Chicken Spinach Pizza With Bacon On Fresh Dough Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Want a tasty family style pizza everyone will love? This chicken spinach pizza with bacon is made on fresh pizza crust with redsauce. It’s loaded with vegetables and salty bites of oven baked bacon.Definitely add this recipe to your pizza bucket list!
Help the pizza dough rise. Ideally, take your pizza dough out of the fridge a few hours before, or the morning of, making this chicken and spinach pizza. It will stretch really easily if it’s at room temperature. If you have a window with sun that shines in, place the bag of dough there to watch it rise very quickly. If you’re short on time, allowing at least 30-60 minutes for fresh ready made pizza dough to rise ahead of time is ideal. And if you’re reading this 5 minutes before making the pizza, know you can make the pizza from cold dough, it just won’t stretch as easily or be as large of a pizza.
Cook the bacon. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmedbaking sheet with parchment paper, then add the bacon. Bake bacon in the ovenfor 10 minutes, then flip it over and bake for another 5-10 minutes to yourdesired level of crispness. Pat dry, let it cool, then dice into 1” chunks.
Prep for baking the pizza. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Set out a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush half of the olive oil on the parchment paper. Add half the flour to the center of a large butchers block or flat surface. Put the other half off to the side.
Stretch the pizza dough. Roll the raw premade pizza dough in the flour in the center of your work surface. Coat it all over in a light dusting of the flour. Begin stretching the ready made pizza dough by pinching the outside in a circular motion to spread out the crust. Then you can alternate between pinching the center of the dough with your fingers, pressing it out on your work surface, and using your knuckles to pull the dough from underneath in an outward motion. You’ll want to pick up some extra flour as you stretch the dough - which will help it hold a larger size. I don’t aim for a perfect square or circle - the most beautiful pizzas are au natural. Check out the Sip Bite Go guide to stretching pizza dough for visuals.
Par bake pizza dough. When it’s large enough, use both arms (up to your elbows) to transfer the stretched pizza dough to the baking sheet pan. Brush the remaining 1 tsp of olive oil around the outside of the pizza dough which will help give it a golden crust. Sprinkle the crust with a pinch of salt. DO NOT add toppings at this time! Bake the naked pizza dough in the oven for 7 minutes at 450 degrees F. While it cooks, set out pizza toppings.
Prep oven for the second bake. Once it’s done baking, remove the parbaked pizza from the oven and preheat the oven to 500.
Add pizza toppings. Add the tomato sauce, dried Italian herbs, salt and pepper. You can add the rest of the main pizza topping ingredients in whichever order you’d like. In the Sip Bite Go demonstration video, I added most of the diced chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, and bacon. Then all of the fresh spinach, then the remaining chicken, cheese, and bacon. Followed with a final topping of halved cherry tomatoes, insides facing down.
Bake pizza with toppings. Add parbaked pizza with toppings to the oven and bake at 500 degrees F for 7-10 minutes, until the cheese has completely melted.
Finish and plate pizza. Remove baked chicken spinach pizza from the oven and transfer to a butchers block. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and a drizzle of balsamic glaze. Slice and serve.
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Notes
Tips on chicken breast for this recipe - This is a great way to use leftover chicken on pizza. If you need to make chicken to use for this pizza, see my guide to making 20 minute chicken breast on the stove and in the oven. One chicken breast makes about 1 cup of cooked chicken needed for this recipe.
Tips on pizza sauce for this recipe - You can swap out my DIY pizza sauce using plain canned tomato sauce for a store bought jarred pizza sauce. Though I still recommend sprinkling on an Italian seasonings if you have some, to give the sauce a more powerful flavor.
This chicken spinach pizza with red sauce can be transformed into a chicken spinach alfredo pizza - just swap out the sauce and use a white sauce. I love to use store bought alfredo sauce on pizza like this ravioli pizza if I don’t have homemade tomato sauce on hand.
Using leftover pizza on chicken... For this recipe I use leftover chicken. You can use any cooked chicken from 1-2 days prior. Pull apart slow cooked chicken for this or make fresh sous vide chicken tenders or simple oven baked chicken breast in about 15-20 minutes. You only need about one chicken breast, or about a cup of diced chicken.
Serving pizza family style... This is toddler pizza! Even with the spinach and tomatoes, my kiddo loves it. For serving this type of sheet pan pizza, I like to cut large square pieces. Sometimes I’ll sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on top or crushed red pepper. If you’re cooking pizza for the whole family, I recommend cutting a few bite size pieces about the size of your finger for little ones to grab.