If you’ve been with me for a while, this may look a little familiar. I posted a Chicken Pesto Pizza recipe over two years ago, but used frozen bread dough back then. Now, I make my own pizza crust and would like to share the dough recipe that I’ve finally decided to stick with. This is also one of the first recipes in which I used my homemade Fresh Basil Pesto.
You can definitely still use frozen bread dough. Thaw it in the microwave, roll it out and then pre-bake it for about 10 minutes on the stone. What I didn’t do then that you will see done in this recipe, is preheat the pizza stone. This definitely makes a difference in the crispiness of the crust. But, if you have the desire and willingness to make your own crust, I highly recommend this one from Annie’s Eats.
Chicken Pesto Pizza was something I tried for the first time a few years ago at a friend’s house. She and her husband make pizza at home every Friday night (I’ll have to share this pizza crust recipe with her!) and sometimes come up with concoctions that can’t be beat! This one was one of them. Both Ben and I loved it and decided to make it for ourselves a few days later.
I’m going to give you the freedom of determining the measurements of the ingredients, as it is totally up to your taste. I can’t wait to share more pizza recipes with you now that we have the perfect crust! Tell me, what pizza combination do you love?
Chicken Pesto Pizza
1/2 Batch Perfect Pizza Crust (unless you want to make two pizzas)
basil pesto
cooked shredded or cubed chicken
sliced tomatoes (cherry, vine, or roma all work)
feta cheese, crumbled
Place pizza stone in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 500˚ for at least 30 minutes. Shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or sheet of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal. Optional: Brush on olive oil and sprinkle garlic salt. Spread on the pesto, then place tomatoes slices on as desired. Sprinkle chicken and top with the feta cheese.
Slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes.
Let stand 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Source: Perfect Pizza Crust from Annie’s Eats, originally from Baking Illustrated. Chicken Pesto Pizza is Pennies on a Platter original.
Nikki we do our pesto pizza on the grill and it is amazing! If you like a crispier crust, it is the way to go. I usually grill one side bring it back inside and add the toppings. A little olive oil on each side will keep it from sticking to the grill.
thanks for the recipe – i shall try it with my customers blackburn takeaways
How do I cook this in the oven without a pizza stone? Will it turn out well or is the stone required
The stone is not required. Some people use an upside down baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. 🙂
No mozzarella cheese on this pizza ??
None. 🙂
Schlosky;s Deli has a vegetarian pizza that I used to eat every week. It has Pesto, roasted: tomatoes, red onions, mushrooms, and wilted spinach. Ooooh, that was SOOOO good! The one close to my house started getting really bad, though…they were stingy with the toppings and would not get it out to me until it was cold. 🙁
When I make pizza here for my carnivores I make 3 small ones and personalize them. Mom, roasted veggies and alfredo-like sauce (lightened up by me) nd motz, my son, turkey sausage, turkey pepperoni, tomato sauce, and motz., dad, tomato sauce, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, moz. Oh, and olives on all.
I’m going to make this pizza for them this week! Looks like a winner to me, but we’ll see…they’ve never had feta cheese.