Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Bake (Video)
Try this Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Bake when you need some delicious low-carb comfort food that the whole family is going to love! And of course if pepperoni is not your jam, you can make your version of pizza chicken with any toppings you prefer.
PIN Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Bake to make it later!
This Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Bake is for everyone who’s craving something that tastes like comfort food. And although nothing might be quite as comforting as real pepperoni pizza, this chicken with pizza flavors is completely delicious and definitely scratches that pizza itch with something that’s also very low in carbs.
When the idea of making a recipe for thin pieces of chicken topped with pizza sauce and pepperoni popped into my head, I tested the pizza chicken recipe a couple of times with my nephew Jake to get it just right for you. The first time we didn’t reduce the pizza sauce and the sauce was too watery. We also tried it with turkey pepperoni, which was fine if that’s what you prefer, but this recipe doesn’t take a lot of pepperoni and the full-fat pepperoni definitely crisped up a lot better.
And every time we tested it we happily gobbled it up, and it’s turned into a hugely popular recipe on the site. But I know there are still probably some readers who haven’t tried it, so I’m featuring this pepperoni pizza chicken recipe for Friday Favorites this week; I hope you’ll put this on your menu soon!
What Ingredients do you need?
- Rao’s Pizza Sauce (affiliate link)
- large boneless-skinless chicken breasts (at least 8 oz. each)
- Olive Oil (affiliate link)
- Greek Oregano (affiliate link)
- Garlic Powder (affiliate link)
- Mozzarella cheese, sliced
- sliced pepperoni (regular or turkey pepperoni)
What sauce should you use for low-carb pizza?
I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find a couple of brands of pizza sauce that are pretty low in carbs, but I use Rao’s Pizza Sauce (affiliate link) which has only 3 carbs in 1/4 cup.
What is Greek Oregano?
Greek Oregano may also just be called oregano; any mediterranean oregano will work but don’t use Mexican oregano for this recipe.
Want lots more ideas for low-carb pizza?
If you’re really craving pizza, check out my HUGE collection of Low-Carb Pizza Recipes for more pizza or pizza-flavored dishes! Those recipes are almost all Keto and gluten-free as well.
How to Make Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Bake:
(Scroll down for complete printable recipe with nutritional information.)
- Don’t skip the step of simmering the sauce on low until it’s reduced to one cup.
- Trim chicken well, cut each breast in half, and then pound until they’re as thin as you can get with out the chicken shredding apart. (I use a meat mallet (affiliate link) but anything heavy will work.
- Season chicken with oregano-garlic powder mix, and then quickly brown the chicken on both sides. (It won’t be cooked through.)
- Layer the chicken pieces in a glass casserole dish that’s barely big enough to fit the chicken.
- Spread each piece with a generous amount of the reduced sauce.
- Put a thin slice of Mozzarella and few slices of pepperoni on each chicken breast.
- Bake at 400F/200C for 25-30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to slightly brown.
- Serve hot and wait for compliments.
- If you’re reheating leftovers, I recommend you cover the dish to keep the chicken from drying out.
Make it a Low-Carb Meal:
If you want a side dish this will taste amazing with Cauliflower Rice with Basil, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts, Stir-Fried Spinach with Garlic and Parmesan, Cheesy Zucchini with Garlic and Parsley, Lemon Parmesan Kale Salad, or Sweet and Sour Broccoli Salad. Or make something simple like Air Fryer Roasted Mushrooms.
More Low-Carb Pizza Variations:
Low-Carb Deconstructed Pizza Casserole
Sausage and Pepperoni Layered Pizza Bake
Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza-Stuffed Peppers
Pepperoni Pizza Keto Crustless Quiche
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Bake
Try this low-carb Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Bake when you need some low-carb and gluten-free comfort food!
Ingredients
- 1 jar (14 oz) low-sugar pizza sauce, reduced to 1 cup (See note about pizza sauce)
- 4 very large boneless-skinless chicken breasts (at least 8 oz. each)
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 tsp. Greek oregano (sometimes just called oregano)
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 6 oz. piece of Mozzarella, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
- 2 oz. sliced pepperoni (regular or turkey pepperoni)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F/200C.
- Put the pizza sauce in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat until it's reduced to one cup, about 20 minutes. Don't skip this step or the dish will be watery.
