California-Style BBQ Chicken Pizza
The pizza that told America anything goes: barbecue sauce instead of tomato, smoky gouda and mozzarella, roasted chicken, red onion and fresh cilantro.
California Pizza Kitchen was born in Beverly Hills in 1985, opened by former federal prosecutors Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax, and says its Original BBQ Chicken Pizza was "created here in 1985" with BBQ sauce, chicken, smoked gouda, red onion and cilantro (CPK). UPI's obituary of chef Ed LaDou says he was the first pizza chef at Wolfgang Puck's Spago, which opened in 1982, and that he developed CPK's first menu. Wikipedia says California-style pizza is generally credited to LaDou and to Alice Waters' Chez Panisse cafe, more or less at the same time around 1980. The recipe below is in the style CPK made famous; it is not CPK's recipe.
🇺🇸 This one is American
The pizza that told America anything goes: barbecue sauce instead of tomato, smoky gouda and mozzarella, roasted chicken, red onion and fresh cilantro.
🇮🇹 The original
In Naples, pizza is a soft, thin-centered disc with a puffy, blistered rim, topped with tomato, mozzarella and basil and baked in about 90 seconds in a wood-fired oven. See the Pizza Napoletana Margherita recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Two cheeses
Smoked gouda brings the smoky flavor that echoes the barbecue sauce, and mozzarella gives the stretch the gouda alone doesn't have.
Sauced chicken
Roasting the chicken in a little sauce and tossing it in more afterward keeps it juicy and makes it taste like barbecue, not like plain chicken on a pizza.
Step by step
- Step 1
Put a pizza stone (or an upside-down baking sheet) on the lower-middle rack and heat the oven to 425°F for at least 30 minutes. Divide the dough in half, shape into balls, brush with oil, cover and let rise 30 to 40 minutes.
- Step 2
Toss the chicken with 2 tsp oil and 2 tbsp of the barbecue sauce on a small baking sheet and roast about 20 minutes, until it reaches 165°F. Let it rest 5 minutes, cut into bite-size pieces and toss with the other 2 tbsp sauce.
- Step 3
On a floured counter, roll or stretch each ball into a 10-inch round. Lay them on cornmeal-dusted parchment, cover and let rest 15 minutes.
- Step 4
Brush each round with 1 tsp oil and spread with 1/3 cup barbecue sauce, leaving a 1/2-inch border.
- Step 5
Top each with half the gouda and mozzarella, half the chicken and half the onion.
- Step 6
Slide one pizza, on its parchment, onto the stone and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the cheese is bubbling. Repeat with the second.
- Step 7
Scatter with cilantro, cut into 6 slices each and serve.
California-Style BBQ Chicken Pizza
Serves 4 (half a pizza each) · 2 pizzas, 10 inches each · 2 hr total
Chicken
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 lb)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup barbecue sauce (dark, smoky style)
Pizza
- 1 lb store-bought or homemade pizza dough, at room temperature
- 2 tsp olive oil, plus more for brushing
- 2/3 cup barbecue sauce
- 6 oz smoked gouda, shredded (about 1 1/3 cups)
- 6 oz part-skim mozzarella, shredded (about 1 1/3 cups)
- 1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- Cornmeal or flour, for the pan
Method
- Put a pizza stone (or an upside-down baking sheet) on the lower-middle rack and heat the oven to 425°F for at least 30 minutes. Divide the dough in half, shape into balls, brush with oil, cover and let rise 30 to 40 minutes.
- Toss the chicken with 2 tsp oil and 2 tbsp of the barbecue sauce on a small baking sheet and roast about 20 minutes, until it reaches 165°F. Let it rest 5 minutes, cut into bite-size pieces and toss with the other 2 tbsp sauce.
- On a floured counter, roll or stretch each ball into a 10-inch round. Lay them on cornmeal-dusted parchment, cover and let rest 15 minutes.
- Brush each round with 1 tsp oil and spread with 1/3 cup barbecue sauce, leaving a 1/2-inch border.
- Top each with half the gouda and mozzarella, half the chicken and half the onion.
