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Our homemade Buffalo Chicken Pizza is full of spicy buffalo sauce, tender chicken, and it’s all drizzled with a creamy ranch dressing. Use my easy homemade pizza dough or start with a store bought crust.
Alright, let’s talk homemade pizza.
I feel like there are people who LOVE making pizza at home and then there are people who are like, but it’s so easy to just have it delivered straight to your door!
I’m very much right smack in the middle of those two groups.
I LOVE homemade pizza and I also LOVE delivery.
What I really like about homemade pizza is the ability to get creative. Buffalo Chicken Pizza? Yes, please. Breakfast pizza? You bet. Pizza bread? Now we’re talking. Pizza rolls? This might be my love language.
You can make as many small pizzas as you want so everyone has their own perfect pizza and you don’t break the bank doing it. Or you can go all out and make one big pizza for everyone with all the crazy toppings you like.
This buffalo chicken pizza starts with an EASY homemade pizza crust, but you can totally use store bought if you’re not feeling all Betty Crocker about it.
The topping is super simple, loaded with flavor, and easy to make more mild or spicy.
Keep on reading for all my tips and tricks or scroll down past the photos to the recipe card!
Ingredients Notes:
Pizza Dough – We start with a standard wheat pizza dough that bakes up soft and chewy. You can use store bought pizza crust to make things go faster, but we love our homemade dough.
Chicken – This recipe was made for that leftover chicken! You can also grab a rotisserie chicken the next time you’re at the store.
Sauce: Rather than a traditional sauce, we’re using a mixture of cream cheese and ranch seasoning as the base for our pizza.
Drizzle: We drizzle our buffalo chicken pizza with ranch dressing, but blue cheese is a solid choice as well.
Variations
Swap the cream cheese and ranch mixture for blue cheese dressing.
Sprinkle blue cheese over the pizza before baking.
Use canned chicken in place of leftover cooked chicken.
Reduce the buffalo sauce to make this more mild.
Use Frank’s Red Hot instead of buffalo sauce to make it spicier. Add ground cayenne to the mix if you really like it hot or slice some jalapenos over the top.
Step by Step Instructions:
Crust: Combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar to a bowl and let it activate and get foamy – this takes about 10 minutes. Then you just mix in the flour, oil, and salt. We use a stand mixer for this and let the mixer knead the dough for a few minutes to get it nice and smooth.
This dough takes one hour to rise and then you’ll punch it down, shape it on a pizza pan, and start with the toppings. In a rush? Skip the dough and try making our buffalo chicken flatbread.
Preheat: We want a screaming hot oven when it’s time to bake the pizza. Once the dough has risen for about 40 minutes, go ahead and turn your oven to 500 degrees. We want it to be at temperature for about 20 minutes before you put the oven in, just to be sure it’s good and hot.
Sauce: Rather than a traditional red pizza sauce, we’re using a mixture of cream cheese and ranch seasoning. Spread this mixture over the pizza crust. Top with mozzarella.
Helpful Tip!
We use Hidden Valley Ranch in our house. Be sure to look at the packets closely. You’ll find both ranch seasoning and ranch dressing mix in the little packets. The seasoning is what you want, as it has quite a bit less sodium than the dressing. You can use the dressing mix, if that’s what you have on hand, but your final result will be quite a bit saltier.
Topping: This recipe is the perfect use for leftover rotisserie chicken. You can also use my crockpot shredded chicken or Instant Pot whole chicken for this one.
Toss the chicken in buffalo sauce and sprinkle it over the pizza. This homemade buffalo sauce is always a good option, but store bought works just fine too.
Bake: Your oven should be good and hot at this point. Pop the pizza in and let it bake for 10 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese is all melty and gooey.
Homemade Pizza Dough Tips:
Working with yeast can be a bit intimidating at first, but it’s actually quite simple and really forgiving!
Start with water that’s right around 110 degrees. This will allow the yeast a warm place to activate. If the water is too cold, your dough won’t rise. If the water is too hot, it’ll kill the yeast.
Don’t be scared to add more flour. Some days you’ll need more and some days you’ll need less – it depends on the humidity! Just add more in a bit at a time until the dough is smooth and pliable. It should have a bit of stick when you touch it, but your fingers should come away mostly clean.
Keeping the dough in a warm place, such as the oven with the light on or in a cozy, draft-free corner, will help the dough to rise more quickly.
When it’s time to shape the dough, don’t be afraid to manhandle it a bit. Get in there and have fun punching it down and shaping it. This is my favorite part!
Recipe FAQs:
You’ll want to be sure that your yeast isn’t old and that your water is the right temperature. Right around 110 degrees is perfect for yeast…too cold and it won’t bloom, too hot and it will die.
