Pizza Chicken
Published Date: January 30, 2023
This Pizza Chicken recipe is a quick yet healthy way to enjoy your favorite pizza flavors, requiring only 15 minutes of hands-on prep time! An instant family favorite meal that everyone will love!
Pizza Chicken is the perfect dish for when you’re short on time yet want a healthy meal that’s packed with some of your favorite flavors! Make it a meal by serving this dish up with a crisp, fresh green salad and some garlic bread!
This Pizza Chicken is made with chicken breasts that are smothered and stuffed with pizza flavor using pizza sauce, Italian seasoning, shredded cheese, and pepperoni making this recipe an easy dinner that your pickiest eaters will enjoy and even look forward to having over and over again!
All About This Pizza Chicken
Taste: The fresh basil, seasoned pepperoni, and pizza sauce inside of and covering the chicken won’t even allow you to miss out on real pizza! Instead, you’ll be too busy shocking your taste buds that they CAN have their favorite flavors yet in a healthier way.
Texture: Each saucy bite of this pizza chicken is filled with melty cheese and crisp pepperoni. And obviously, lots of chicken! Since the chicken is baked in and covered with pizza sauce, it comes out super moist and amazingly tender.
Customize This Recipe Just Like Your Pizza!
The best part about making pizza is that you can customize the ingredients so that it’s exactly the way you like. And the same goes for this Pizza Chicken Recipe!
Though this recipe has a pepperoni style, you can swap it out for your favorite toppings. Try topping this chicken with olives, veggies, mushrooms, or even anchovies!
Since each chicken breast is topped individually, you could essentially have make-your-own pizza night but with chicken! Everyone gets to use their favorite toppings! The variation ideas are endless, so have fun in the kitchen getting creative with this Pizza Chicken!
Recipe Tip: If you have a favorite homemade pizza sauce, go the extra mile and whip that up to use in this recipe as well!
Kitchen Tips For Making Pizza Chicken
- Meat Size – Chicken breasts come in all different sizes. When choosing your meat for this recipe, try to get chicken breasts that are similarly sized. This way, all of the chicken will be done cooking around the same time.
- Butterflying – Use an extra sharp knife when butterflying the chicken to make the process as easy as possible. For a nicer presentation, I prefer to cut a little more toward the top of the breast when stuffing. Once sliced, you can season the inside of the butterflied breasts if you’d like. However, I do find that the pepperoni flavor seasons it plenty!
- Sauce – As with all pizza chicken recipes, this one calls for pizza sauce. For best results, choose your favorite pizza sauce! Though this recipe does call for 2 14oz jars, I usually only use about 1 1/2. I just wanted to allow for flexibility for varying chicken breast sizes and saucy (or not!) preferences!
- Doneness – With all chicken dishes, you want to ensure it’s safe to eat before pulling it from the oven! To check for doneness, insert a kitchen thermometer into the thickest part of a breast. Once the thermometer reads 165 degrees F, the meat is safe to eat!
Storage Instructions
Place any leftovers into an airtight container and store them in the fridge. Enjoy leftover pizza chicken for up to 3 days.
Is This A Dish That I Can Make A Head Of Time?
This dish can absolutely be made ahead of time, and I do it often! To make this dish ahead of time, simply assemble it and follow instructions right up until baking it. Then cover it tightly with tin foil or plastic wrap and slide it into the fridge. Then simply go back to it when you’re ready to bake up dinner!
Can I Use Turkey Pepperoni In This Recipe?
Of course, feel free to use your favorite pepperoni when making this Pizza Chicken!
Could The Chicken Breasts Be Topped With Fresh Mozzarella Instead Of Shredded?
Yes, fresh mozzarella would be a wonderful addition to this recipe if you have any you’d like to use up. To do so, I’d cut the mozzarella into thinner slices so that the toppings can lay nicely on top.
This way, when the cheese melts, the toppings can stick to it!
Pizza Chicken
EQUIPMENT
- 9×13-inch baking dish
- Cutting Board
- Chef knife
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring spoons
INGREDIENTS
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts About 2 lbs
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- 6 ounces pepperoni slices
- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 (14 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
- 2 (14 oz) jar pizza sauce
- 2 Tablespoons fresh basil chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and prepare a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray, set aside.
- Use a sharp knife to butterfly the chicken breasts.4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Stuff each chicken breast with a bit of the cheese and a few pepperoni slices, then close to keep in place.6 ounces pepperoni slices, 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Brush olive oil on the top of each chicken breast and season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Place the chicken in the prepared baking pan and surround with the petite diced tomatoes.1 (14 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
- Carefully spoon the pizza sauce over the chicken breasts, and tomatoes.2 (14 oz) jar pizza sauce
- Top the chicken breasts with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni slices and fresh basil.3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, 6 ounces pepperoni slices, 2 Tablespoons fresh basil
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 45 minutes or until the internal temperature of chicken reads 165°F.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.
NOTES
- Storage Instructions: Place any leftovers into an airtight container and store them in the fridge. Enjoy leftover pizza chicken for up to 3 days.
- Is This A Dish That I Can Make A Head Of Time? This dish can absolutely be made ahead of time, and I do it often! To make this dish ahead of time, simply assemble it and follow instructions right up until baking it. Then cover it tightly with tin foil or plastic wrap and slide it into the fridge. Then simply go back to it when you’re ready to bake up dinner!
- Can I Use Turkey Pepperoni In This Recipe? Of course, feel free to use your favorite pepperoni when making this Pizza Chicken!
- Could The Chicken Breasts Be Topped With Fresh Mozzarella Instead Of Shredded? Yes, fresh mozzarella would be a wonderful addition to this recipe if you have any you’d like to use up. To do so, I’d cut the mozzarella into thinner slices so that the toppings can lay nicely on top. This way, when the cheese melts, the toppings can stick to it!
- Meat Size – Chicken breasts come in all different sizes. When choosing your meat for this recipe, try to get chicken breasts that are similarly sized. This way, all of the chicken will be done cooking around the same time.
- Butterflying – Use an extra sharp knife when butterflying the chicken to make the process as easy as possible. For a nicer presentation, I prefer to cut a little more toward the top of the breast when stuffing. Once sliced, you can season the inside of the butterflied breasts if you’d like. However, I do find that the pepperoni flavor seasons it plenty!
- Sauce – As with all pizza chicken recipes, this one calls for pizza sauce. For best results, choose your favorite pizza sauce! Though this recipe does call for 2 14oz jars, I usually only use about 1 1/2. I just wanted to allow for flexibility for varying chicken breast sizes and saucy (or not!) preferences!
- Doneness – With all chicken dishes, you want to ensure it’s safe to eat before pulling it from the oven! To check for doneness, insert a kitchen thermometer into the thickest part of a breast. Once the thermometer reads 165 degrees F, the meat is safe to eat!
This was a perfect meal to serve my pizza loving husband that is trying to stay away from breads and pasta. It satisfied the pizza craving, was minimal ingredients and went perfectly with the ceasar bites thwat are also on this site. Win-win for this family