Grilled chicken caesar salad pizza is an easy weeknight dinner that is perfect for the summer. Keep the kitchen cool with perfectly grilled chicken tenderloins, crispy fresh romaine lettuce, off-the block nutty Parmesan cheese and the most delicious homemade caesar dressing all tossed on top a warm grilled pizza crust. Ideal for the warm weather season.
Grilling Pizza
It’s such a fun way to make pizza in the summer. The pizza crust grills up perfectly with grill char marks on the bottom and puffy dough bubbles on the top. If you are keeping the kitchen cool, but you don’t have an outside pizza oven, this is the next best way to make pizza outside. The crust takes just a few quick minutes on a pre-heated grill.
The dough goes right on the the grill, no pan or pizza stone needed. For this recipe, the toppings stay cold so the grilled pizza crust comes off the grill and then the salad toppings are piled on top.
For a traditional pizza with sauce, cheese and toppings, you can grill the crust, turn down the grill heat, spoon on the sauce, sprinkle on the cheese and toppings. Close the grill lid for a few minutes until heated.
Homemade dough and store bought dough work on the grill! If you buy from the grocery store, make sure to use their fresh dough balls usually found in the deli section. I am not sure how frozen, canned or tube dough will hold up on the hot grill.
How to Bake in the Oven
If you want to make this in a pizza oven or conventional oven you can! The salad topping stay cold. I love a good cold salad on top of a warm crust-crouton, the opposites just attract in the most delicious way.
For this recipe, fire up the pizza oven (500F) or preheat the conventional oven (425F). If you are using a pizza stone, make sure to put it in the oven as soon as you start to preheat the oven. To prevent cracking, the pizza stone needs to preheat as well.
Bake your pizza until it’s done. In the conventional oven it will take about 12 minutes, just keep an eye on it and take it out once the crust is to your liking.
Top the crust with the rest of the ingredients.
Caesar Salad Pizza Dressing
Homemade caesar dressing is great to make at home. It does require a lot of ingredients, many of them you can keep in the pantry and refrigerator until you want to make it again. For this recipe, you will use most or all of the dressing made.
If you don’t want to make your own, buy your favorite caesar salad dressing from the grocery store.
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken Tenderloins you can also use left over chicken or rotisserie chicken
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½-1 cup Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing (see recipe below) or store bought
- Corn Meal
- 1 Pizza Dough at room temperature
- 7 oz Ricotta Cheese
- ¼ cup Parmesan Cheese - shredded off the block
- 1 head Romaine Lettuce
Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 1 TBSP Dijon Mustard
- ½ Lemon – Juiced
- 3 Cloves of Garlic – smashed
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Anchovy Paste
- ¼ tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- ¼ tsp Red Wine Vinegar
- ¼ cup Parmesan Cheese - shredded off the block
- ½-1 cup Olive Oil
Instructions
- Sprinkle a pinch of salt on each chicken tenderloin. Over a preheated hot grill, place your chicken, grill on each side until done about 3-5 minutes on each side, until the internal temperature is 165F. Remove from the grill and let it rest. Cut into bite size pieces and set aside. Do not pull the chicken off the grill, once the chicken is browned it will release from the grill and will flip easily without tearing the meat.
- Make the homemade Caesar Salad Dressing:Add all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and pulse until combined, about 2-3 minutes. Taste and season. If it tastes bitter add another pinch of salt. It will have a strong caesar dressing flavor, this is important because once it's added to the pizza it will be diluted.
- Sprinkle corn meal onto the counter and roll out the pizza dough.Transfer the dough to a preheated hot grill.
- Cook long enough for the dough to cook through and create a crust. You will notice the dough will become harder and opaque. About 3-5 minutes. It will have amazing grill marks underneath. Do not pull the dough off the grill, once the crust forms and cooks it will release from the grill and will be easy to move.
- On the grilled dough, spread on the ricotta cheese.
- Spread on the caesar salad dressing. Enough to cover the bottom of the pizza, make sure to have set aside to drizzle onto the top. Add on the Parmesan cheese.
- Add on the romaine lettuce.
- Top with chicken.
- Drizzle more caesar salad dressing.
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