If you love BBQ sauce, pizza, and caramelized onions, you’ve just found your pizza match made in heaven. Follow my recipe for the dreamiest pizza experience that I made on a fresh gluten-free crust!
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This recipe is…
I’m a loyal pepperoni pizza gal (well, pepperoni + jalapeno peppers) but if this BBQ chicken pizza were on the menu, it’d win out. BBQ sauce is used instead of marinara, a pile of fresh mozzarella, baked BBQ chicken, caramelized onions, and a fresh drizzle of ranch will have it floating to the top of your favorites list, too.
Recipe Ingredients
The line-up of ingredients here is small but mighty! Find ingredients below, along with any applicable swaps and/or notes. Exact ingredient amounts can be found in the recipe card.
- Butter
- White onion
- Chicken breast
- BBQ sauce – Primal Kitchen’s unsweetened BBQ sauce is our favorite store-bought version. If you want to go homemade, this easy homemade BBQ sauce recipe is excellent.
- Paprika, ancho chili powder, sea salt
- Pizza dough – we use Wholly Gluten Free’s pizza dough and love it. Any pre-made (or homemade, for that matter) dough will work, though.
- Shredded mozzarella cheese
- Ranch dressing – we garnished our BBQ chicken pizza with this 3-ingredient ranch (it’s SO good). If you prefer store-bought, that’s fine too!
- Cilantro – for garnish, optional
How to Make BBQ Chicken Pizza
While the caramelized onions may feel like a labor of love (they aren’t hard, just a tad time-consuming), we can assure you that they are WORTH. IT. Seriously, don’t skip them! Find the full BBQ chicken pizza how-to below.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Caramelize the onions – add the butter to a heavy-bottomed pot, and once melted, add the sliced onions and sea salt. Stir to combine, turn the heat to medium-low, and place a lid on top. Let the onions cook until caramelized (45 minutes to 1 hour), stirring occasionally.
- Bake the chicken – while the onions are caramelizing, place the chicken breast in a baking dish, toss it with the BBQ sauce until fully coated, and then sprinkle the sea salt, smoked paprika, and ancho chili powder over top. Place an in-oven thermometer probe into the thickest part of the chicken, and bake at 375°F until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (about 25 minutes).
- Adjust the oven temperature – once the chicken is out of the oven, adjust the oven temperature to whatever temperature is needed to bake the pizza. Our dough calls for 400°F.
- Chop the chicken – let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes, then chop it into 1-inch pieces. Put the chopped chicken back into the dish it baked to sit in the juices and pan drippings until you are ready to assemble the pizza.
- Roll out the dough – once the onions and chicken are finished, roll the pizza dough out onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle it with a little bit of flour (no more than about 1 teaspoon). Use your fingers to form a crust around the perimeter of the pizza.
- Layer the toppings – pour about a 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce onto the pizza dough and use a spoon to spread it out. Then, layer on the shredded mozzarella cheese, followed by the cubed BBQ chicken, and finally, the caramelized onions.
- Bake – place the pizza in the oven and bake according to the pizza dough package instructions.
- Garnish, slice, and serve – once the pizza is out of the oven, garnish it with homemade ranch dressing and cilantro. Slice and enjoy!
Tips, Tricks, and Variations
Make a big batch of BBQ chicken ahead of time – prep a bunch of this BBQ chicken ahead of time and use it for stuffed baked potatoes, BBQ chicken cobb salads, and this pizza for the week!
Don’t skip the caramelized onions – we get it, caramelized onions take more time than anyone has (especially on a weeknight). If the thought of spending almost an hour on this step makes you want to run away from this recipe altogether, consider prepping your caramelized onions ahead of time (maybe, say, on your typical weekend prep day) so that they’re ready to go for pizza night.
Use spicy ranch – drizzle homemade jalapeno ranch over the pizza for a delicious, spicy kick!
How to Serve
Serve your BBQ chicken pizza all on its own or alongside a simple arugula and lemon salad for a complete meal.
How to Store and Reheat
Store any leftover pizza in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat the pizza either in the microwave (1-2 minutes), in the air fryer (375°F for 5 minutes), on a skillet over medium heat (5-10 minutes), or in the oven (375°F for 5-10 minutes).
Frequently Asked Questions
You can absolutely use store-bought crust for your pizza! That’s what we did. We love Wholly Gluten Free’s GF dough, but feel free to use any dough you love.
Yes, you can definitely use pre-cooked chicken for this pizza. In fact, prepping a bunch of baked BBQ chicken ahead of time (it can be used in SO many ways throughout the week) will make this recipe even simpler.
Cooked and crumbled bacon, sliced jalapenos (pickled or regular), and pickled red onions are all really great topping ideas!
More Favorite Chicken Recipes
The Best Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 white onion, thinly sliced
- 1 chicken breast, about ¾ pound
- ¾ cup BBQ sauce
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ancho chili powder, optional, omit if sensitive to spice
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 pizza dough, store-bought or homemade
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Ranch dressing, for garnish
- Cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Add the butter to a heavy-bottomed pot, and once melted, add the sliced onions and sea salt. Stir to combine, turn the heat to medium-low, and place a lid on top. Let the onions cook until caramelized (45 minutes to 1 hour), stirring occasionally.
