-floured pizza peel and stretch into 13-inch round.
- TOP PIZZA: Mix cream cheese and hot sauce together until smooth. Spread even on top of pizza dough, leaving a 1-inch border for the crust. Sprinkle with half the shredded cheese, top with all the chicken, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
- BAKE: Slide pizza carefully onto baking stone and bake until crust is well browned and cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer pizza to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
I used this pizza dough recipe for the crust. It’s my favorite!
