Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Sometimes, I’ll get a real hankering to cook. Not necessarily anything specific so many times, I go searching to find something interesting to make, generally based off of the ingredients in my house. Lucky for me, I had remembered to defrost some chicken a couple nights before. The problem with chicken breast is that you can do almost anything with it, but it’s almost intimidating trying to find something that is yummy and not so…chicken-y.

Three words: Buffalo Chicken Pizza. My roommate happens to be a master with a pizza stone, and our skillz together created a beautiful masterpiece. Living in New York is pretty great if you like to eat, and one of my favorite things is that I can walk to any pizza place and buy a big ol’ blob of delicious dough from them for just a couple bucks. Roomie was excited by the dinner idea, and our plan set into motion.

Preheat your oven to 425 (for a stone) or 400 (for a baking sheet.)

Make sure your chicken is really defrosted (we used one giant breast), and trim off any gross fat parts. Then dice it into really small pieces. Toss this in a pan with a little vegetable oil, salt and pepper, and turn it on medium-low heat. The thing to remember about chicken is it dries out really fast, so the higher the heat, the faster the moisture leaves. When it’s about halfway cooked, throw in some buffalo sauce (I swear by Frank’s Hot Sauce.) I used about ¾ of a cup for one huge chicken breast, and I sprinkled in some garlic powder. Turn it to low and let everything simmer until the chicken is fully cooked but not brown.

While the chicken is cooking, roll out your crust, but make sure you sprinkle a little flour on your surface first so it doesn’t get stuck. You don’t want the crust to be thinner than  ¼ inch, otherwise it will burn and probably end up soggy. You can brush it with a little bit of olive oil for flavor, especially the outside rim of the crust.

The key is the cheese (yep, I went there again) as in, use a block of mozzarella, not the lame bagged stuff. The shredded cheese that comes in a bag is full of preservatives and doesn’t melt as nicely.

However, make sure it’s not true buffalo mozzarella as that doesn’t melt the same way either. Look for the nice square block, then shred it into pretty strands. We used about half the block for the whole pizza.

Sprinkle on about three-quarters of it, and then pour on the chicken mixture. There should be a good amount of sauce in the pan, which will add flavor, but make sure everything is evenly distributed across the pizza. I added a little extra buffalo sauce on top before using the rest of the cheese. Sprinkle a little oregano for good measure and in the oven it goes!

Start with about 12-15 minutes but keep a good eye on it. You’ll be looking for bubbling in the cheese and a lovely brown color on your crust. Make sure to let it sit before cutting into it or the cheese will come sliding off and you’ll burn the bejeezus out of your mouth. It’s hard to wait but it sure is worth it!  

INGREDIENTS | Makes one medium sized pizza (8 small slices)

• One ball of dough
• 1 ½ – 2 cups of diced chicken
• 1 cup of buffalo sauce
• 2 cups of mozzarella cheese
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Oregano

RECIPE

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees if you are using a pizza stone, 400 if you are using a baking sheet. If you are using a baking sheet, rub with butter or brush with olive oil.
2. Chop chicken into small chunks and cook on medium low with a tbsp of vegetable oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. When halfway done, pour in ¾ cup of buffalo sauce and turn down to low temp.
4. Sprinkle flour on your surface and then stretch and roll out dough until ¼ inch thick.
5. Place on stone or greased sheet and top with 1 ½ cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.
6. Pour chicken/sauce mixture evenly over pizza and top with remaining shredded cheese and some oregano.
7. Cook for 12-15 minutes, checking often, until brown and golden.