Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Have you tried chicken alfredo in pizza form yet? If not, I’d say to you it’s a must. I love chicken alfredo pizza. I may not have ever been so keen to try it if it weren’t for my husband. He has a weakness for alfredo both in pasta and pizza form, so a few years ago I tried his at a restaurant and fell in love. Not only did I fall in love but I started making it at home and loving it equally as much, if not more than what we’d get in the restaurants.

There are a few options when making this pizza. You obviously can make your own crust, purchase one from the grocery store, or most of the time what I do is buy a large one or a few small ones from the local pizzeria. If you are making your own crust and don’t have a good recipe, I really like the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for pizza dough. Like I said though, most of the time it’s just easier for me to get a pre-made dough from the local Pizzeria, it’s always delicious with a perfect fluffy and chewy texture. The other option for this pizza is to cook it on the grill, which I do most of the time, especially in summer months because I just love the flavor of grilled pizza (if doing so, I’d recommend doing small pizzas, grilling one side of the dough first then remove, rotate and top – toppings should go on cooked side, then return to grill and continue grilling until golden and cheese is melted). You can also switch up the toppings to suit your taste, such as removing green onions if you don’t like them (I’d recommend replacing them with a lesser portion of fresh parsley if you aren’t using the green onions), adding slices mushrooms or spinach or make a Cordon Bleu version by adding ham and some Swiss cheese to the toppings as well. However you top it, I hope this pizza becomes one of your new favorites too.

Enjoy!

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb pizza dough, store-bought or homemade
• 1 1/2 cups cooked or grilled, shredded chicken
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp onion powder
• 1 Tbsp flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp heavy cream
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp whole milk
• 2 oz finely shredded Parmesan cheese (1/2 cup)
• Salt and freshly ground black or white pepper, to taste
• cornmeal, for dusting
• 4 oz shredded Mozzarella cheese (1 cup)
• 6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 Tbsp chopped green onions

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a pizza stone in center of oven to heat while preparing toppings for pizza (for at least 30 minutes).
• Melt butter along with garlic powder and onion powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. While whisking vigorously, slowly pour in cream and milk. Bring mixture just to a gentle bubble stirring constantly. Allow mixture to gently boil for 20 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add in Parmesan cheese, season with salt and pepper to taste then return to warm heat and stir occasionally until ready to use.

To assemble pizza:

• On a floured work surface, flatten, stretch and shape pizza dough into a 13 to 14-inch round, while creating a thicker outer crust. Sprinkle a wooden pizza peel with flour and cornmeal and transfer shaped dough to pizza peel, reshaping dough as need. Remove pizza stone from oven, sprinkle lightly with cornmeal then carefully slide shaped pizza dough from pizza peel onto hot pizza stone. Pour half of the Alfredo sauce over dough round, then use the back of a spoon to spread into an even layer coming within about 1-inch of the edge. Sprinkle shredded chicken over sauce layer, then pour remaining sauce evenly over chicken. Sprinkle top evenly with Mozzarella cheese then sprinkle with chopped bacon. Brush outer crust with olive oil and season crust lightly with a pinch of garlic powder and salt. Bake in preheated oven 14 - 16 minutes until crust is nicely golden. Remove from oven, garnish top evenly with green onions, cut into slices and serve warm.

(From: Cooking Classy)