Craving pizza? This recipe for ground chicken pesto pizza with goat cheese is super easy to prepare and makes for such a comforting, delicious and satisfying meal. It has a rich sun-dried tomato pesto base and topped with savoury ground chicken, veggies and creamy goat cheese.
I don’t think I’ve had a pizza that I didn’t enjoy. How about you? Pizza is something that I can have any day of the week and be quite content about it.
I love all sorts of pizza, including frozen pizzas, pizzas from the local pizza place and homemade pizzas. Heck, I even love pizza omelettes and pizza grilled cheese sandwiches.
Besides the yummy taste, what I really appreciate about this recipe is that it comes together super quickly thanks to the prebaked store-bought pizza crust. Usually I can whip this one up quicker than delivery, so it’s perfect when that craving hits.
Plus, this ground chicken pesto pizza has some of my all-time favourite ingredients: creamy goat cheese, sun-dried tomato pesto, baby spinach, roasted red peppers and savoury ground chicken. It makes for the most wonderful combo. Talk about delicious!
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Ground chicken: The star ingredient! It takes on flavours well and cooks quickly.
- Seasoning: Includes salt, black pepper, dried oregano and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Veggies: Includes baby spinach, roasted red pepper, black olives and red onion.
- Prebaked store-bought pizza crust: This recipe makes two pizzas, so I used two 8-inch pizza crusts. They’re usually found in the grocery store alongside naan bread, tortillas and similar items.
- Pesto: I used store-bought sun-dried tomato pesto. You can certainly use homemade pesto if you like.
- Goat cheese: I used a plain (or regular) version, but you can use a herb variety if that’s what you have on hand or prefer. Goat cheese doesn’t melt like, for example, mozzarella would. However, it’s so incredibly creamy and pairs wonderfully with pesto.
How To Make Ground Chicken Pesto Pizza With Goat Cheese
Here is an overview of how to make this ground chicken pesto pizza (full details are in the recipe card below):
- Heat some olive oil in a skillet. Add the ground chicken, season it with salt, black pepper, dried oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook the chicken until cooked through.
- Stir in baby spinach and cook until it’s just wilted.
- Spread some sun-dried tomato pesto over each pizza crust.
- Top the pizza crust with the cooked ground chicken and spinach mixture.
- Layer on the strips of roasted red pepper, black olives and red onion. Dollop over the goat cheese.
- Bake the pizza until it’s heated through and the crust is golden brown.
What To Serve With It
This ground chicken pesto pizza recipe yields two small (8-inch) pizzas. It can serve two to four people, depending on how hungry they are and what it’s served with.
If served on its own, one pizza is perfect for one person. It makes a great individual-sized pizza. I absolutely love having my own personal pizza to devour. There’s just something about it , ya know?
If serving the pizza with a side, you can generally stretch it to feed more people. I love to serve this pizza with salad (such as garden salad or pasta salad), homemade fries or crispy potato wedges.
Leftovers
Leftover pizza? Is there such a thing? LOL! Seriously though, if you do find yourself with leftover pizza, properly store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3 days.
Reheating Leftover Pizza
Here are some easy ways to reheat leftover pizza:
- Microwave: Place the slices of pizza on a microwave-safe plate and reheat on 15-second intervals until heated through. This reheating method won’t give you the most crispiest results, but it is a pretty quick way to reheat the pizza (and super convenient, especially when you’re hungry).
- Air Fryer: Place the slices of pizza on your Air Fryer rack/basket. Set the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and heat the pizza until it’s heated through, about 5 minutes.
- Oven: This is definitely the longest reheating method because you have to wait until your oven preheats. Having said that, it is a great method to use. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the slices of pizza on a sheet pan and bake them for about 5 minutes or until they’re heated through.
Tips and Variations
- Pizza crust: As mentioned above, I used prebaked store-bought pizza crusts. They’re ready for the toppings to be added and then you just bake the pizza (you gotta love the convenience!). Because brands can vary, you may have to prebake the crust before adding the toppings (just follow the package instructions).
- Change the crust: Don’t want to use pizza crust? Try making this recipe with flatbread or naan instead. Just try to use something around the same size.
- Protein: I used ground chicken as the protein of choice for this pizza recipe, but you can substitute with ground turkey if you like.
- Pesto: I used store-bought sun-dried tomato pesto, but regular pesto would work just fine. Alternatively, you can use homemade arugula pesto.
- Save time: Save time and mix things up by using store-bought rotisserie chicken instead of ground chicken. Since it’s already cooked, you can add it to the pizza with the rest of the toppings and cook the spinach separately with the seasonings.
- Make more: You can easily make more personal pizzas by simply adjusting the quantities of ingredients. Perfect for a pizza party!
More Easy Pizza Recipes
If you try this recipe for ground chicken pesto pizza with goat cheese, be sure to leave a comment below!
Ground Chicken Pesto Pizza With Goat Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ pound ground chicken
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, plus more once baked if you like
- 2 handfuls baby spinach
- 2 (8-inch) store-bought pizza crusts, I used a prebaked variety that's ready to add toppings and bake
- 2 to 3 tablespoons sun-dried tomato pesto, depending on how much pesto you want
- ½ small roasted red pepper, cut into thin strips (about 6 strips per pizza)
- 2 tablespoons sliced kalamata olives
- 2 to 3 tablespoons sliced red onion, about 6 to 8 slices per pizza
- 3 to 4 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese, depending on how much goat cheese you want
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for use shortly.
- Meanwhile, cook the ground chicken. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground chicken to the skillet and season with salt, black pepper, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook the chicken, breaking it into small pieces and stirring occasionally, until fully cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the baby spinach to the ground chicken. Stir it in and cook just until it's wilted, about 2 minutes.
- Place the store-bought pizza crusts on a large sheet pan with space between each one. Divide the sun-dried tomato pesto between the two crusts, leaving about a half-inch border around each one. Divide the cooked ground chicken and spinach mixture between the two crusts, then divide the rest of the toppings between each one (the roasted red pepper, sliced kalamata olives, sliced red onion and crumbled goat cheese).
- Bake the pizzas until they're warmed through and the crust is golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Once baked, you can sprinkle over more crushed red pepper flakes to taste if you like. Allow the pizza to rest for a couple of minutes, then slice each one into four slices. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Pizza crust: As mentioned above, I used prebaked store-bought pizza crusts. They’re ready for the toppings to be added and then you just bake the pizza (you gotta love the convenience!). Because brands can vary, you may have to prebake the crust before adding the toppings (just follow the package instructions).
- Change the crust: Don’t want to use pizza crust? Try making this recipe with flatbread or naan instead. Just try to use something around the same size.
- Protein: I used ground chicken as the protein of choice for this pizza recipe, but you can substitute with ground turkey if you like.
- Pesto: I used store-bought sun-dried tomato pesto, but regular pesto would work just fine. Alternatively, you can use homemade arugula pesto.
- Save time: Save time and mix things up by using store-bought rotisserie chicken instead of ground chicken. Since it’s already cooked, you can add it to the pizza with the rest of the toppings and cook the spinach separately with the seasonings.
- Make more: You can easily make more personal pizzas by simply adjusting the quantities of ingredients. Perfect for a pizza party!
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
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Tried this recipe?
If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!
Michelle says
A perfect pizza for Friday night! Love all the flavors you’ve paired together here!