The One With the Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

Have you met Papa Murphy's Chicken Bacon Rach pizza? If not, you should. It sort of inspired this recipe... although I wouldn't really say they taste extremely similar. Mostly, this is just a yummy white pizza recipe. So if you like that sort of thing... give it a shot.

Some of my favorite food-related memories are from my mom's home-made deep dish pizza. I've been dying to make my own for a while but I currently don't have a Kitchenaid or a bread maker... making the pizza dough making party difficult (not impossible, but daunting, nonetheless). Little did I know they have ready-made pizza dough in the refrigerated aisle of the grocery. *Happy dance!* So now I can finally make my own pizza, and believe me, it's going to be happening quite a bit. If you try this (or come over and I make it for you), you'll see why.

I really wanted to make the pizza like my mom does, which I'll share tomorrow. But Steve loves white sauce, so I found this recipe online and then made him his pizza based somewhat on our favorite from Papa Murphy's.

 

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

White sauce:

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 3 Tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1/2  cup Italian cheeses, shredded (Parmesan, 

Pizza toppings:

• 1 1/2 - 2 rolls of Pillsbury pre-made pizza dough
• White sauce (see above)
• Olive oil
• Chicken, grilled and diced
• Bacon bits
• 1/2 cup red onion, diced small
• 1 tomato, diced small
• 1 cup Italian cheeses, shredded (any combination of mozzarella, provolone, romano,
  parmesan, fontina and/or asiago should work just fine)
• Ranch dressing

Preheat your oven according to the directions on the pizza dough package.
Cook your chicken and bacon. Chop all your vegetables and have them ready to go.
Oil a pizza pan - the pizza stones from Pampered Chef are amazing. But if you have nothing else, a 9x13 Pyrex pan works very well, too, especially for creating a deep-dish style of pizza. 
Make the white sauce:
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add flour and stir together. Add the milk gradually, whisking to incorporate. Stir in remaining ingredients. The sauce will thicken as it stands.
Spread sauce onto your pizza dough and then add the chicken, bacon, tomatoes, and red onion. Sprinkle with your cheese. Finally, drizzle ranch dressing over the top of everything. Use as much or as little as you'd like.
Bake according to the directions on your pizza dough package, 17-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and pizza crust is golden brown.

 

Serve with root beer, of course. 

Also, feel free to make extras of this. According to Steve, it is even more amazing the next day.  

Check out my "Linked and Featured" tab to see where I linked baby this up!