Chicken Enchilada Pizza.
Mark this day down in history…
… as the first time I worked with a jalapeño and didn’t immediately and stupidly shove my fingers in my eyeballs. Well, okay – not THIS day, as in today. As in Monday. But the day that I made this pizza. Maybe I’m slowly learning? Yes. Let’s hope.
I went back and forth on whether I was making a taco or an enchilada pizza. I was first settled on taco, but then once I added some enchilada sauce I decided it had to be the latter by default ingredients. But then the whole lettuce and tomatoes on top thing? Seemed too taco-ish. But then (again) once I took a bite, it’s fate was sealed: enchilada. Tastes like a big, fat chicken enchilada. Even sort of looks like an enchilada in one of those pics down below.
Enchilada pizza it was.
Was that too much information? Probs.
As much as I’ve disgraced nearly every traditional dish known to man with mexican and tex-mex flavors, I had yet to truly dabble in mexican pizzas. The reason being that in elementary school I’m pretty sure there was mexican pizza on the lunch menu and it was so wretched that it scarred me for life. I don’t even remember what it was exactly – definitely not a pizza crust? – but it just had some spices and grease that turned the whole thing orange and maybe cheese. And that was IT. oomph. I hope we’ve come a long way since then.
Oh wait, don’t worry. We probably have considering that was TWENTY YEARS AGO. What? I want to cry. How is that possible? I hate being able to say that I was doing anything twenty years ago besides being 1. a mere blip on the radar or 2. in the womb. Will I ever get over this? I mean, I still paint my nails like a ten year old so I don’t have that much hope.
Pretty much the only thing I do now that I didn’t do twenty years ago is cook semi-interesting meals all by myself. It’s one of my only adult-qualifying characteristics.
Side note: look at how sort of boring (because that makes sense…) this pizza is below without all the fun stuff that goes on after baking. Moral of the story: lots of trashy toppings MAKE meals.
We wolfed down (is that still a verb or am I way too stuck in the 90s?) this pizza like there was no tomorrow. That says a lot for my husband, since he only likes his pizza, and I quote, “regular.” As in, not piled with a bunch of weird toppings. As in, nothing else other than sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Sometimes sausage. Sometimes bacon!
That makes me happy.
But as always, my stance on untraditional pizza is this: it’s an awesome way to switch up your weekly menu, but if you want pizza, sometimes you just need to get “regular” pizza. In this case, that means you should eat pizza twice in one week. Regular pizza and this pizza. Oh and yes, of course you can use a store-bought crust or an easier crust or a whatever-the-heck crust. I love making your life easier.
LOOK AT THIS.
Chicken Enchilada Pizza
Ingredients
dough
- 1 1/8 cups warm water
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
pizza
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1/2 red pepper, diced
- 1/2 green pepper, diced
- 1/2 jalapeño, seeded and diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (4 ounce) can of diced green chiles
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 cup of enchilada sauce, I use store bought! oh yes I do
- 6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, freshly grated
- 6 ounces monterey jack cheese, freshly grated
- 1 cup of grape tomatoes, quarted
- 1 cup of shredded lettuce
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced
- sour cream or greek yogurt for topping
Instructions
dough
- In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, honey and olive oil. Mix with a spoon, then let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add in 2 1/2 cups flour and salt, stirring with a spoon until the dough comes together but it still sticky. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball and work in the additional 1/2 cup flour, kneading it on a floured surface for a few minutes. Rub the same bowl with olive oil then place the dough inside, turning to coat. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place to rise for about 1-1 1/2 hours.
- After the dough has risen, punch it down and place it back on the floured surface. Using a rolling pin or your hands, form it into your desired shape (sometimes I use baking sheets and do rectangles or free form pizzas – this specific dough will yield one pizza large enough to feed about 3-4 people) and place on a baking sheet or pizza peel. Place the towel back over the dough and let sit in the warm place for 10 minutes.
pizza
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (I actually used a pizza stone and heated my oven to 450 degrees, and baked for 15 minutes. If you’re just using a baking sheet, follow the directions below for baking and set to 375 degrees.)
- Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat and add olive oil. Add in onions, garlic and peppers with a pinch of salt and stir well. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Toss in shredded chicken with green chiles, cumin, paprika and chili powder. Stir to coat well and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat.
- Spread a a thin layer – about 1/2 cup – of enchilada sauce all over the pizza dough. Cover in a small sprinkle of cheese, then top with the chicken and pepper mixture. Add remaining cheese on top evenly. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until cheese and crust is golden and bubbly. Remove and let cool for 5-10 minutes, then top with lettuce, tomatoes and avocado. Serve with an extra drizzle of enchilada sauce and sour cream or greek yogurt.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
I highly suggest the sour cream. Highly.
98 Comments on “Chicken Enchilada Pizza.”
The mix of this pizza is so lovely!!!
Not Only Sugar
Oh, I remember those terrible Mexican pizzas of middle school (that I also remember from, gasp, Twenty years ago!). This looks much more classy an delicious. Totally something worthy of a thirty year olds palate :)
The crust looks awesome and so do all the toppings. And good for you for not touching your eyeball directly after touching the pepper. That is something I could see myself doing :)
Loaded amazing-ness! I basically have to wipe the drool away when I see pizza like this ;)
oh that does look incredible!
The sour cream on top is genius. Well it all is but I especially love the sour cream on top!
I’ve just gotten back from a trip to Italy (literally)–and even though I’ve had more pizza in the last 9 days than is probably good for me, I still wish I could eat this at this very moment.
Looks so good!!!
Pizza sounds way cooler than taco. Well, at least in my view it does (I looooove pizza and have enjoyed some pretty out there toppings, so this doesn’t seem strange at all). It looks wonderful!
The weird Mexican Pizzas you are describing were called Fiestadas (which, now looking back, I think is a combination of the words ‘fiesta’ and ‘tostada’. maybe? yes?)
Anyhoo, I’m pretty certain the only kids who remember these grew up in Western PA. Really. My brother and I were describing them recently to a lot of blank stares.
I remember loving fiestada day (eek) but your pizza looks a heck of a lot better ; )
Oooh my gosh, this sounds like the pizza of my dreams!! I’m so happy to see that I’m not the only one that’s cooking nothing but Thai and Mexican/Tex Mex meals these days. I totally know what you mean about those orange ‘pizzas’ in high school. It also reminds me of those pizza pops with the funny orange sauce inside (that really tasted nothing like pizza, but I ate them ALL the freaking time). Oh, memories! Happy Monday Jess!
WOW! This pizza look so good! The crust, the cheese, the chicken!! I the mexican and anything with avocado is always a winner! Always!
I love all things mexican. its my favorite. it was only a matter of time before my pizzas turned mexican too..i thank you for that! :)
I soooo love pizza. Except my husband is burned out on my obsession. I will have to try this on the sly. Looks beautifully delicious.
I’d make it on a big tortilla or somethin, since I am not a huge pizza dough fan (weird, right?). I looove enchiladas though! The flavors here are all fantastic.
YES. This pizza is where life is. FOR REAL.
This is my kind of pizza! Looks so good. I will take a piece for breakfast!
Ooooh love me some chicken enchiladas. This is on a whole notha’ level. Oh, and I’m pretty sure we had those mexican “pizzas” at my school cafeteria too. I’m also pretty sure they were just a fancy way of saying chicken tostadas loaded under a pile of cheese, salsa, and sour cream. I had a tapeworm living inside of me back in the day so I’m sure I ate those a couple of times. ;)
Yum Yum!!! Your pizza looks so great! We love making pizzas in my house too! Can’t wait to try this one!
