Chicken Tikka Pizza (With Naan)

Spicy and smoky chicken tikka on crispy naan with generous amounts of cheese makes this chicken tikka pizza irresistible! Whether you use leftover chicken tikka from last night or prepare a quick marinade, there's no reason not to make this chicken tikka pizza for dinner, pizza Fridays, a fun appetizer, or a tasty snack!

We often ordered paneer pizza or chicken tikka pizza from the nearby Pizza Hut in Delhi, and I severely missed those spicy Indian pizzas here. So, I started making them at home. During my first attempts, I would simply grab a Costco cheese pizza and layer it with homemade chicken tikka, lots of sliced onions, (sometimes corn and bell peppers), and tons of green chilies. Oh my, it was divine and one of our best dinners of the week!

In recent years, I've been using naan more and more for desi-style pizzas, and we love it. It's one of our favorite summer dinners. You can also grill the chicken if you plan to fire up the grill. The tikka is succulent and bursting with robust spice flavors. This pizza comes together pretty quickly, and if you have little kids at home, assembling the pizza can be a fun activity—my 7-year-old adores it!

These homemade pizzas are make-ahead friendly—you can assemble and bake them whenever you like. Bursting with Indian flavors, they are also a great way to stretch chicken tikka into a full meal. 

My Recipe

To make it approachable and stress-free, here are some time-saving shortcuts in my chicken tikka pizza recipe.

1. I use bottled tomato sauce, which tastes delicious and saves a ton of time. If you have some extra time, you can make my quick makhani sauce, which I prepare for my paneer pizza. The makhani sauce combined with chicken tikka will give your pizza a delightful chicken tikka masala flavor.
2. On some days i make my easy no-yeast naan for the bases (definitely better tasting pizza if you do so), but for prctical purpose, on most days, I opt for store-bought naan.
3. I use shredded mozzarella cheese, but you can grate your own if you prefer.
4. Lastly, I limit the vegetable toppings to just onions and green bell peppers. You can add more vegetables, but that would mean more chopping.

Quick Chicken Tikka Marinade

I mostly make chicken tikka pizza with leftover chicken tikka, a few days after. My authentic chicken tikka marinade is a 2-step process and requires a good 6-8 hours of marination. However, here are the ingredients for my quick chicken tikka marinade in case you don't have leftovers and need to marinate the chicken in a pinch:

In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt with spices, salt, and flavorings. Add the chicken and let it stand for at least 1 hour. Then, cook the chicken tikka in a pan or grill it.

• 4 tablespoon Greek yogurt (or thick curd)
• 1.5 teaspoon garlic paste
• ½ teaspoon ginger paste
• 1.5 teaspoon kashmiri chili powder or paprika
• ½ teaspoon red chili powder, or cayenne pepper powder
• ½ teaspon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 lb boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1.5 inch pieces

Ingredients

• Naan - You could go for homemade naan. I use store bought garlic naan. Plain tandoori naan would work fine too.
• Chicken Tikka- This is the hero ingredient! Put all your effort into preparing a flavorful marinade and use good-quality chicken. I use cut-up boneless thighs, but chicken breast works well too.
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese - Because it melts like a dream, perfecto!
• Pizza Sauce -I simply use Rao's tomato sauce, which I also use for making pasta. It's a bit chunky, but we don't mind. You could use any bottled pizza sauce that you love

Instructions

1. Use my chicken tikka recipe or use the quick version I wrote above and marinate the chicken in greek yogurt and spices if not using leftovers.
2. Cook the chicken tikka on medium-high heat in a skillet or on the grill until charred and smoky. Cut the cooked tikka in small bite size pieces.
3. Preheat oven to 400F. Place garlic naan on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or a pizza pan if you have one. 
4. Spread 2-3 tablespoon of pizza sauce on the naan.

5. Scatter shredded mozzarella cheese in a single layer to over all the pizza sauce.
6. Arrange the sliced red onion, green bell pepper and chicken tikka pieces over the cheese. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top. Additionally, I like to scatter a handful of shredded cheese over the tikka.

7. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
8. Optionally, sprinkle some chaat masala on the warm pizzas for added punch.You could also add bit of chopped fresh cilantro on top.
9. Slice and enjoy! I love to serve it with green chutney.

Tips

• You could use regular pizza dough to make a pizza base in this recipe.
• For added kick, add pickled jalapeno slices on the pizza before baking.
• If you enjoy a sweetish bite to your pizza, scatter a hanful of sweet corn kernels before baking. They are so juicy and really complememt the spicy tikka.