Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Make this delicious homemade buffalo chicken pizza as a fun date-night activity or as a crowd-pleasing party snack!

Jump to Recipe

Five years ago on a cold, snowy Boston night, Alex and I had our first “real” (aka, not in the dining hall) dinner together in the warmth of a local joint ironically called New York Pizza. It was then that we discovered our mutual love of buffalo chicken pizza, and we’ve been together ever since! And we’ve eaten many, many pizzas together over the years.

Of course, we had to celebrate 5 whole years of being together with one of our favorite foods. Following a wine and cheese picnic in the park, we made homemade specialty pizzas for dinner: one spicy buffalo chicken pizza, and one sweet and tangy barbecue pulled pork pizza.

Homemade buffalo chicken pizza in a sheet pan

We love making pizza together, and it’s honestly not as intimidating as you may think! It’s one of the more fun recipes we keep on stand-by, because it allows for so much creativity. The options for pizza toppings are endless. It’s a great way to use up leftovers when you don’t know what else to do with them. Plus, once you get good enough at stretching the dough, it’s super easy to whip up a delicious homemade pizza that tastes better than takeout. 

The best part of all, however, is that making pizza with your best friend is a fun cooking adventure that’ll probably make you laugh, and will definitely taste amazing – all because you made it together.

A spicy buffalo chicken sheet pan pizza drizzled with ranch dressing

Our pizza-making adventure definitely made us laugh, because we attempted to make homemade dough for the first time. It went exactly as expected (totally horribly) and we were super glad we bought back-up dough from Whole Foods. Making pizza dough is not an easy feat, and we quickly learned that we should invest in a stand mixer before trying again. (Our poor hand mixer literally started smoking while trying to knead the dough!). Nevertheless, we were happy we tried something new, and it’s a great memory to look back on and chuckle at.

All of the specialty pizzas we’ve eaten over the years (including one of my favorites, from Woody’s Grill & Tap) inspired this recipe. I’m personally not a huge fan of ranch or blue cheese, so we went with a hot sauce base. We topped it with a blend of mozzarella and mild cheddar, then added some strips of spicy buffalo chicken, sliced red onion, and scallions. Next, we did our signature brushed crust, which makes any store-bought pizza dough taste 10x better in our book! Then we baked our pizza and finished it off with an extra drizzle of hot sauce and light ranch dressing.

A spicy buffalo chicken pizza topped with scallions, red onion, and ranch dressing
Buffalo chicken pizzaBuffalo chicken pizza before going in the oven

We were seriously blown away by this buffalo chicken pizza recipe. It was so good. It tasted exactly like some of the best restaurant buffalo chicken pizzas we’ve eaten, and we were so happy that we’d gotten all the flavors just right. But this is only our opinion. So if you love buffalo chicken pizza as much as we do and want to try it for yourself, follow our recipe below and let us know your thoughts!


Love this recipe? You may enjoy these other buffalo chicken recipes, too:

To browse more of our latest recipes and seasonal dishes, visit our homepage here.

Like this recipe? Don’t forget to share it and follow us on Pinterest!

No ratings yet

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Make this delicious homemade buffalo chicken pizza as a fun date-night activity or as a crowd-pleasing party snack!
Servings 8 slices
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 1 lb pizza dough
  • ¼ cup flour for dusting

Buffalo Chicken Pizza Sauce

Buffalo Chicken Pizza Toppings

  • cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • ½ cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
  • ¼ lb baked buffalo chicken (see below)
  • Red onion sliced
  • Scallions sliced thinly
  • 1 tbsp butter melted
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder
  • Sea salt
  • Light ranch dressing

Baked Buffalo Chicken

  • ¼ lb chicken tenderloin raw
  • ¼ cup Frank's Red Hot
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp chili powder
  • ¼ tsp ground red cayenne pepper
  • 1 pinch salt

