BBQ Chicken Pizza

Sometimes nothing satisfies your hunger like pizza.  In fact, I'm sure just the mention of it, brings to mind a favorite pie - the toppings, thin or thick crust, hot from the oven or next day cold from the fridge.  So after a conversation with my son about pizza the other day, I got to thinking about trying to find a way to enjoy a gourmet pie on a hungry, hungry college student budget.  I think I did well.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:
1 crust (I used an already made crust, but if you like the process, you can usually buy the dough and make it yourself)
1 cup *BBQ Sauce (any BBQ sauce will do)
2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, split into 1 cup portions
1 pre-cooked chicken breast from the deli (I prefer roasted instead of breaded and deep fried) - remove the meat from  the bone and shred into bite sized pieces.
1 small onion, sliced
Bacon bits

Directions:
Place the crust on either a baking sheet or pizza stone. Start with evenly distributing the BBQ on the pizza crust.  Put 1 cup of the mozzarella on the pizza, then spread the chicken evenly.  Next goes the onion and the bacon bits.  Finish off with the remainder of the mozzarella.

Bake at 450 until the cheese is melted.  7 to 9 minutes.


*BBQ sauce - I like to spice up my BBQ sauce and here is how I do it.
Ingredients: 3/4 cup BBQ sauce, 2 tbsp. lemon juice, 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard, 1 can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, 2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. cayenne powder, 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes - put all of it in a food processor or blender and blend.  I use this instead of the BBQ sauce and it's SPICY!


Today's pricing is based on prices I found at Albertson's
Boboli Thin Crust - $4.79
BBQ sauce (generic) - $.99
Mozzarella (shredded) - $2.99
Deli chicken - $1.59
Onion - $.69
Bacon bits (8 oz.) - $2.99

Total - $14.04, 4 servings makes it $3.51 per serving.

To save $$, pizza dough (uncooked) is usually cheaper.  Buying your cheese in blocks and shredding it yourself (this is how we did it in the olden days - yes, I'm referring to my college days), will most likely be cheaper and you'll have some left over.  Also, if you go to the butcher section of your grocery store, you can buy just a few slices of bacon.  Last week bacon from the butcher was $2.99 a pound, even a half pound would be cheaper than buying it already cooked and crumbled.  Of course, all these options will take more time on your part but when money it tight, it's worth it.


*Spiced up BBQ Sauce (price break down, again, all based on prices found at Albertson's)
BBQ sauce - $.99
Lemon juice - $1.29 (small lemon looking squeeze container)
Canola oil - $2.99( 24 fl. oz - store brand)
Dijon mustard - $1.00 (12 oz. store brand)
1 can chipotle peppers in Adobo  $2.99
(hopefully you already have these spices on hand)
Total - spent $9.26 but you won't use up all of the ingredients and you may have some already on hand.  And there will be enough of the spicy BBQ to use on a pasta dish or meatball sandwich later in the week.

Enjoy!