- While the onions are caramelizing, place the chicken breast in a baking dish, toss it with a ¼ cup of BBQ sauce until fully coated, and then sprinkle the sea salt, smoked paprika, and ancho chili powder over top. Place an in-oven thermometer probe into the thickest part of the chicken, and bake at 375°F until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (about 25 minutes).
- Once the chicken is out of the oven, adjust the oven temperature to whatever temperature is needed to bake the pizza. Our dough calls for 400°F.
- Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes, then chop it into 1-inch pieces. Put the chopped chicken back into the dish it baked to sit in the juices and pan drippings until you are ready to assemble the pizza.
- Once the onions and chicken are finished, roll the pizza dough out onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle it with a little bit of flour (no more than about 1 teaspoon). Use your fingers to form a crust around the perimeter of the pizza.
- Pour ½ of a cup of BBQ sauce onto the pizza dough and use a spoon to spread it out. Then, layer on the shredded mozzarella cheese, followed by the cubed BBQ chicken, and finally, the caramelized onions.
- Place the pizza in the oven and bake according to the pizza dough package instructions.
- Once the pizza is out of the oven, garnish it with homemade ranch dressing and cilantro. Slice and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Make a big batch of BBQ chicken ahead of time – prep a bunch of this BBQ chicken ahead of time and use it for stuffed baked potatoes, salads, and this pizza for the week!
- Don’t skip the caramelized onions – we get it, caramelized onions take more time than anyone has (especially on a weeknight). If the thought of spending almost an hour on this step makes you want to run away from this recipe altogether, consider prepping your caramelized onions ahead of time (maybe, say, on your typical weekend prep day) so that they’re ready to go for pizza night.
- Use spicy ranch – drizzle homemade jalapeno ranch over the pizza for a delicious, spicy kick!
Nutrition
Who doesn’t love pizza? And this BBQ chicken pizza is delicious! I made my own dough with half whole wheat flour and topped with the addition of pickled jalapenos for spiciness. Drizzled ranch all over the top and voila! So dang good!
YUM! We’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Laurie!!
5/5 rating from the Federico family! I wasn’t sure how my two toddlers would react to a BBQ pizza rather than a classic cheese & red sauce pizza – but they LOVED this recipe! Big fan of the recipes on this site!
Aw, that’s awesome, Katie! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Love this recipe, the whole family enjoyed it even our picky eater!
SCORE! So glad to hear that, Paiseleigh!
This was pretty good! I took a short-cut and used the frozen (ready-made) cauliflower pizza crusts from the freezer section. Everyone in the family enjoyed it!
Good idea, Carrie! We’re glad everyone liked it!
5 stars because this pizza was the dinner winner this week! I made this on a night where I needed to save some time so I used Trader Joe’s garlic naan as the pizza crust – not gluten-free, but my kids absolutely loved it. The carmelized onions were spectacular!
Great idea on the naan, Mandi! So glad everyone loved it!!
Very tasty and easy recipes to make. The tip about placing the chicken back in the pan juices is spot on – so much flavor soaks back in! I also love carmelized onions, but like other reviewers, added some fresh red onion slices for a little kick and crunch.
It makes such a difference!! We’re so glad you liked this recipe!
We really liked this pizza! I probably would not have made it if it hadn’t been part of the weekly meal prep plan, but so glad we did!
A bonus is that we happened to find the gluten free pizza dough that Cassy recommended at our local Sprouts, so this pizza has become a favorite at our house!
Aw, that’s awesome, Steph!! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
This was a fantastic pizza! Our whole family ate it which is quite the compliment! We added chunky slices of red onion and it was delicious. We will definitely be adding this to our meal rotation. I’m always impressed with Cassy’s recipes and her cookbooks have been so helpful too.
Yum!! We’re so glad everyone loved it, Jenna!
I’ve made this twice and both times were a huge hit with my family! The first time, I forgot the caramelized onions & it was still tasty. This is a new pizza night staple in our house!
We are so glad you all love this recipe, Christina! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Yum!! Loved this pizza. The caramelized onions were to die for! I also was blown away by the simple homemade ranch recipe.
Wahoooo! I agree – the caramelized onions are SPECIAL!!
Delicious. I prefer a crunchy red onion on top, but I would make this again. Plus spicy ranch idea was soo good!
We’re glad you liked it, LB!
Winner winner, Chicken Dinner! This recipe is so simple and yummy and got two thumbs up from my husband and young kids. I used a more vinegar based bbq sauce to offset the sweetness that caramelized onions have, and then sprinkled a roasted black garlic salt on after I pulled it out of the oven and it was perfection. Don’t skip caramelizing the onions!
Yum!!! We are so glad everyone loved it, Sarah!!
My husband loved it. I’m not a big fan of BBQ pizza.
Glad your husband loved it, Heather!
I love bbq chicken pizza! This was at hit. Thank you!
Wahooo! So glad to hear that, Kristin!