Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza

Instead of just mozzarella I also used a smoked fontina cheese to add to the bbq flavor.

Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza

• 1 pizza dough – (Basic Pizza Dough Recipe)
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 cup favorite bbq sauce
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup smoked fontina cheese

The first step is to make the pizza dough and let it rise till it doubles.  Here is a simple and easy pizza dough. If you are running short on time, almost all grocery stores have pre-made pizza dough in the deli section and/or freezer section, or you can always stop by a local pizzaria and purchase the pre-made dough.

To get started salt and pepper your chicken breasts and place them on a medium/high grill.  Cook for roughly 4 minutes and flip.

Look at those grill lines

After flipping the chicken coat the cooked side with barbecue sauce. 

Slather with sauce

After another 3-4 minutes flip the chicken and coat the other side with sauce.  Baste and flip two more times to firmly secure the sauce to the chicken.

Coating, flipping and grilling will secure the sauce to the chicken

Remove from the grill, let cool slightly and then cube the chicken.  Place in a bowl and set aside.

All cubed up

Grate the smoke fontina with the largest grater that you have.  Place the cheese in a bowl and set aside.

Grate the smoked fontina, you could also used smoked gouda or smoked mozzarella.

Slice the onion into thin strips, and set aside.

Thinly slice the onions so that they can cook quickly

Now that you have all of the ingredients for the pizza ready, place on a tray or sheet pan so that you can take it out to the grill easily.  Assembly of the pizza needs to be done near the grill.

Set up your mis

Next form the pizza dough into a 12-14 inch round circle.  Form the dough on a piece of parchment or on a pizza peel.  The parchment will allow you to easily flip the dough onto the grill. 

Form the pizza - I broke my peel so I am using the parchment/pizza pan method.

Heat the grill to medium/low and make sure that the grates are clean.  We don’t want the crust to stick.  Using the parchment flip the dough onto the grates.  Then remove the parchment from the dough.  If using a pizza peel, gently slide the dough onto the grates.

Flip the dough right out onto the grill

Grill for 2-4 minutes until the bottom of the crust is golden and has nice grill marks. 

Flip when the bottom is dry and golden

Flip the pizza using tongs and a pizza pan, or by using the pizza peel.  Grill the other side for 30-60 seconds.  You just want the dough to start to harden.  When the dough is not sticky anymore, remove it from the grill and place on a pizza pan.   Cover the cooked side with your favorite bbq sauce.  I didn’t have time to make my own so I opted for Cattlemans.  It is a great bbq sauce.

It doesn't take that much sauce to coat the crust, roughly a 1/4 cup.

Next cover the pizza with both types of cheese.  Leave a little bit to cover the chicken and onions slightly. 

Cover with both types of cheese

Next layer on the onions.

I love onions, so I layered them up heavy

Finally spread the chicken out over the pizza.  Next cover the chicken with a few drizzles of the barbecue sauce.

Add the chicken and drizzle a little more sauce on top

Finally cover with the remaining cheese and then slide the pizza back onto the grill. 

Slide the pizza back onto the grill. Make sure your heat is set to low.

Cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Make sure to check the crust to make sure that it doesn’t burn.  When the cheese is melted and the crust is starting to turn brown, the pizza is done.  Remove using tongs and a pizza pan, or using a pizza peel. 

Look at the melted goodness that is bbq chicken pizza

Allow the pizza to cool for a couple of minutes and then cut it into wedges.

The crust comes out crunchy and delicious

The tangy barbecue sauce with the grilled chicken and smoked fontina cheese is delightful.  Probably the best bbq chicken pizza that I have ever had.

Grilling pizza is quick and simple.  Try it next time you grill out.

There is nothing like it

The grill adds such a great flavor to the crust.

Grilled Shrimp Pizza

• Pizza Dough – Either homemade, store bought or one from your local pizzaria. – Try my Basic Pizza Dough.
• Pizza Sauce – Recipe below
• 1/2-1 cup Mozzarella Cheese – Fresh or grated. 
• 1/4 cup parmesen cheese
• 1/2 lb shrimp
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs cajun seasoning
• 1 tbs sriracha
• 4-40 dashes of hot sauce – Up to you on how spicy you like your shrimp
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Pizza Sauce

• Can whole peeled tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic
• 15 basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flake – (optional)

The first step is to peel the shrimp and cut them in half.  By cutting them in half you are making it so that they will cook quicker on the grill and so that the pieces are bite size and not too thick for the pizza.

