I’ve been trying to come up with the perfect Buffalo Chicken wing. To me, it is the quintessential game-day indulgence. Like football, it comes with a passionate army of fans, fans with unwavering allegiances to their teams, their perfect buffalo chicken wing. Fried or baked? Mild, medium or five-alarm-fire? Bleu cheese or ranch? I faced the same conundrum with my recipe for chili, not to mention that I was entirely out of my comfort zone. I actually have only recently started eating chicken wings. Why, may you ask, did I avoid this lovely, handheld snackable? I really don’t have any clue. The same reason I didn’t eat – wait for it – BACON – for most of my life… I just decided I wasn’t going to eat it and never even gave myself an opportunity to realize what I was missing! Ok, let’s take a minute… deep breaths… I eat bacon now, love it in fact, so we can all calm down. Anyhow, my quest for that perfectly spicy, wonderfully crispy wing was hitting multiple dead ends. It occurred to me that this may be a bit out of my cooking style, something I have been working to define since I started this foodie-girl venture. I started to think about what it was that I enjoyed about buffalo chicken wings. What was I craving, exactly, when I placed an order at the bar? It’s the combination of flavors and temperatures. Tender chicken doused in a bold and spicy sauce is tempered by the cool, funky effects of bleu cheese (I’m on the bleu cheese team – not ranch!). There’s obviously a reason this flavor profile has reinterpreted itself in a variety of forms, one of the best being pizza. And as we all well know, Foodie-Girl is unabashedly obsessed with pizza. So there was my answer, just in time for football’s biggest night. Buffalo chicken in keeping with foodie-girl’s personal style, a style I am confident you will be happy to embrace. And in case this hasn’t tempted you, check out our little taste-bud teaser… something tells me it will do the trick! Enjoy!
Place a pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. I let my pizza stone sit in the oven for up to 45 minutes to ensure it is nice and hot, resulting in a crispy crust.
Turning to the toppings, begin by searing off the chicken. Rinse one chicken breast under water and pat dry. Cut into small, one-inch cubes. Toss with one half tsp each of the following: garlic powder, cumin, cayenne and kosher salt. Add one eighth of a tsp freshly ground black pepper and make sure all of the chicken is coated in the seasoning. Warm a small frying pan over medium heat and add one tbs olive oil. Cook the chicken for four total minutes, tossing midway through. Set aside. The interior of the chicken will still be slightly raw. You do not want to cook the chicken all the way through at this point. It will have plenty of time to finish cooking on the pizza, in the oven. The last thing you want is for the chicken to be dried out and flavorless. This method will ensure your chicken doesn’t succumb to that fate!
On to the sauce. Because we are putting the buffalo twist on this pie, I needed a simple substitute for the classic marinara. I had spotted a fantastic recipe for Sriracha Buffalo sauce in a recent issue of Bon Appétit and I knew it would be right up my alley. All you do is add a HEALTHY dose of butter (six tbs to be exact), one eighth cup white wine vinegar and one eight tsp salt to one quarter cup of Sriracha. Warm on the stove until the butter melts and the mixture blends together. Set aside.
Roll the pizza dough out until very thin. Remove the pizza stone/baking sheet from the oven and move the dough to the surface of the stone/sheet. I find that the easiest way to do this is by using my rolling pin, wrapping the dough around the well-floured pin and then unrolling it directly onto the pizza stone/sheet’s surface. Lightly drizzle olive oil over the surface of the dough and spread until evenly covered. Carefully spoon the Sriracha Buffalo sauce onto the dough, smoothing it into an even layer. I used about two-thirds of the sauce for the pizza. Make sure to reserve some of the sauce for garnish at the end.
Feel free to take some license here and dress up the pie in whatever manner you prefer. Personally, I went with two cloves minced garlic, thinly sliced onion, fresh mozzarella (approximately six ounces, thinly sliced) LOTS of crumbled bleu cheese (around four ounces or so) and a healthy shower of freshly grated parmesan cheese. And don’t forget to add the chicken!