- While the sauce reduces, trim the chicken breasts and cut each one crosswise to make two same-size pieces. Put chicken pieces one at a time inside a heavy plastic bag and use a meat mallet (affiliate link) (or something heavy) to pound the chicken until it's as thin as you can get it without it shredding apart. (Don't worry if some pieces break apart a little.)
- Mix the Greek Oregano (affiliate link) and garlic powder in a little bowl and then sprinkle both sides of each piece of chicken with the mixture.
- Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in the largest non-stick frying pan you have (you may have to do this in 2 batches if your pan isn't big enough.) Add the chicken pieces and cook 1-2 minutes on each side, just long enough to brown the chicken but not long enough to cook it through.
- Choose the smallest glass casserole dish you have that will fit all the browned chicken pieces, and lay the chicken in the dish in a single layer. Cut the Mozzarella into slices and cut the slices as needed to make enough pieces to mostly cover the top of each piece of chicken.
- By now the sauce should be nicely reduced, so spread sauce over the top of each chicken breast. (Use it all.) Top each piece with sliced Mozzarella and pepperoni slices, covering the top of each piece of chicken as much as you can.
- Bake uncovered about 25-30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown and the pepperoni is slightly crisped. (Some pieces of pepperoni will slice off the chicken, try not to obsess about that like I did.) Serve hot.
- This was great reheated in the microwave for a few minutes, although you might not have any left!
Notes
Use the lowest-carb pizza sauce you can find or make your own pizza sauce to keep the carbs low for this recipe.
Recipe created by Kalyn.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 221Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 5gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 75mgSodium: 317mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 25g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations. (I'm not sure why the carb count is coming out quite so low on this recipe.)
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Bake with full-fat cheese and pepperoni should be great for traditional low-carb and Keto eating plans if you’re careful to choose low-carb pizza sauce (or make your own). You could use skim-milk Mozzarella and turkey pepperoni for the original South Beach Diet or another low-glycemic diet. We definitely liked it best with full-fat pepperoni, but quite a bit of the fat is left in the dish.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Casserole Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2017 and it’s been hugely popular on the site. It was last updated with more information in 2022.
159 Comments on “Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Bake (Video)”
I made this last night and it was a hit! I used thighs instead of breast because my husband doesn’t like chicken breasts. It was delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it! I like the idea of using thighs!
OMG. This looks and sounds delish! What do you serve it with? Just a salad, or a gluten free pasta? Thanks!
Any kind of green salad or green vegetable would be great if you want this be low-carb.
Here is the calorie count from Yummly, which may or may not be accurate. I’m not able to calculate nutritional information for the recipes for several reason, including the additional time it takes, the difficulty in doing it accurately, and the sheer number of recipes on my site. If you look after the recipe itself, I give two links (where it says “Nutritional Information”) for suggestions of two ways to get that information. That’s all I can do at this time.
This was delicious! Some things I did differently were I sliced the chicken breasts in half lengthwise so they were 1/2 the original thickness. I found I didn’t need to use the Mallet on them then. I also used a garlic salt blend as well as fresh grated parmesan and the oregano. I added in cooked bacon crumbles over the partially cooked chicken before adding the sauce (Mrs. RAO’S homemade pizza sauce 13 oz. but only 12 carbs in whole jar). I then added mushrooms and waited to put the cheese on until it had cooked a full 20 minutes. It was scrumptious.
I love how you adapted it. Sounds like I need to look for that pizza sauce too! Glad you enjoyed!
I don't calculate nutritional information for a variety of reasons but if you look after the recipe where it says "Nutritional Information" there are two links for ways you can get it.
Can I use Alfredo sauce? It has significantly less carbs?
To me it seems like using alfredo would make it a completely different dish, but I can't imagine why it wouldn't be good. I'd love to hear how it turns out!
This look amazing! I have been craving pizza so going to cook this tonight.
Crystal, glad to hear you enjoyed it!
I was very intrigued when I saw the absolutely gorgeous photo you used for the pizza and had to read. We make homemade pizza at home all the time, even though I make my own crust and it is not a low-carb recipe but always thoroughly enjoy other people's thoughts on recipes because I always seem to learn something new from other people's take on a recipe.it was a nice surprise to see that you experimented with the sauce because we are constantly experimenting trying to get everything right and the sauce is one of the harder things to get right because (like you said) it is always usually on the thin side.Thanks for the tip!
