Thai Chicken Pizza
Thai chicken pizza baked in under 30 minutes features zesty fresh flavors from the crunchy peanuts, sweet bell peppers, fresh cilantro and green onions. Squeeze a bit of lime juice over the top for an amazing family dinner or party appetizer.
One of our family's favorite local pizza places features a menu loaded with fun and unique pizza toppings.
While my husband always orders the exact same thing (hello, sausage and pepperoni lovers), I love to order something new every time. The wilder, the better.
This delicious Thai chicken pizza is inspired by the recipe I sampled at Brixx Pizza in North Carolina. It's not quite a copycat, but it is very close.
An easy naan bread crust is topped with olive oil and garlic salt. Shredded mozzarella makes the cheesy base to hold a savory Thai chicken topped with fresh vegetables and crunchy peanuts.
There is so much flavor here, you're going to love it!
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Why This is the Best Recipe
I love using leftovers to make easy homemade pizzas in all kinds of fun flavors. I think this is the best Thai chicken pizza recipe because:
- Prep-Ahead Friendly: You can use leftover cooked chicken thighs, a rotisserie chicken, or even leftover Thai chicken from another dinner to help save time with this pizza recipe. Need to bake the chicken from scratch? It only adds 30 minutes and that step can be done up to 24 hours in advance.
- Tons of Fresh Flavor: The sweet and spicy Thai sauce on the chicken pairs so well with the fresh red pepper, green onions, chopped peanuts, and fresh cilantro.
- Appetizer or Dinner: You can serve this as a family dinner or a party snack! Just change how you slice it.
- Top Your Own: Got a picky eater? Let them top their own pizza with their choice of the pizza toppings.
Ingredients
This quick and easy pizza has delicious fresh toppings. You'll need the following ingredients to make it:
- Cooked Chicken: You can bake fresh chicken thighs in just 30 minutes or you can skip that step and use a cooked rotisserie chicken instead.
- Naan Flatbreads: I used rectangular-shaped naan breads meant for flatbread pizzas for my easy crust. If you can't find them, traditional oval-shaped naan breads would work just fine. You could also use a store bought pizza crust or make your own pizza dough if you prefer.
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese: You could substitute provolone or an Italian blend if you prefer.
- Olive Oil
- Garlic Salt
- Red Bell Pepper
- Green Onions
- Fresh Cilantro
- Chopped Peanuts
To make the easy Thai sauce for the chicken, you'll need a few pantry ingredients:
- Sweet Chili Sauce: This ingredient will be found in the International foods section of your grocery store, near the other Thai foods. This is not the American chili sauce like you would use for making cocktail sauce.
- Soy Sauce: I used tamari because I had it on hand. Either one will work fine.
- Sriracha Sauce
- Minced Garlic
- Dried Ginger
- Sesame Oil
- Fish Sauce
Prep the Thai Chicken
I strongly recommend fresh baked chicken thighs for this easy recipe. To save time, you can bake the chicken in advance and just store it in the fridge or freezer.
But you'll only need an additional 30 minutes to do it fresh before baking the pizzas. Full instructions are right in the recipe card below.
If you want to skip baking the chicken, you can also use a cooked rotisserie chicken instead.
Place all the ingredients for the Thai sauce in a large saucepan. Bring them to a gentle boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for just 3 minutes. This ensures that the garlic is cooked and lets the flavors mingle.
Toss the chopped cooked chicken in with the sauce and turn to coat. Then set aside.
The Best Pizza Crust
To keep this easy dinner quick to make, I used store bought naan breads for our pizza crusts.
They are delicious and the texture has a toasted outside but fluffy inside.
However, if you prefer to use a homemade pizza dough, the toppings can be easily tweaked to make a more traditional pizza. Just follow the instructions on how to bake pizza dough here.
Assemble the Pizza
To give the naan bread crust a crispy texture, preheat the oven broiler and place the naan bread on a broiler-proof baking sheet.
Brush the naan with olive oil and season with the garlic salt. Toast it under the broiler for 2 - 3 minutes or until it begins to turn golden brown.
Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the top.
Scatter the prepared Thai chicken over the top.
Then sprinkle the chopped red pepper evenly among the chicken.