Bake for 10-13 minutes on 450 until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the crust has started to brown. Remove and garnish with the Sriracha Buffalo sauce and minced fresh basil. Allow the pizza to cool for 2-3 minutes and then cut and serve.
I hope this pizza makes the cut for your Super Bowl menu! And in honor of my East-Coast family:
Makes one 12″-14″ Pizza
Pizza Dough (makes two 12″-14″ inch pizza crusts)
- one package (2 and 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
- one and one third cups warm water (105 – 115 degrees)
- three and three quarter cups all-purpose flour
- two tbs olive oil
- one tbs salt
- one tbs sugar.
Place the warm water in a bowl and mix in the yeast. Allow to stand for five minutes so the yeast can dissolve. Add the yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the flour, sugar, olive oil and salt. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed to combine for one minute. Once the ingredients are combined, continue to knead with the dough hook on speed two for five – eight minutes. You will begin to see the dough forming and, by the time it is done mixing, it will be one ball, all of the extra bits scraped off the side and caught up in the beautiful pizza dough. Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and continue to knead by hand for two-three minutes. Drizzle a large bowl with a little bit of olive oil on the bottom and around the sides. Add the dough ball to the bowl and turn, so all sides have been brushed by the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the kitchen counter until it has doubled in volume – one and a half to two and a half hours.
Remove the dough from the bowl and cut the ball in half. You will get two 12″ pizzas from each batch of pizza dough. This dough will last in the freezer for up to two months.
Buffalo Chicken Pizza
- one chicken breast, approximately one half pound
- one half tsp garlic powder
- one half tsp cumin
- one half tsp cayenne
- one half tsp kosher salt
- one eighth tsp freshly ground black pepper
- six tbs butter
- one quarter cup Sriracha
- one eighth cup white wine vinegar
- one eighth tsp kosher salt
- two cloves garlic, minced
- one third cup thinly sliced onion
- six ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
- four ounces bleu cheese
- parmesan cheese
- fresh basil
- two tbs olive oil, divided
Rinse one chicken breast under water and pat dry. Cut into small, one-inch cubes. Toss with one half tsp each of the following: garlic powder, cumin, cayenne and kosher salt. Add one eighth of a tsp freshly ground black pepper and make sure all of the chicken is coated in the seasoning. Heat a small frying pan over medium heat and add one tbs olive oil. Cook the chicken for four total minutes, tossing midway through. Set aside.
Add the butter, Sriracha, white wine vinegar and one eight tsp salt to a small pot. Warm on the stove until the butter melts and the mixture blends together. Set aside.
Roll the pizza dough out until very thin. Remove the pizza stone/baking sheet from the oven and move the dough to the surface of the stone/sheet. I find that the easiest way to do this is by using my rolling pin, wrapping to the dough around the well-floured pin and then unrolling it directly onto the pizza stone/sheet’s surface. Drizzle a light shower of olive oil over the surface and spread until evenly covered. Carefully spoon the Sriracha Buffalo sauce onto the dough, spreading it into an even layer. I used about two-thirds of the sauce for the pizza. Make sure to reserve some of the sauce for garnish at the end.
Evenly distribute the garlic, onions, chicken, mozzarella and bleu cheese over the pizza. Cover with freshly grated parmesan cheese and bake for 10-13 minutes on 450 until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the crust is beginning to brown. Remove and garnish with the Sriracha Buffalo sauce and minced fresh basil. Allow the pizza to cool for 2-3 minutes and then cut and serve.
Lindsey McClave has a deep love for food, wine and travel. While she has no intentions of becoming a chef or a sommelier and doesn’t consider herself an expert in any culinary area, she is obsessed with learning.
She says, “the one thing I’ve taken away from my wine travels is that wine is meant for everyone – rich, poor, and everywhere in-between.” Whatever cooking becomes to you, she encourages you to find that foodie place, embrace it and run with it.
