Pesto Chicken Pizza

Ingredients you'll need

• Your favorite pizza dough. We used our favorite whole wheat pizza dough here (it's also great with our 15 minute pizza dough recipe if you're in a hurry!)
• Pesto. Grab a jar of basil pesto at the store to save time, or use any homemade pesto you have on hand (it's great with arugula pesto, garlic scape pesto, or even cilantro pesto!)
• Cheese! We're using a combo of shredded mozzarella and shaved parmesan in this recipe.
• Cooked, shredded chicken - This is a perfect place to use some meal prepped chicken, any leftovers, or a rotisserie chicken from the store. In these photos, we used a leftover grilled chicken breast that we shredded up with a fork.
• A drizzle of thick balsamic vinegar is a delicious way to finish this pizza. We used a rich, aged balsamic that's quite thick on its own; you can also make your own balsamic reduction or use store bought balsamic glaze (or skip it entirely to save some time!)
• Other garnishes: Finish this pizza with a sprinkle of flakey sea salt, a few turns of fresh cracked black pepper, a pinch of red pepper flakes, or some fresh basil leaves.

The best way to bake homemade pizza

We love using a baking steel or a pizza stone for a light, crispy, flavorful pizza crust. Be sure to preheat your oven and baking steel for 30-60 minutes before baking to ensure the surface is nice and hot!

How to use a baking steel

Lay a piece of parchment paper over your cutting board, then press your pizza dough into shape on top of the paper. Add your toppings, then use the cutting board like a pizza peel to slide your pizza and the parchment onto your hot baking steel.

When the pizza is cooked, use tongs to carefully pull it out of the oven and onto a cooling rack or cutting board. This method can take a bit of practice, but it's worth it for that ultra-crispy crust!

Riffs and Substitutions

This is a very loose recipe, which means this pizza is easy to customize! A few of our favorite swaps:

• Swap the chicken for prosciutto, cooked Italian sausage, bacon, or pulled pork.
• Mix up the cheeses. We used store-bought shredded mozzarella cheese here, but it's great with fresh mozzarella, too. You can also swap some or all of the cheeses in this recipe for white cheddar, burrata, goat cheese, havarti, smoked mozzarella (à la our favorite BBQ chicken pizza) or anything else you have on hand!
• Swap the pesto sauce for traditional pizza sauce if you like!

Add extra toppings!

SO many toppings are good on pesto pizza: here are a few additions we think go really well with these flavors!

• Extra veggies: Halved cherry tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, caramelized onions, sliced shallot or red onion, roasted garlic, grilled corn, and fresh spinach are all good here (add them before baking!)
• Add a handful of toasted pine nuts or walnuts for extra texture and flavor.
• We added a drizzle of thick balsamic vinegar here for an extra punch of flavor, but this pizza is also great with a drizzle of fig jam, honey, or hot (spicy) honey.
• You can also top the pizza with a few handfuls of fresh arugula after it's baked for a pop of color!