The Best Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza with Pickles!
A few months back, a bunch of Youtube food vloggers threw down the #leftoverschallenge. You buy extra food from your favorite place and use the leftovers to make something new. My entry? Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza.
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A Surprise Party for Hubs
The first time we had made this recipe was for Hubs’ birthday party. It was a surprise party that he really didn’t see coming. I’d made up a cinnamon roll cheesecake, and we were set to make two pizzas. I had told him that we should have a back up one in case the hot chicken pizza didn’t work out.
The Birth of Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza
I’ll share the recipe for cheesecake another day (I definitely have a backlog of cheesecakes to share). Today, we’re going to talk about this Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza.
The idea was born out of just having leftover chicken from Hubs’ birthday dinner at Hattie B’s earlier in the week. Come Saturday, we still had some leftovers, but Saturdays are pizza night, religiously. So, we had already decided to put some on a pie.
It’s Nashville, so obviously, there are a dozen pizza places around here that do a Hot Chicken Pizza. You know what no one else does though? No one puts cold pickles on their pizza after it comes out of the oven. And guys, that is the KEY!! You HAVE to add the pickles. Otherwise, it’s just a spicy chicken pizza.
#LeftoversChallenge
So, these things get made and tested and then sit in my drafts folder for a while until I get my photos treated. Anyway, we were catching up on Babish and we were treated to the video on how to make Hattie B’s Hot Chicken (which I linked below), and then there was another video with an introduction.
In this intro, Andrew Rea teams up with his food vlogger friends to introduce the #LeftoversChallenge. To support your favorite local food establishments while we’re all stuck at home, order from them. Order more food than you can possibly eat in one meal, and use the leftovers creatively. Then post pictures on social media tagged #leftoverschallenge.
I thought it was a little funny that I’d already decided to post my leftover hot chicken pizza recipe, so why not join the challenge?
You can click the “Donate” link on the youtube page for the above video or head to https://www.restaurantworkerscf.org/ to donate to help relieve all those wonderful people who keep us fed and nourished.
Starting with the Pizza Dough
I have a post on how to make pizza dough and get it into the oven, but I thought I’d share some tips here to get your Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza just right. I start out by blooming my yeast. Technically, you don’t have to do this if you know your yeast is fresh, but it’s my habit now.
In a 1 cup glass measuring cup, I warm up 4 ounces of filtered water for 30 seconds in the microwave. Then I sprinkle in 1/2 tsp of sugar and stir it in until it’s dissolved. With the water still swirling, I sprinkle in 1 tsp of fast-rise yeast. Active dry yeast works well too, but the fast rise is nice when I’m pulling together a dough in a couple of hours.
Putting Together the Dough
Once my yeast is nice and frothy, I pour it over 1 cup of flour plus 1 tsp salt in my stand mixer with a hook attachment and let it go for 15 minutes. Check on it every now and then. If it’s soupy, add more flour. You want a wet dough, but not loose.
Sometimes this takes 1 1/4 cups of flour, and sometimes it takes close to 2 cups. It depends on the humidity and temperature and whether I’ve measured correctly or packed the flour into my cups.
Once your dough is stretchy and passes the windowpane test, tuck it up into a nice ball and rub it down with a little olive oil just to keep the skin moist. Place it in a bowl, cover it with a towel, and set it someplace kind of warm.
After an hour, it should have doubled in size. Now, you’ll pick it up gently and form it. You want to get a nice tight skin on there. Using your fingers you’ll tuck the sides under and into the middle until the top looks smooth and tight. Then you’ll pinch the divot you’ve created in the bottom closed to form a ball.
Setting Up to Make the Pizza
Spin it around a bit on the counter between your hands, using the slight stickiness of the dough to create tension to pull that skin nice and taut and seal up the pinched bit.
Set your lovely ball on a floured bit of counter, and cover with a towel. Let it proof for another hour. During this time, set your pizza stone on the top shelf of your oven, but set that rack to be right in the middle. Set the lower rack two levels below it. This is where you’ll be setting a dish with ice later.
Turn that oven up to 500ºF or higher. Ours goes to 550ºF, so that’s usually what temperature I bake pizzas. You want to let the stone get hot, so it preheats with the oven.
Once the oven has preheated for at least half an hour, but preferably an hour, I prepare my pizza starting with the peel. I’ll dust it with a bit of cornmeal and set it aside.
Then, using a rolling pin (how un-Italian, I know), I roll my dough out into a 16-inch round. This is what fits my pizza stone and peel, and honestly, I just count the number of planks on my counter instead of measuring now.
Once my dough is to size, I lay it on the prepped peel.
A Quick Word About Nashville Hot Chicken
Maybe in a later post, I’ll make up some homemade, but I prefer to support my local businesses. If you don’t have hot chicken near you and feel like making your own, I have two options for you:
To make sure your hot chicken is pizza-ready, here are a few tips. Refrigerate the leftovers. This works best when your chicken is cold. When you’re preparing to top your pizza, dice it up into bite-sized pieces.
Now, I can admit that the hottest hot chicken makes me sweat, so I usually settle for medium. However, the weirdest thing happens with this pizza. The heat kind of goes out of it. So, I used the Hot on this, and it came out just right. Just know your heat tolerance, because you want to enjoy this pizza!
Now… To Make a Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza!
To dress your pizza, start with plain tomato sauce. Alfredo also works, but I like the tomato sauce better. Spoon it on and spread it evenly. Work quickly so your dough doesn’t get mushy and stick to the peel.
Sprinkle mozzarella evenly all over the top. Then, add a layer of chopped-up, cold-leftover, Nashville Hot Chicken. Sprinkle just a little more mozzarella over that to make it stick, but leave it visible so the crust gets crunchy again.
Jiggle that pizza onto your preheated peel, and then place your dish of ice cubes on the rack below. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, but watch it. Pull it out when the cheese is your preferred level of golden brown.
While it bakes, dry off dill pickle slices so they don’t make your pie too wet. When it comes out of the oven, dress your Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza with all the pickles you want. Cut it into slices or squares depending on your preference.
Serve Up a Perfect Family Night
Then, pour yourself a nice cold local brew and settle in with your family and a good movie. This is my recipe for a delicious Saturday night.
More pizzas you can make for variety:
So, comment below and tell me how you’re doing! Are you participating in the #LeftoversChallenge? Did you donate? Who are you supporting? I can’t wait to hear from you. And don’t forget to subscribe for blog updates and fun stuff!
Note: This originally posted April 24, 2020. It was updated with new photos and a fresh blog edit September 19, 2020.
Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza
Equipment
- Pizza Stone
- Pizza peel
- Pizza cutter
- Rolling pin
Ingredients
- 1 lb pizza dough
- ⅓ cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella and cheddar combined
- ¾ cup Nashville hot chicken cold and diced
- ½ cup dill pickle chips dried on a paper towel
Instructions
- Place the top rack of your oven in the center, and set the pizza stone on it. Preheat the oven to 550ºF for at least half an hour.
- Roll out your prepared dough to a 16-inch circle. Dust your pizza peel with cornmeal, and place the dough on it.
- Dress the pizza with tomato sauce, cheese, and Nashville hot chicken.
- Place a pan with a small handful of ice cubes on the rack below your pizza peel, and then shimmy the pizza off the peel onto the stone.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the crust is browned and the cheese is bubbly and golden.
- Remove from the stone, back onto your pizza peel. Decorate with your dill pickle chips, and cut into 16 slices.
