Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Grilled Pineapple

in On the grill, Pineapple, Pizza, Pork

Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Grilled Pineapple and Speck

Our favorite pizza place, Locatelli’s, is closed on Mondays. And it never fails – on Monday, we always want pizza. (It’s the same way with Chick-fil-A – every Sunday morning I wake up needing a chicken biscuit.) More than once, I’ve pulled into the parking lot at lunch on a Monday and let loose a creative string of expletives as I was forced to u-turn and head back to the office. No pizza for me!

Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Grilled Pineapple and Speck

We make homemade pizza nearly once a week. In it’s most un-fancy form (pepperoni and sausage), it’s one of the quickest dinners in our rotation. The dough, which is the longest part of the process, can be made ahead and par baked and we always have red sauce in the freezer. A handful of toppings and some cheese later, dinner is in the oven.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Grilled Pineapple and Speck

I was digging around on the book shelf and found an entire cookbook dedicated to our favorite food, pizza. An entire cookbook devoted to fancy pizzas. As I was flipping through the pages, oohing, aahing, and occasionally crinkling my nose and questioning the author’s sanity, I landed on a barbecue chicken pizza that was loaded high with a ton of tasty toppings. Fancy toppings. Dinner.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Grilled Pineapple and Speck

The flavors are very summery – caramelized pineapple chinks, grilled chicken, smokey cheese, with a spicy kick from the barbecue sauce. It’s not too much work for a school night dinner and like just about everything else that can be grilled, goes perfectly with an un-fancy ice cold Shiner 🙂

Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Grilled Pineapple and Speck

Deliciously grilled "fancy" pizza topped with smokey gouda, sweet pineapple, and salty speck.

Ingredients

  • Your favorite pizza dough recipe, enough for 1 large pizza
  • Olive oil
  • 1 cup barbecue sauce, divided, plus more for serving (I used Stubbs spicy)
  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 pineapple, cored and cut into 1/2-inch slices
  • 4 oz speck, sliced deli-thin and torn into pieces*
  • 8 oz smoked gouda, shredded
  • 4 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
  • If you cannot locate speck, sub prosciutto or another favorite porky pizza-topping.

Instructions

  1. Heat grill to high.
  2. Put 1/2 cup barbecue sauce, pepper, and chicken breasts in a baggie or glass bowl to marinate for 30 minutes.
  3. Place chicken breasts on the grill and cook until juices run clear, approximately 6-7 minutes on each side. Remove from grill. Let rest for 10 minutes and then slice or shred.
  4. Brush pineapple slices with olive oil and grill 5 minutes on each side.
  5. Remove from grill and cut each ring into 8 chunks.
  6. Get sauce and toppings assembled near the grill.
  7. Stretch out your pizza dough to the desired thickness on a cornmeal-dusted peel.
  8. Brush the top with oil and place oiled-side down over the grill. Cook for about 3 minutes - the dough will begin to bubble on top.
  9. Oil the top side of the dough and flip, using tongs.
  10. Cook the crust for an additional 3 minutes while assembling the pizza.
  11. Spread 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce over the crust.
  12. Top with the mozzarella, half of the gouda, chicken, pineapple, and speck.
  13. Top with remaining cheese. Turn off the grill (after the 3 minutes) and close the cover.
  14. Let sit for 5-7 minutes, until cheese has melted. Remove from grill and let sit for 5 minutes.
  15. Top with cilantro, drizzle with additional barbecue sauce, and serve.

Notes

Yields: 1 large pizza

Adapted from: Pizza, 50 Traditional and Alternative Recipes for the Oven and Grill

Estimated time: 35 minutes

12 comments… add one
  • Amy Richards

    That restaurant is basically right behind my parents’ house! I’ll certainly have to try it the next time I’m home.

  • We love making pizza at our house too, especially the BBQ Chicken ones. Pineapple sounds like it would be awesome on it. Gonna try that the next time we make it.

  • Although I’m allergic to pineapple, that looks tasty!! I’m making pizza for dinner tonight…you’re making me hungry! 🙂

  • Mmmm! I’m loving the addition of pineapple to the BBQ chicken pizza. Sounds great! 🙂

  • That looks delish! I know what you mean about those Chicken Biscuits on Sunday!

  • Definitely not our usual pizza toppings, but it looks surprisingly good! Not sure the husband would agree with that…but…I might could talk him in to it. 🙂

  • I’ve been having some major pizza cravings, and this post just made it worse! It looks so delicious!

  • Yummy! I just made pizza last night. Ours is boring though, I just have cheese and he has ground beef and jalapenos.

  • PS, I live in austin too so i’m going to check out Locatelli’s!

  • Wow! I just made a BBQ chicken pizza, too, but not with these fancy shmancy toppings! 🙂 This looks great!

  • Haha I have done the chick-fil-a thing more than once as well 🙂 Your pizza is surely better than any one you could’ve bought! Especially with that freshly grilled pineapple – yum!

  • A girl after my own heart–this looks INCREDIBLE. I LOVE pineapple on pizza…

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