Bring pizza night to a whole new level with Stuffed Crust BBQ Chicken Pizza!

We eat a lot of pizza at our house. Pizza is my husband’s favorite food, and while I like it, I get bored of the same old pepperoni (his favorite) pizza over and over again. So I look for ways to switch it up.

About a year ago I came up with this idea for Stuffed Crust BBQ Chicken Pizza, and it was a huge hit with the family, so I continue to put it into our pizza rotation.

I started making BBQ Chicken Pizza several years ago, but the idea evolved and finally came to be the deliciousness that it is now. About a year ago I tried making a Pinterest find: Pepperoni Rolls. 

They were okay, but not exactly what I wanted. However, I loved the idea of using a Rhodes bread loaf to make the pizza crust- it turned out really tasty when I used it as a regular crust (the pizza roll I had a problem with the crust in the middle being doughy despite the outside becoming a bit overdone).

So I made the crust from a Rhodes bread loaf, and then decided to try a stuffed crust. I worked at Pizza Hut when I was in high school, and I remember a few times when we ran out of the cheese for stuffed crust pizzas, and we would just run to the grocery store and buy string cheese to replace it.  It doesn’t melt quite as well, since string cheese is made with skim mozzarella, but the taste is still amazing.

So here’s how to make a Stuffed Crust BBQ Chicken Pizza, and at the end of the post there’s a printable recipe card.

1. Follow the directions on the package of Rhodes frozen bread dough to thaw dough. I used the 2-5 hour method, but put it on a cookie sheet to thaw, instead of in a loaf pan.

2. Prepare your toppings. Whenever I buy chicken in large quantities (like from Zaycon), we grill up about 10 pounds of the chicken, and then I either slice or cube it, put it in freezer bags with 1 pound per bag and freeze it.  I used about half of the bag (1/2 a pound) of chicken for my pizza. If you want bacon on it, fry up approximately 3 strips of bacon and chop them.

3. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Once bread dough has thawed and risen, spray counter with Pam and then roll the dough out into a circle that is slightly larger than the size of your pan. I used a 12-inch pan, but if you don’t have a round pan, feel free to use a cookie sheet- you’ll just end up with square pizza slices instead of round.

4.  Spray your pan with non-stick spray, and then transfer the dough to the pan.  Cut 4-5 slices of string cheese lengthwise down the middle. I used 4 slices for my 12-inch pan, and I used 5 slices for a cookie sheet.  Place the pieces of string cheese around the edge of the pizza pan. Since the dough is larger than the pan, you should have dough about an inch farther than where the string cheese is placed.

5. Pull dough over the cheese sticks, pressing down to seal. If your dough doesn’t seal well, run your fingers under water and press the dough with your wet fingers. Use a fork to poke tiny holes all over the dough, so that you don’t get air bubbles under the dough while it bakes.

6. Spread BBQ sauce all over the pizza. Use as much or as little as you like.  For me, the BBQ sauce is just a bit too sweet. So I mix in a tiny bit of ranch- maybe 2 Tablespoons full.

 

8. Spread chopped chicken and bacon (if desired) over the sauce, and then sprinkle with mozzarella.

9. Wet the crust with your fingers, and then sprinkle Johnny’s Garlic Spread & Seasoning on the crust. This is similar to the seasoning Pizza Hut uses on their stuffed crust pizzas, and it really makes the crust taste amazing.

 

10. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes for a 12-inch round pan, and 15-20 minutes for a cookie sheet.

11. Slice and enjoy!

 

What’s your favorite kind of pizza? Do you like to try new things with your pizza, or do you stick to your tried and true recipes?

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