Instructions

  • First, make the baked buffalo chicken. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine chicken, Frank's Red Hot, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and salt. Stir well to combine, making sure the chicken is evenly coated in the marinade. Set aside and marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.
  • Transfer chicken to a foil-lined pan and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Let rest for 2 to 3 minutes before slicing into strips, then set aside.
  • While the chicken bakes, prepare the buffalo pizza sauce. Add melted butter, Frank's Red Hot, and light ranch dressing to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Microwave the sauce for 10 to 15 seconds at a time, as needed, to ensure a smooth texture as you whisk it.
  • Next, combine mozzarella and cheddar cheese in a bowl and set aside.
  • Next, stretch the dough. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and lightly dust a large baking sheet with flour, spreading it around evenly on the pan. Then, dust your palms with flour and begin to stretch the dough. Working over the baking sheet, use both hands (and gravity!) to rotate and stretch the dough into a rectangle roughly the size of your pan. Use additional flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.*
    Lay your stretched dough flat in the pan. Dust your hands lightly with flour again, and gently reach underneath the dough to give the bottom side a very light coating of flour (this will keep it from sticking to the pan).
  • Finally, assemble the pizza. Spoon the buffalo pizza sauce onto the dough a little at a time, spreading it around with the back of a spoon. Continue until the dough is covered with a thin layer of sauce, leaving about a half-inch border for the crust. You will likely have some sauce leftover – that's okay! You'll drizzle it on the pizza after it bakes.
  • Next, sprinkle handfuls of the cheese blend onto the pizza. Start from the edges and work in towards the center, using a lighter hand, then add more cheese where needed to fill in the gaps. Finally, top the pizza with sliced buffalo chicken, red onion, and scallions.
  • Lastly, season the crust to add some extra flavor! Brush the crust with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder, onion powder, and sea salt.
  • Bake the pizza for about 16 to 18 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly and lightly browned. Cool for at least 2 minutes before slicing.
  • Finally, drizzle the pizza with the remaining buffalo sauce and light ranch dressing. Serve immediately.

Notes

Pizza dough: Feel free to use any kind of pizza dough for this recipe – fresh or frozen (or even homemade if you’re feeling ambitious!). Our favorite store-bought dough is the Whole Foods brand. Just remember to leave the dough out for about 1 hour before working with it so that it reaches room temperature.
Stretching the dough: Stretching dough isn’t easy and may take a little bit of patience. If you’re new to this, work slowly and let gravity help you out – and don’t worry if your pizza isn’t the perfect shape! Pizza of all shapes and sizes is still pizza, and will still be delicious.
Topping the pizza: Be careful not to overload your pizza with toppings! Trust us, it’s easy to go overboard on this step – but if you add too many toppings, the crust won’t be able to support all of it and you’ll end up with floppy pizza.
Baking pizza: Pizza can be finicky and cooks at different rates depending on the hydration level of your dough, your oven’s actual temperature, and other factors. We recommend keeping an eye on your pizza as it cooks and using visual cues to tell when it’s done – use our time estimates as a rough guide.
Want more?Sign up for our newsletter here and never miss a new recipe!
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a rating and a comment below, and don’t forget to share with your friends and family if you loved it!
Share with us on Instagram!Post a picture of what you made and mention @candidcooksblog or tag #thecandidcooks!
Follow us on Pinterest!Visit our profile @thecandidcooks and don’t forget to pin this recipe!
Author: Nicole
Calories: 322kcal
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: buffalo chicken, cheddar cheese, mozzarella, pizza dough, ranch dressing, scallions

Nutrition

Calories: 322kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 1363mg | Potassium: 88mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 456IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 161mg | Iron: 2mg

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

Join our email list and never miss a new recipe!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Looking for kitchen inspiration? Head over to our shop to see what we cook with every day, plus recommendations for foodie gifts and eco-friendly products.

NEVER MISS A RECIPE!

Join our email list to get new recipes delivered straight to your inbox every week. Plus, we'll send you a free copy of our weekly meal planner as a thank you!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Like
Close
The Candid Cooks © Copyright 2021
Close