Baking Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Bake the assembled pizza for 10 minutes or until the cheese has completely melted and the toppings are warmed through.
Thai Chicken Pizza Toppings
The finishing touch to the Thai chicken pizza is to sprinkle chopped fresh cilantro, fresh green onions, and chopped peanuts over the top of the flatbreads.
I also love to squeeze fresh lime juice over the top but always offer the wedges on the side and let my family decide.
Variations
When making a homemade pizza, there is always room to play with the toppings to make a custom dish for your family:
Spicy Thai Chicken Pizza: Add more sriracha to the Thai sauce or crushed red pepper flakes to the pizza.
Thai Shrimp Pizza: Substitute a batch of my air fryer shrimp for the cooked chicken.
Vegetables for Thai Pizza: You could add shredded purple or green cabbage, shredded carrots, or even thawed frozen sweet corn for more veggies on your pizza.
Vegetarian Thai Pizza: If you want a completely meat-free version of this dish, skip the fish sauce and spread the Thai sauce over the naan bread like a pizza sauce. Then top with the shredded cheese and bake as directed. Add lots of the vegetables mentioned above for flavor and color.
Serving Suggestions
This easy pizza recipe makes an excellent family dinner alongside a chopped salad or some fresh fruit.
You could also slice the pizzas into appetizer-sized squares and serve it for a party snack.
When serving the dish to guests, you may want to leave the chopped peanuts off and offer them on the side in a separate dish in case there are any nut sensitivities.
What to Do with Leftover Thai Chicken
When I made this dish, I actually had leftover Thai chicken in the fridge from making this Thai chicken salad the night before.
If you make the chicken fresh for the pizza and find you have some leftover, you can use it to make Thai chicken rice bowls on top of jasmine rice with roasted peppers and pineapple.
You could also turn it into Thai chicken tacos with my baked chicken taco method. Top them with a fresh cabbage slaw, chopped peanuts, and cilantro.
More Pizza Recipes
If you love using naan breads for a pizza crust, you'll also love these other easy flatbread recipes:
📖 Recipe
Thai Chicken Pizza
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs can substitute a shredded rotisserie chicken to save 30 minutes of baking time
- Kosher salt and pepper
For the Thai Sauce
- 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce from the Thai foods department of the grocery store
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 4 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp dried ginger
For the Pizza
- 1 (14 oz) package of naan flatbreads the package contains 2 long, rectangular shaped flatbreads, can substitute 4 oval shaped traditional naan breads
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 red bell pepper sliced into thin strips
- 3 green onions chopped
- 1 handful fresh cilantro chopped
- 1/4 cup peanuts chopped
- 1 fresh lime cut into wedges for serving
Instructions
Bake the Chicken Thighs
- This recipe tastes amazing with freshly baked chicken thighs but this step does add 30 minutes to your cooking time. If you need a faster prep, skip this step and just use a cooked rotisserie chicken instead.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the chicken thighs in a single layer in a 9x13-inch baking pan. Season with the salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping the chicken over half way through the cooking time. The meat should register 165°F with an instant read probe thermometer.
Prep the Thai Sauce
- Measure all the ingredients for the Thai sauce and stir them together in a sauce pan. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the sauce to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 3 minutes.
- Cut the cooked chicken meat into bite-sized pieces. Add the chopped chicken to the saucepan and turn to coat in the sauce. Set aside.
Assemble and Bake the Pizza
- Preheat the broiler with the top oven rack 6 inches from the top of the oven.
- Place the naan breads on a large broiler-proof baking sheet in a single layer. Brush the olive oil evenly over the surface and sprinkle the garlic salt over the top. Broil the naan breads for 2 - 3 minutes or until the tops have turned a toasted brown. Watch carefully so they don't burn.
- Place the naan breads on the stovetop and move the oven rack to the center of the oven. Turn off the broiler and preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Meanwhile, sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the naan breads. Scatter the cooked Thai chicken evenly over the top. Sprinkle the chopped red pepper evenly across the tops.
- Bake the chicken pizzas for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the naan bread is warmed through.
- Sprinkle the chopped green onions, fresh cilantro, and chopped peanuts over the top and serve with lime wedges.
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