Thanks Mistie,
I don't know if you'd need to simmer the sauce if you used it on pizza with bread dough, but for this recipe the sauce is not going to absorb into the chicken!
This has become a staple in our keto household. I use Rao's Pizza Sauce and don't bother with browning it first (just cook it a little longer) and we love it.
So glad you've been enjoying it!
I am cooking this tomorrow sounds nice . What could i serve it with ?
Pick a healthy vegetable and enter it into the search bar and you will find lots of ideas.
This was FANTASTIC! Here's how I did it…. Pounded chicken, placed in greased pan added a bunch of seasonings like pepper, parm. truffle rub, salt pepper, layered with moz/parm cheese, added spaghetti sauce, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes then a bit more cheese. Baked at 400 for 25 mins then covered with foil for about 10 mins on the counter. WE ALL L O V E D it, thank you!!!
So glad you all enjoyed it!
Oh now I see what happened. My link says "You can make your own sauce and omit the sugar." Of course there's some sugar in the tomato sauce and paste, but all tomatoes have some natural sugar. Here's a sauce from Atkins that is probably about as low in carbs as it can get; I think I will change my links to this one. Sorry about the confusion.
Yes, I must not have noticed that they added sugar to their sauce, so sorry about that. The one I used is pretty low in sugar per serving; I would probably just buy it. But I'll look and see if I can find a make-your-own sauce that's better. I wonder if they changed it, that is usually not something I'd miss!
I guess I am confused about how reducing could make the sauce thinner? How long did you cook it. Did you start with 14 oz. sauce and cook until you only had 8 oz? That would have to make the sauce thicker.
We're trying to reduce carbs at our house, but we love pizza. Hubby really wanted me to try this recipe. I followed the recipe the first time, and we liked it. But I wanted a "faster, easier, fewer pans dirtied" recipe. So the second time, I skipped the pre-browning in the skillet. I used chicken tenders and didn't bother to pound them out. I just put them in a single layer in the baking dish, then sprinkled with kosher salt and cracked black pepper (we thought the chicken needed more seasoning) and topped with pasta sauce rather than pizza sauce. (I also skipped the step of reducing the sauce.) I baked it uncovered at 350F for about 20 minutes, removed the pan, and spooned most of the liquid from the pan. Then I added the mozzarella and pepperoni slices; increased the temperature to 400F and baked for 25 minutes longer. Husband loved it! As I said, we liked the original recipe, but a one pan dinner without messing up the cooktop by pre-browing the chicken worked much better for me.
Glad you liked it, and glad you were able to adapt it to a version that fits your preferences better too!
Kalyn you are a genius! I've been searching for a paleo pizza crust that tastes good for a long time… just use meat! Brilliant!! I'm thinking a huge turkey breast pounded out would make a cool whole pizza too…. what do you think?
So glad you like it! Turkey might work, but be careful to not make it too thin, or it will dry out in the oven. I might use more sauce for turkey!
Ok thanks for the advice 🙂
Hi, Kalyn! Love your site and enjoy your delicious low-carb recipes. I'm making this tonight; it's been on my menu "wish list", but I just can't seem to get past your amazing "Very Greek Grilled Chicken"! By now this is a family favorite. We don't eat very much beef or pork, mostly chicken, and the low carb options are tricky since some of my family are what I'd call "choosy" (aka picky!). This sounds like a winner and I can't wait to try it. Thank you, Kalyn!
Thanks; hope you enjoy!
Kalyn, I made this last night, and all I can say is DELICIOUS!!! My whole family loved this dish, and I had dinner on the table in 45 minutes from start to finish. All I added to the menu was a tossed salad, and everyone was happy! This is in my "keeper" file for sure! Thanks so much!
Thanks Juli, so glad everyone liked it!
Do you think this would work using shredded mozzarella?
Okay great, thanks so much!
It will work, but probably not as well. I used sliced mozzarella so it would stay together more on top of the chicken. I think the shredded mozzarella will run down to the bottom of the dish a lot more. But it will probably still tasty!
I'm making this for the 2nd time tonight. We use turkey pepperoni. It is a keeper. Thanks!
Melissa, so glad you are enjoying it!
I wonder a bit about how sitting in the fridge will affect the flavor of the chicken. Possibly this Deconstructed Pizza Casserole would be better for making ahead and cooking later. But I don't know for sure, would love to hear how it works for either one if you try it.