Grab a slice of Tandoori Chicken Pizza, a flavorful Indian-inspired pizza topped with with homemade Tandoori Chicken. The chicken is spiced with tandoori masala and slightly charred in the oven, as if it came straight out of a tandoor! Top it with red onion and green pepper and it'll feel like you're in your favorite uncle's backyard (the one with the tandoor)!
Add the ginger garlic paste, kasuri methi, lemon juice, oil, yogurt, and tandoori masala into a bowl and whisk it together. Slice the chicken breasts into tenders (into half) and place them in the bowl. Toss the marinade and chicken to coat it completely. Cover the chicken and marinate it in the fridge for a minimum of an hour. Towards the end of the hour, preheat the oven to 400°F.
While the chicken is marinating, make the Tandoori Pizza Sauce. In a large pot, pour in the olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and ginger garlic paste and sauté until the onion begins to brown and the paste is aromatic.
Add in the tomato paste, whole peeled tomatoes, salt, black pepper, tandoori masala, oregano, and sugar. Smash the whole tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon.
Allow the sauce to simmer for at least 30 minutes until it's thickened and rich in flavor. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Use an immersion blender to smooth out the sauce.
Remove the marinated chicken from the fridge and transfer it to a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake the chicken for 20-25 minutes at 400°F, or until the internal temperature has reached 165°F. The chicken will be charred in certain areas.
Using two forks, shred all of the chicken into small pieces.
Preheat the oven to 550°F, or as high as the oven will go. Assemble the pizza. If using a store-bought pizza dough, let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before use. Rub a cast iron skillet in olive oil. If using a pizza peel or sheet pan, be sure to use corn meal to prevent sticking.
Transfer the pizza dough to the skillet. Use your fingertips to stretch the dough out to the edges. Ladle in a scoop of pizza sauce to the middle, and then use the bottom of the ladle to spread out the sauce in circular motions to the edge.
Top the pizza with mozzarella cheese, shredded tandoori chicken, and the sliced toppings. Bake the pizza in the oven for 15 minutes.
Carefully remove the skillet with oven mitts and place it on to a heat resistant surface. Garnish with cilantro or basil, according to preference. Use a pizza cutter to cut the pizza into 6-8 slices. Enjoy while hot.
Notes
The amount of pizza dough is entirely dependent on personal preference according to size of pizza and how thick the crust is. Start with 1-ounce per inch, and make adjustments to the thickness by adding or removing dough. Most store-bought pizza doughs are enough for 2 10-inch thin crust pizzas, be sure to read instructions before use.
If you're baking at 550°F, be sure to open a few windows to prevent the smoke alarm from setting off.
If you're using a pizza peel and pizza stones, let the pizza stones preheat with the oven at the highest temperature. Dust the pizza peel with a bit of cornmeal so it's easier to shimmy off the pizza on to the pizza stones in the hot oven.