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Chicken Bacon Ranchero Pizza

Our chicken bacon ranchero pizza is a spicy twist on the classic chicken bacon ranch, made with east coast style thin crust dough, chipotle chicken, crispy bacon, and creamy spicy ranch sauce.
Servings 8 slices
Prep Time 24 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

New York Style Thin Crust Pizza Dough (adapted)

  • ½ cup warm water
  • cups bread flour divided
  • .125 oz active dry yeast
  • ¾ tsp granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp olive oil plus 1/2 tsp for coating
  • ¾ tsp salt

Chipotle Chicken

  • lb chicken tenderloins
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • ½ tbsp vegetable oil
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • ¼ tsp chipotle powder
  • ¼ tsp salt

Spicy Ranch Sauce

Pizza Toppings

  • cup spicy ranch sauce plus extra for drizzling
  • 4 oz mozzarella cheese shredded
  • 2 oz extra sharp white cheddar cheese shredded
  • lb chipotle chicken diced
  • 4 pieces bacon crumbled
  • 1 small jalapeno sliced
  • Red onion sliced thinly
  • 1 pinch sea salt

Instructions

New York Style Thin Crust Pizza Dough (adapted)

  • Add water, ¼ cup bread flour, yeast, and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir well to combine and let sit until foamy and bubbling, about 20 minutes.
  • Then add remaining 1 cup bread flour, 1 tbsp olive oil, and salt to the mixture. Stir to combine until a loose dough ball forms, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes.
  • Using the dough hook attachment, knead the dough on low speed until soft and resilient, about 10 minutes.
  • Lightly coat the dough ball in about 1/2 tsp olive oil and transfer to a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24-48 hours.
  • Remove the dough from the fridge and let rest at room temperature for about 1 hour before making the pizza.

Chipotle Chicken

  • Next, prepare the chipotle chicken. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with foil.
  • In a medium bowl, combine the chicken with lime juice, vegetable oil, garlic powder, onion powder, chipotle powder and salt. Stir to mix and coat the chicken well, then transfer the chicken to the baking sheet.
  • Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Let the chicken rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.
  • Slice thinly and then cut into smaller bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

Spicy Ranch Sauce

  • To make the spicy ranch sauce, add light ranch dressing, chipotles in adobo, and ranchero sauce to a blender. Blend on medium speed to start, then increase to high speed and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.
  • Transfer spicy ranch sauce to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.

Chicken Bacon Ranchero Pizza

  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and and lightly grease a 14-inch pizza pan with cooking spray.
  • Lightly dust your hands with flour and carefully stretch the pizza dough into a 14-inch circle. Pick up the dough and work around the edges, gently pulling and letting gravity help you, then lay the stretched dough flat onto the pan.
  • Prebake the dough for 4 minutes. While it's in the oven, add mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, chicken, and crumbled bacon to a large bowl and toss gently to combine.
  • Remove pizza dough from the oven. Top with 1/3 cup of the spicy ranch sauce, spreading it in an even layer and leaving about a quarter inch to a half inch crust around the edges. Top with the cheese, chicken, and bacon mixture. Then top with sliced jalapenos, red onion, and a sprinkle of sea salt.
  • Bake until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden-brown, about 12 minutes.
  • Transfer pizza to a cutting board. Drizzle about 2 to 3 tablespoons of spicy ranch sauce over the pizza, then slice and serve immediately. Optionally serve extra spicy ranch on the side for dipping your crust!

Notes

New York Style Thin Crust Pizza Dough: We made this recipe by Amanda-Rae, with a few modifications based on the reviews (using some of Brian B’s tips) and learnings from our Mastering Pizza cookbook. If you want to try making this dough from scratch, make sure you prepare it 1 to 2 days ahead of time so it has time to rise. Alternatively, you can use store-bought dough for this pizza and it will still taste delicious!
Spicy ranch sauce: We added some of our original homemade ranchero sauce to the ranch for extra flavor. If you want to make a batch of ranchero sauce to use in this recipe, check out the blog post above for suggestions on how to use the rest of it afterwards! If not, you can simply skip this ingredient or add extra chipotles in adobo, depending on your spice tolerance :)
Cheese: Freshly shredded cheese melts the best on a pizza. If you can, buy the two cheeses in block form and shred ahead of time with a cheese grater.
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.
Author: Nicole
Calories: 305kcal
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: bacon, cheddar cheese, chicken, jalapeno, mozzarella, pizza, red onion, spicy ranch sauce

Nutrition

Calories: 305kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 668mg | Potassium: 156mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 227IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 133mg | Iron: 1mg