The Recipe for my Whole Wheat Pesto Chicken Pizza

I’ve had a couple of you ask me for the recipe for the Pesto Chicken Pizza, so I figured I’d quickly jot down what went into it. Nothing was measured, so I’ll do my best to remember about how much I used. If you feel like you want more cheese, chicken or veggies.. Go for it! If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s nearby, you can buy a ball of dough from most grocery stores and you can substitute your favorite salt free seasoning blend (e.g. Mrs Dash) for the 21 Seasoning Salute. It’s hard to make a bad choice here. I have a pizza stone from World Market and highly recommend using this to achieve that extra crispy crust you get from delivery pizza. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can make this recipe on a regular baking sheet and it should work just fine, it just won’t be quite as crispy as if you had made it on a pizza stone. Serve with a green salad and an ice cold beer!

What You Need:

¼ lb chicken cut into 1” cubes cooked in 1 tsp oil, seasoned with 1 ½ tsp Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
1 ball whole wheat pizza dough
½ - 1 cup of your favorite pizza or spaghetti sauce (depends how saucy you like it)
¼ cup prepared or homemade pesto sauce
½ - 1 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I used this garlic infused jack cheese)
¼ cup finely shredded parmesan cheese (optional)
1/3 cup red or green bell pepper, ¼” dice
1/3 cup red onion, ¼” dice
2 large cremini or button mushroom, very thinly sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
Cornmeal to prevent the dough from sticking to your baking sheet or pizza stone
Flour for rolling the dough

What To Do:

Heat oven to 425* and take pizza dough out of the fridge and let it sit for 20 minutes while the oven heats up. If you try and use it right out of the fridge, you’ll have a really tough time getting it to roll out properly.

Once the oven is hot, throw your pizza stone in and let it heat for 15 minutes (if using). While the pizza stone is heating, roll out the dough on a well floured surface to your desired thickness. We like it thin.

Remove pizza stone from the oven and dust with cornmeal until there is an even coating.

Carefully place pizza dough onto your pizza stone or baking sheet and pierce many times with a fork to prevent air pockets from forming. Bake the pizza crust for about 8-10 minutes or until it becomes a golden brown. This is how you get that crispy crust!

After the crust has prebaked, top with sauce, garlic jack cheese and then all of the vegetables and chicken. Spoon the pesto sauce onto the pizza, distributing it evenly in blobs. Top with parmesan cheese (if using) and bake for 12-16 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.


Allow the pizza to cool for a few minutes before slicing.



Serves 4 (4 small or 2 large slices each)



Bon Appétit!
Mary