Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Make this delicious homemade buffalo chicken pizza as a fun date-night activity or as a crowd-pleasing party snack!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound pizza dough
- ¼ cup flour for dusting
Buffalo Chicken Pizza Sauce
- 3 tablespoon butter
- ½ cup Frank's Red Hot
- 1 tablespoon light ranch dressing
Buffalo Chicken Pizza Toppings
- 1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
- ¼ pound baked buffalo chicken (see below)
- Red onion sliced
- Scallions sliced thinly
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Sea salt
- Light ranch dressing
Baked Buffalo Chicken
- ¼ pound chicken tenderloin raw
- ¼ cup Frank's Red Hot
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon 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.
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