Keeping your dough in a warm spot will help it to rise a bit more quickly. We use the proof function on our oven and keep the bowl in there. It still takes awhile, but it’s quicker than letting it sit on a cool countertop.
We tend to use all purpose flour because that’s what we always have on hand. If you have bread flour or want to purchase some, that will create a chewier crust due to the higher gluten content in bread flour.
More buffalo chicken recipes:
- Buffalo Chicken Sandwich
- Buffalo Chicken Salad
- Buffalo Chicken Flautas
- Buffalo Chicken Sliders
- Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip
Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3/4 cup warm water around 110 degrees
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 cups flour all-purpose or bread flour
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Toppings:
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 teaspoon ranch seasoning mix
- 1 cup chopped cooked chicken
- 1/2 cup buffalo sauce
- 8 ounces mozzarella shredded
- 1 tablespoon chopped green onions
- ranch dressing or blue cheese for serving
Instructions
- To make the dough, place the warm water and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let bloom, about 10 minutes.
- Add the flour, olive oil, and salt to the yeast mixture and turn the mixer (fitted with the dough hook) to medium. Knead until the dough comes together to form a smooth dough. You may need to add more flour, a few tablespoons at a time, until the dough comes together. Remove dough to an oiled bowl and place in the oven with the light turned on.
- Let rise for one hour, or until doubled in bulk.
- Set the oven to 500 degrees after the dough has risen for about 30 minutes.
- When the dough has doubled, punch it down.
- Roll the dough out on a well floured surface to a 12 inch circle and place on a pizza stone or pan.
- Microwave the cream cheese until very soft and melty. Stir the ranch seasoning into the cream cheese to combine.
- Spread the cream cheese mixture over the crust evenly.
- Sprinkle all but 1/4 cup of the cheese over the crust.
- Toss the chicken with the hot sauce to coat and spread the chicken evenly over the cheese.
- Top with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until the dough is golden and the cheese has melted.
- Sprinkle with green onions and drizzle ranch or blue cheese dressing over the pizza before serving, if desired.
Dee Mittie says
My daughter loves anything ‘buffalo’ so I had some leftover chicken, wanted to use it up and decided to try this recipe. She absolutely flipped over this pizza, so much so that I’ve made it twice in the past week, and she’s asked for it again! I can’t recall, in any recent memory anyway, of any recipe that she’s asked for this often in this short a time frame. It’s a 10 star hit in our home! Thank you!
Karly says
Oh yay! Love to hear that!!
Oaksgram says
Absolutely delicious! The dry ranch dressing onto the pizza crust added just the right balance. I topped the hot sauced shredded chicken with shredded carrot, celery and green onion then the mozzarella cheese. Out of the oven I shredded blue cheese over it. Definitely will make again!
Karly says
Sounds like delicious additions! 🙂
Anonymous says
This recipe looks great! It’s def gonna be a favourite do I would like to make 2! Do I simply double the recipe, or do I have to either slide the servings bar in the recipe or make a few adjustments to some ingredients?
Karly says
Hi there! You can just double the recipe. 🙂
Karly says
Wanted to add, if you don’t want to double the yeast, you can just double the rest of the ingredients in the dough and allow for a longer rise time.
Kelli says
Planning to make this tonight! Could you clarify how much salt to add to the dough? It’s mentioned in step 2 of the instructions but isn’t listed in the ingredient list. Thanks!
Karly says
Hi Kelli! Sorry about that – it should be 1/2 teaspoon, but a little more or less won’t hurt anything. I’ve updated the amount of yeast as well. It looks like the recipe was imported incorrectly and the amounts all shifted around on the dough. I hope the recipe worked out for you last night!
Jessica Luther says
It took me 45 minutes to finish this dish your way.
Really great results. My whole family loves it.
they asked me to do more next time,
thank you
Malissa says
My kids love this Pizza. Or maybe it’s the Red Hot either way there is never any left. Like chicken wings with cheese and bread.
Whits@amusebouche says
Very good added tomatoes and onions (green and vidala and sprinked cheddar cheese on top)
Rimmy says
Hi Karly, I’m a chicken pizza addition and I truly love your recipe so much.
How can we control the chicken without over oven and fry?
Karly says
Hi Rimmy! I’m not sure I understand your question?
Richard Tunner says
Made this Friday night and all who ate it agreed that it was the best pizza they ever had! thanks!
Karly says
Oh that’s awesome! Thanks!
Susan Dubose says
Super delicious and so easy! I will make this again and again. It is addicting!
Linda says
Oh my! this looks gorgeous and colorful! Cannot wait to try this.
Janet says
I made this last week, my two teenage boys said it was the best pizza I ever made! Thank you for all the great recipes!
Karly says
Glad to hear that!
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