The South Meets Italy with Bacon and Barbecue Chicken Pizza
Alright, let’s just start by saying if this recipe didn’t catch your eye with just the name, stop reading now. I mean bacon and barbecue…? Come on, that’s a perfect combination! Then add pizza and can it even get better? No. So if you’ve made it this far, here’s what you need to make this delicious dinner:
- Pizza dough
- 1 C bacon
- 1-2 chicken breasts
- 1C bacon moonshine barbecue sauce (Sauce of the Year 2016)
- 8 Oz. fresh mozzarella
First, prepare your pizza dough. I just bought a premade dough, but the full recipe here has instructions on making your own dough if that’s what you choose to do. Here’s what I did with the premade dough. First, grease a pan with olive oil and spread the dough out so it’s about ¼ inch thick on the bottom. Heat your oven to 375 degrees F and prebake the crust for about 6 minutes.
While the crust is in the oven, go ahead and cook your bacon on the stove top in a large pan over low heat. You want to make sure it gets super crispy because this will make it easier to crumble later on. After the bacon is done and the crust is done prebaking, it’s time to start the chicken.
For the chicken I used one extra-large breast. Make sure to pound the breast to an even thickness for an even cook. Empty the bacon pan of most of the grease and cook the chicken over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side. Once done, put it in a bowl and let it cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes. This will save your fingers with this next step, which is to tear the chicken to shreds. Once shredded, add about 1/3 C of barbecue sauce to the chicken and mix.
Now you’ve got everything done for the pizza. Cover the pizza dough with the remaining barbecue sauce and top with the shredded chicken, followed by slices of fresh mozzarella and bacon crumbles. Bake in a 425 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes. I did about 12 minutes and it was perfect!
Recipe courtesy of Chelten House Products, Inc.