- Slide one pizza, on its parchment, onto the stone and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the cheese is bubbling. Repeat with the second.
- Scatter with cilantro, cut into 6 slices each and serve.
Adapted from Food Network Kitchen, "Almost-Famous Barbecue Chicken Pizza" (Food Network Magazine; one 10-inch pizza, doubled here). The build matches CPK's menu description and the one King Arthur Baking quotes from it. Splitting the sauce between chicken and pizza is ours. Food Network. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Use leftover or rotisserie chicken to save 25 minutes (America's Test Kitchen's version does).
- Add the cilantro after baking. Baked cilantro turns dark and loses its fresh taste.
- A sweet, thick barbecue sauce works better than a thin vinegar one, which soaks the crust.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- BBQ sauce, smoked gouda, red onion and cilantro. Documented as the CPK build (CPK menu; King Arthur's 2011 quote of it).
- Who created the BBQ chicken pizza. Disputed: CPK says it was created in its kitchen in 1985 and doesn't name a chef; UPI and the Los Angeles Times obituary (via Wikipedia) say Ed LaDou developed CPK's first menu, which included it; Wikipedia says LaDou invented it.
- Who started California pizza. Disputed: Wikipedia credits Ed LaDou and Chez Panisse's cafe (1980) "more or less simultaneously"; Wolfgang Puck's Spago made it famous nationally.
- CPK's best seller. Documented as CPK and trade-press claims: Nation's Restaurant News calls it the chain's "perennial best-seller".
Every other pizza
Pizza Napoletana Margherita
The Naples original: a soft, hand-stretched dough with a puffy, charred rim, topped with hand-crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil, and nothing else.
Pizza Marinara
Naples' other classic, and the older idea: tomato, sliced garlic, oregano and olive oil on a soft, charred crust. No cheese, and no seafood either.
Sfincione (Palermo-Style Sicilian Pizza)
Palermo's tall, spongy pan pizza: cheese and anchovies pressed into the dough, a sweet onion and tomato sauce on top, and a crunchy blanket of oregano and toasted breadcrumbs.
Roman Pizza al Taglio with Potato and Rosemary
Rome's sheet-pan pizza by the slice: a very wet dough, cold-risen for a day, baked airy and crisp, topped with paper-thin potatoes, rosemary and olive oil, and cut into rectangles with scissors.
New York-Style Pizza
The big, thin, foldable slice: a cold-fermented bread-flour dough with a little sugar and oil, a smooth cooked tomato sauce and grated low-moisture mozzarella, baked hot and long until the cheese spots brown.
Grandma Pizza
Long Island's thin square pan pie: an oiled sheet-pan crust, mozzarella first, then raw tomatoes tossed with garlic, olive oil and oregano spooned on top.
New Haven White Clam Pizza
New Haven's famous "apizza": a thin, charred crust with olive oil, garlic, oregano, grated Pecorino Romano and fresh littleneck clams, and no mozzarella.
Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza
A tall, flaky, buttery crust baked in a round pan, filled with a thick layer of mozzarella and topped with a chunky tomato sauce and Parmesan. Eat it with a knife and fork.
Chicago Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza
Chicago's everyday pizza: a cracker-thin crust, a sweet herby sauce to the very edge, fennel-flecked sausage and mozzarella to the rim, cut into little squares.
Detroit-Style Pizza
A thick, airy rectangle baked in a well-oiled steel pan, with pepperoni under Wisconsin brick cheese spread to the very edge so it fries into a dark, crispy crown, and sauce spooned on top in stripes.
St. Louis-Style Pizza
A cracker-thin crust rolled out with a pin, a sweet oregano sauce, toppings to the edge and gooey, smoky Provel cheese, cut into squares.
Weeknight Skillet Pizza
Store-bought dough crisped in a skillet on the stove, then finished under the broiler: a crackly-bottomed cheese pizza in about 35 minutes, no stone and no preheating.
Pan Pizza, Inspired by Pizza Hut
Inspired by Pizza Hut's Pan Pizza, not an official recipe: a thick, no-knead dough that rises in an oiled cast-iron skillet and bakes with a golden, almost fried bottom and cheese right to the edge.
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