This grilled chicken pesto pizza is a favourite and is a perfect summer appetizer or light meal!! Grilling a pizza on a barbecue adds a wonderful delicious outdoor flavour to this vibrant pizza.
With this recipe, I made homemade pesto, and grilled chicken, red onions, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. I will often will add fresh basil before serving, as it gives the pizza that additional sweetness, and the fresh basil pesto adds summer time flavours we all grown to love. There is nothing like an open grill or fire to cook your pizza!
Recipe for pesto: https://www.thehungarysoul.com/pesto/
When making this recipe:
Pizza Dough: the recipe for this pizza included a combination of all purpose flour and spelt flour. I like to incorporate spelt flour whenever I can, as it’s a wonderful ancient grain that is a very healthy option when it comes to baking. You can use the full 3 cups of all purpose flour if you prefer and there will be no change in the outcome of the dough.
First you combine warm water, sugar and yeast in a stand-mixing bowl, and allow to rest for 5-7 minutes until it becomes frothy. Then add olive oil, and the flour and salt mixture to the yeast mixture, only 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once the flour is all added then starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Dust your hands to start forming the dough into a ball, and place in a large greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
After 1 hour, turn dough onto a well-floured work surface and cut in half to make two medium-size pizzas.
Simple ingredients, lots of flavour!
Pesto: love pesto on pizza, and to be able to make fresh pesto will have more of a fresh robust flavour. My recipe includes fresh basil, garlic, walnuts, salt, and a good quality olive oil. For this recipe, I added some spinach to my pesto. The pesto recipe is posted on my blog.
Red onion: a sweet onion flavour but not overpowering
Sun-dried Tomatoes: to add the sweet pungent flavour
Spinach: adds colour, a healthy component and delicious taste to this pizza
Chicken Breast: grill your chicken ahead of time, or in this case, I had leftover grilled chicken from the day before
Cheeses: whether you use feta or goat cheese, they both are delicious, and mozzarella for that yummy cheesy flavour.
Grilled Chicken Pesto Pizza
Equipment
- pizza grill pan or pizza pan
Ingredients
Pizza dough: makes 2 - 9 x 13 inch thin crust pizzas
- 2 1/4 tsp (package) active dry yeast
- 1 1/4 cup warm water (110°F)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups organic light spelt flour
- 1 1/2 cups organic all-purpose flour (option: 3 cups all-purpose flour)
- 1 tsp salt
Toppings: (amounts are for one pizza)
- 1/4 cup fresh pesto (store bought is an option)
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 3 oz sun-dried tomatoes
- 2/3 cup fresh spinach, washed and roughly cut is needed
- 1 grilled chicken breast, shredded
- 1/4 cup feta, crumbled
- 1/2 cup mozzarella, sliced or grated
Instructions
Pizza dough:
- In a stand-mixer bowl, with a hook attachment, combine water, sugar and yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for about 5-7 minutes until frothy. Add the olive oil.
- In a medium size bowl, combine flour,and salt. Add the flour to the yeast mixture, half cup at a time, mixing well between additions. (I have made the error and added all the flour at the same time) Continue adding the flour until the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl. The dough will still be sticky, then add a little extra flour but not too much. Important to note, the dough should stick to your fingers when you try to pull it apart.
- Grease a large size bowl and place the dough into the bowl, turning it so it is coated with olive oil, and cover it with plastic wrap or a towel, and set it in a warm place, without any drafts for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface. Form a smooth ball by pulling the dough up and around, bringing the ends together. Then once you turn the ball over, it should be smooth.
- Cut the dough in half to made 2 medium-size pizza or one large pizza. Shape into a rectangle or circular shape by pulling the dough to the desired shape. Place on a pizza pan, or grilled pizza pan.
- Toppings: Option is to add the toppings I have included in the recipe or add your favourite toppings.
- Preheat barbecue or oven to 450 °F. Bake/grill for about 20 minutes.
Nutrition
How to make this recipe:
Pizza Dough: This dough recipe is super easy to make and can be either made by hand or better yet, an electric mixer using the dough hook attachment. It rises within an hour, and if you make it ahead of time, just pop it in the refrigerator to slow down the activation from the yeast and rising process.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface. Form a smooth ball by pulling the dough up and around, bringing the ends together. Then once you turn the ball over, it should be smooth. Cut the dough in half to make 2 medium-size pizza or one large pizza. I made a large pizza with this recipe. Then shape into a rectangle or circular shape by pulling the dough to the desired shape. Place on a pizza pan, or grilled pizza pan that I did.
Ready for Grilling: Prepare your ingredients by slicing the red onions, chopping sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chop spinach, shred the chicken, crumble the feta and slice or grate the mozzarella. Spread the pesto over the pizza dough then arrange the toppings on the pizza.
I have a grilled pan for my bbq I use to make my pizza’s, grilled vegetables on and it is very handy and makes life easy. If you don’t have one, you can place the dressed pizza on a cutting down and carefully slide it directly on the barbecue grill.
Ready to eat: Sometimes I use less cheese on my pizza’s when I have many other flavourful ingredients to add. Remove pizza from the barbecue and place on a cutting board for about 5 minutes. Then slide it directly on a cutting board and enjoy!
