I’ve always been fashionably late with… fashions.
Like Capris. As a brace-faced-bad-bangs 8th grader, I was convinced that I would never ever wear them. My friends went capri crazy but I resisted. As luck would have it, I came to realize that my friends were right and now I have a closet full of capris from my late-bloomer capri phase in the late 90’s. Sweet.
Twitter. I’ll get back to you on that one.
Jeggings. I didn’t want to wear them, like, this year. But then my sister told me they were cool so I bought them. And now I wear them all the time, and I’m crossing my fingers that the fad is still a fad and I’m not just 5 years behind the fashion train again.
Speaking of jeggings, do you wear them in the summer?
How? And why?
Mysteries.
So it figures that I’d be about 10 years late on the cauliflower crust fad with this BBQ Chicken Pizza, but I don’t care if I’m 100 years late on this one. All that matters is that I’ve arrived here at the point of making cheesy, filling pizzas that are secretly packed with vegetables.
I don’t mean to say that I don’t like cauliflower, cause I really love it. Er, I take it back. Love is a strong word. Does anyone truly LOVE cauliflower? {Update: I DO! A few batches of creamy cauliflower garlic rice later, I really do!}
Whether or not you love cauliflower is beside the question. This crust is a delicious alternative to traditional pizza crust and it holds up incredibly well under a mountain of toppings and a bucket of cheese. Wait, no no no, this is light and I didn’t put a bucket of cheese on top. I didn’t.
Don’t like BBQ Pizza? You’re weird. But you could actually still make this sneaky-healthy-crust and top it with whatever other weird-o toppings that you like, cause you’re weird like that.
Light BBQ Chicken Pizza
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield: 8 1x
Description
This light BBQ chicken pizza has just 200 calories per slice thanks to a cauliflower pizza crust. Healthy, colorful, and full of BBQ flavor!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 head cauliflower
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
- 1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
- 3/4 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
- thinly sliced red onions
- fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Chop the cauliflower into medium pieces. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the oil and heat until shiny. Place the cauliflower in the hot oil, stir to cover with oil, and place a lid on the skillet. Check skillet every few minutes to keep cauliflower from burning, but let it get a nice browned roasted outside. Continue to let cauliflower cook, covered, for about 10-15 minutes, or until tender-crisp. Let cool for a few minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 450. In a blender or large food processor, place eggs, cornmeal, and seasoning. Place cauliflower in blender and puree until you have a semi-smooth, thick batter. Cover a pizza pan with parchment paper and pour batter into the center of the paper. Spread until you have about a 1/2 inch thick crust or thinner if desired.
- Bake the crust for about 20 minutes, checking occasionally to keep from burning. I liked the crispy edges, so I recommend letting it brown a little bit more than a normal crust.
- While crust is cooking, coat chicken with barbecue sauce. When the crust is cooked through and golden brown, remove and top with barbecue chicken, half the cheese, red onion, and the rest of the cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden. Top with cilantro, slice, and serve!
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: healthy pizza recipe, bbq chicken, bbq chicken pizza, pizza recipe
FYI, every time I type this little section at the bottom, I have to do some mad HTML coding. That’s right. I make cauliflower pizza crust and I do HTML coding.
I don’t even know who I am right now.
Post Update: I’ve continued the cauliflower craziness with a Healthy Fettucine Alfredo recipe that includes a cauliflower sauce. Click here to check it out.