Next put the olive oil, cajun seasoning, salt, pepper, sriracha, and hot sauce in a zip top bag.  Then add the shrimp and refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Make sure to mix them up so that they get seasoned.

Ziptop bags are the best for marinades

Grilling pizza is easy, but without proper instructions it can be extremely hard.  The first thing is that you need to partially grill one side of the dough before you top the pizza.  Since we have to start cooking the pizza, take it off the heat, and top it, it is best to have all of the toppings ready. 

Start your grill and have it preheat.  Start a indirect fire on one side of the grill.  We will quickly cook the dough over the fire and then move it to the cooler indirect side to melt the cheese and cook the toppings.  If you have a gas grill light only half of the burners. 

If you are going to use a store bought pizza sauce you can skip the next couple steps.  Otherwise, pour the can of whole tomatoes into a bowl and crush with your hand, a potato masher or a pastry cutter.  Once you have all of the big chunks broken up you are good.

Now take the 15 leaves of basil and roll them together like a cigar.  Then thinly slice them into ribbons.  The technical term is chiffonade.  Sounds fancy doesn’t it.  It means breath of butterflies, joking it really only means thin long strips.  Sorry to dissappoint.

Add the chiffonade basil to the bowl with the three cloves of garlic finely minced.  Add the salt, pepper and red pepper flake.  This is a good time to taste the sauce.  If it needs more salt or pepper feel free to add it.

This sauce is tangy and works great with the shrimp

I used fresh mozzarella so I removed it from the water and sliced it about an 1/8th of an inch thick. 

I also grated some fresh parmesen cheese.

Now it is time to start forming the pizza. Take the dough and slowly start pressing it out into a circle.  Start with the center and slow start pushing it out toward the edges.  Make sure to constantly rotate the dough.  Once it is about a foot in diameter, you can toss it, or just pick it up and spin it in your hands to stretch it out into the proper size. 

Place the dough on a dusted pizza peel, pizza pan or a upside down sheet pan.  Any of these work as a way to get the pizza onto the grill.

Before you place your pizza dough on the grill, oil your grates with a vegetable or peanut oil.  You need to use an oil with a high smoke point as you don’t want it catching fire.   Olive oil will not work.

Place the pizza dough halfway over the hot coals/hot side of the grill.  Cook for a minute to a minute and a half and then rotate the dough 180 degrees and cook for another minute to minute and a half.  Rotate the dough when it starts to brown.  Make sure to keep the lid shut in between rotations.  This will help you make sure that the dough doesn’t burn. 

Make sure to rotate every 1-2 mins.

Once the bottom of the dough is browned remove it from the grill and place it cooked side up on a pizza peel or pan.  Make sure that you use cornmeal or flour on the peel/pan.  I forgot to add more cornmeal to my pan and after I added the toppings, it did not want to come off the pan. 

The crust got crispy and delicious. It is very quick too.

Add your toppings.  I added the pizza sauce, shrimp, mozzarella, parmesen and a little chiffonade of basil.

Ready to go back on the grill.

Then place back on the grill in the middle so that it is once again on the hot and cold side.  I rotated mine 4 times, 1/4 of a turn every 2 minutes.  Once I made a full revolution, I move the pizza over to the indirect side to finish melting the cheese.  It took an additional 2 minutes on the indirect side to finish melting the cheese and cooking the shrimp.

Make sure to rotate as you don't want the crust to burn. Keep the lid closed as much as you can.

Remove from the grill and serve. 

I cut right into it. The crust was so amazing.

The pizza had a super crispy crust that was amazing.  The charcoal added a unique flavor to the crust.  I am definitely going to be grilling more pizzas.

Look at that fresh mozzarella

If you have any questions or comments on grilling pizzas let me know.

I can't say enough about how tasty this pizza was.