You've heard all the chatter around not getting enough protein. If you scroll instagram, you've seen all the rage. Well, I am kind of here for it. I made this years ago & after how delicious it was last night, I am not sure how it feel off my radar.
Just like most recipes I post, they can totally be changed to your liking. I did this with the idea of doing a play on a chicken caesar salad. I used grated parmesan, and garlic seasoning in the crust. When you're dreaming up your own play on this, feel free to swap out the cheese & seasonings. Just check out Pinterest for "salads with chicken" and you'll get a million ideas!
The recipe below is for a small crust, I tripled this recipe for 2 adults and 3 kids. It took up an entire jelly roll pan. I thought it was way too much until there was barely any left. Josh announced he ate 13 pieces & McKinley 7, it was perfect! Plus, keep reading to find out how great the crust is left over.
Ingredients for Crust:
1 Can of Chicken - Costco's chicken is our go to, but if you are ever dabbling in canning, do chicken. It will blow your mind.
1 Egg
1/3 Cup Grated Parmesan
Garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste
Ingredients for Caesar Salad:
Finely chopped romaine lettuce
Thinly sliced red onions, even better if they are pickled
Grated parmesan cheese
Caesar Salad
French's Fried Onions for garnishing
Drain the chicken & dry the chicken as best as you can. This sounds kind of gross, but the moisture will prevent the chicken from making a solid crust. Mix in the egg(s), cheese and seasonings of your choice.
Once it's mixed together, plop it out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The best trick I found was placing another piece of parchment paper on top and rolling it out. I went about 1/4 inch thick. When we were chatting at dinner, I said I wanted to try and go thinner for a crispier pizza next time and Josh thinks we should go thicker for a "deep dish" style. I don't think you can go wrong with anything, just keep in mind the thinner you go the crispier it will get.
Once you've rolled it to your liking, peel off the top parchment paper and poke holes all over with a fork. This will help air flow and prevent bubbling.
Toss in the oven at 350 degrees. Doing a triple batch on a jelly roll pan, it baked for almost 25 minutes. I went for a crispy on the edges, but not crispy all the way through. Adjust cooking time to your liking. If you're doing a single batch, your cooking time will significantly decrease - start with 8 to 10 minutes.
While the crust is baking, mix your salad ingredients together - including the dressing. Obviously I did a caesar salad, but again - you could do any salad mixture.
Once the crust was done, I took it out and topped it with a thin layer of caesar dressing and random slices of provolone cheese. Put it back in the oven on broil just long enough for the cheese to get nice and melty.
Take the crust out & let it cool a little. There is something about the thought of putting.a cold salad on a really hot pizza that I do not like. Once the crust was no longer piping hot, I topped it with the salad and cut it. You'll notice in the picture I left some of the crust empty for the kids demanding plain pizza. Well, before dinner ended - the rest of the salad topped almost all of the pizza. And, looking back, the little crust that was left over & not topped with salad was a great idea for left overs.
Speaking of left overs, I took the little piece that was left and heated in a frying pan the next morning. If something has the potential to by soggy, we don't microwave. Do yourself a favor and heat it on the stove top! Then, I topped it with an egg, avocado and hot sauce. De-freaking-licious! Makes me want to make a plain crust for quick lunch options!!!