Jess, you are reading my refrigerator: We have 2 big balls of pizza dough rising for pizza TONIGHT. I usually stick in the Italian genre for my pizza, but you have me converted already.
PS. Wolfed down is totally acceptable
PPS. Kudos on the jalapenos! I’m still waiting for my day to come.
I could totally go for that pizza tonight! I’ve done Mexican pizzas before, but always use refried beans and have never tried enchilada sauce. I will so be recreating this!
This sounds amazing. I love any kind of pizza – “regular” or otherwise. The sour cream should probably be considered mandatory. I eat it on everything.
Pretty sure this is the pizza they serve in Heaven.
Yummy! I have this bookmarked. I love anything with avocados in it!
I remember Q of A mexican pizzas!!! They always looked so gross!!! This pizza looks amazing though!
::mouth agape, possibly drooling::
OGMSDFOJSFKSJDF:SLDJFSD:FLJSDF.
that means I love it. a lot.
I want to stuff my face with this….looks so good!
oh my god this looks incredible! this is like my bf’s dream meal – his two loves, mexican & italian! love this :)
I would wolf this down too (and yes, we’re going to say that’s still a thing because I still say it all the time!)!!! Also, I am obsessed with your shots of steam coming off the food! So pretty/impressive!
If saying “Wolfed down” is wrong, I don’t wanna be right!! 90’s kid lingo is always allowed. And this? Yeah, totallly gonna volunteer to wolfe down two (fine, three) slices of this.
aaaaaaaaaaand this shall be our dinner tonight.
Wow – this looks delicious! Makes me want to eat pizza for breakfast and that’s saying a lot!
FashionEdible Blog
I’ve been craving both pizza and enchiladas. You just solved an epic problem for me.
That chicken looks incredible!!
Some Snapshots Blog
Jess
whyyy do i always go to your site just before lunch (when lunch is a yogurt and fruit). such torture, this looks amazing
Ha ha, I ALWAYS get jalapeno in my eye. I’m glad I’m not the only one. I’ve literally had to start using latex gloves when cutting them. Jalapeno in the eye or not…the resulting dish looks amazing!
So we do pizza regularly and I always have to make two. One normal, boring pizza with sausage or pepperoni for my guy, and a ‘trashy’ pizza with all sorts of toppings for me. And guess what usually my guy likes the ‘trashy’ pizza! Why I bother with ‘normal’ pizza anymore, I don’t know!
YUM. I looove avocado on pizza.
GET IN MY FACE. Taco, enchilada, whatever. I’ll eat it all.
I think you are seriously trying to kill me. KILL ME.
I want to shove this whole thing in my mouth (that’s what she said).
I’m a fan. I’m a HUGE fan. I’ve never had a pizza with avocado on it – time to change this!!!
Pretty much love that you can turn anything into a pizza. That’s why, despite the extensive range of my cooking, my favorite food will always be pizza. Adaptability.
OH yes. Trying this tonight.
BTW, my husband and I regularly make your Chicken Cheesesteaks. I’d planned to make them the other day and since I’d just bought the half and half the week before for the last time I’d made them, I didn’t bother to pick it up at the store.
Went to make them Sunday afternoon and the half and half was GONE. Asked my hubby if he’d thrown it out on accident.
“No,” he says. “We were out of milk and I wanted cereal….”
This looks so good!! I love the pop of green from the avocado. I’ll totally be making this!
I just had lunch but my mouth is watering!!! YUM!!
this looks like the most perfect pizza. I love enchiladas and I love pizza, so yes, it is the most perfect pizza for me!
This looks good – I especially like the idea of the cooling avocado on top! Speaking of jalapeno fingers, one year I made gazpacho and touched my face around my nose and mouth. Um face on fire for the ENTIRE day.
Very creative, I love the avocado addition!
SO delicious. I love enchilada sauce. I love avocado (who doesn’t these days?). I LOVE unregular pizza.
That last picture is just too much. In the best way possible.