Spicy Chicken and Pickled Jalapeño Pizza
This Spicy Chicken and Pickled Jalapeño Pizza is the perfect example of Mexican cooking ingredients influencing just about everything in my kitchen. A super easy and delicious recipe with no special pizza gear needed!
Servings 2 people
Ingredients
- 1 cup pickled jalapeño
- 1 cup cubed mozzarella cheese
For the pizza dough:
- 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
- ¾ cup warm water
- 1 tsp yeast
- 1 tsp salt
For the chicken:
- 1 ea chicken breast
- 1 tbsp crushed New Mexican chile or your choice of chili powder
- ½ tsp chipotle powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- freshly ground pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
For the garlic-oil sauce:
- 2 tbspT olive oil
- 2 ea garlic cloves minced
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add 1 teaspoon of yeast to ¾ cup warm water. Stir until the yeast has dissolved into the water.
- Add 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Combine as much as you can with a spoon.
- Dump flour mixture onto a work surface and knead with your hands until a cohesive ball is formed. If the dough is sticking to your fingers add a bit more flour.
- Cover with the mixing bowl and let rise for 1-2 hours (or 30 minutes if you are hungry)
- To make the garlic-oil sauce, finely mince 2 garlic cloves and add to 2 Tablespoons olive oil along with a pinch of salt. Smoosh the garlic into the oil using the back of a spoon and set aside.
- Chop a single chicken breast into bite-sized pieces and combine with the listed seasoning ingredients in a bowl.
- Saute the chicken in a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat until slightly undercooked. Set aside until needed.
- Tear the dough ball in half, and then tear one of the halves in half. This will be enough dough for a super thin 10" crust.
- Give it a quick roll out with a rolling pin and then let it sit for a couple of minutes, this will reduce the elasticity.
- Then you can roll it out to your desired thinness. Rolling the dough on parchment paper can be easier as it won't stick as much. You can also bake the pizza directly on parchment paper.
- For my kitchen setup, I start by baking the rolled-out dough for 1-2 minutes at 400°.
- Then add a thin layer of the garlic-oil sauce, followed by the chicken, cheese, and pickled jalapenos.
- Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges start to brown.
- Serve immediately.
- Optional garnishes include chopped cilantro, Crema, and more pickled jalapeño.
Notes
- Don't forget to slightly undercook the chicken. This will keep it from drying out when baking in the oven on the pizza.
- It takes very little of the garlic-oil sauce to keep the pizza from tasting dry. One Tablespoon per pizza is the upper limit, I probably end up using only ½ Tablespoon per pizza.
- This dough recipe is enough for four 10" thin-crust pizzas, but the listed ingredients for the toppings are for two pizzas. You can wrap the remaining dough in plastic and foil and it will keep in the fridge for at least 4-5 days.
- I like this recipe best when the crust is super thin. A light, thin crust keeps the focus on the chicken and pickled jalapeños. I've tried it with thicker crust before and did not like it as much.
