Cherry Chicken Pizza (vegan)

It’s Monday which means it’s Meatless Monday with my co-host Deborah! Plus it’s the 4th of July and I know many are spending their time like I am with family but I still had to post this recipe. I wasn’t going to post it for a couple weeks since it was inspired by a recipe I can’t post until next week but it was just screaming summer and Independence Day! If we were home we’d be making this pizza and my Blackberry Basil Pizza and would have our red, white, and blue. Not to mention the pizzas are grilled and they both have delicious summer berries so sounds perfect to me!

Pizza game still going strong over here, while while we were home not while we’re in California only because we don’t have a grill in the hotel, and it seems like every weekend we are firing up the grill again for pizza night! Sometimes even twice like we did a few weeks ago when the girls wanted to make pizzas Friday night for their last day of school and then again on Sunday when S had her friend spend the night, even more fitting since they won their soccer tournament taking the championship and they were hungry and excited! Only bummer was I made an amazing pizza but it started to rain, it was late, and the lighting was bad so I didn’t get that one photographed. We have also had a few weekends now where we have had friends and or family over and have our grill out pizza parties. So with all these pizza nights I’ve challenged myself to use seasonal ingredients when there aren’t times I’m craving one of my favs.

So there was a night when I really was craving my Black Berry Basil Pizza but we didn’t have blackberries and when I ran to the store they didn’t look very good. So I started looking in the fridge and I had just made an amazing recipe I’ll be posting next week and had some extra Cherry Balsamic Sauce so I decided I would use that. Oh my goodness it was one of the best improvisations ever! I did switch it up a little adding some red onion and Beyond Meat Grilled Chicken-less Strips I also had. I know some people aren’t fans of fruit on savory pizzas but I am all over it right now. You can leave the chicken off this if you want or sub regular chicken of course to make it fit your dietary needs.

I don’t see our homemade pizza nights fading anytime soon. So while the summer sun is out and the family is still loving them we will keep grilling up all the pizzas. If you tried our Neapolitan Pizza Crust you will understand why we are crazy in love with our pizza nights. It’s also why when all the girls friends come over they request homemade pizza night and why we have friends over and have pizza parties. Not to mention all the fun that goes into it because it really is a big production with ingredients all spread out, everyone throwing together their favs, one by one they go on the grill and as they come off people grab what they want from theirs and then the rest is spread out across our huge dining room table where everyone grabs what they want to try all while having fun. Trust me nothing is off limits when it comes to pizza toppings and as I’ve mentioned before one of the best pizza nights is New Years Eve when we seem to be cooking pizzas for over 4 hours with everyone that’s here and it’s what we have leftover from the holidays and what everyone brings. So those left over cheese platters, veggies, you name it!

So out of curiosity what would you put on your perfect pizza? Do you like to switch things up or go with your old faithful combo? What would you like to see me put on a pizza?

Cherry Chicken Pizza
Makes 1, 10-12″ pizza
1 10-12″ crust (we use our homemade Neapolitan Crust, recipe can be found here)
Balsamic Cherry Sauce, recipe below
6oz chicken (Beyond Meat Chicken-less Chicken)
few thin slices red onion
3-4 ounces fresh mozzarella (Miyoko’s Fresh VeganMozz)
6-12 fresh basil leaves
sea salt, or I like fleur de sel (Trader Joe’s)

Heat grill, with pizza stone placed inside, to 550F if using my husband’s crust recipe otherwise heat per your pizza crust directions. Strain Balsamic Cherry Sauce , reserving the juices, and spread cherries on the pizza crust as you would a pizza sauce. If you want you can drizzle some of the juice over top you just don’t want it to be too wet. Next take your mozzarella and sprinkle pieces or chunks over top. Add chicken (chicken-less chicken) and red onion. Sprinkle with salt. Place pizza, keeping it on the parchment as it will easily slide on and off your pizza stone, onto the pizza stone. Check at 5 minutes but depending on the heat you are able to maintain it may take up to 8 minutes, the crust should start to be golden brown and slightly blackened on the outer edges like a traditional Neapolitan pizza. If using your own crust bake per your crusts instructions. Remove pizza, sliding a baking sheet under the parchment paper. Top with fresh basil. Enjoy!

Balsamic Cherry Sauce
1/4c sugar
1 1/2c frozen cherries (used Triple Cherry Blend, tart and sweet cherries, from Costco)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar (Nuco Balsamic Style Coconut Vinegar)

In a sauce pan over medium heat sugar and 1/4 cup of water until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Add in cherries and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in balsamic vinegar. Let cool 5-10 minutes. If making ahead transfer to a glass jar and place in the refrigerator. Can be made up to a week ahead of time.

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