This vegan BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe is spicy, sweet, tangy, savory goodness! This BBQ pizza will become a staple in your house – it’s simply addicting!
This pizza uses soy curls as a vegan chicken replacement; when seasoned it tastes and has a mouthfeel just like chicken strips! The rest of the pizza uses sweet pineapple, zesty pepperoncini, hearty plant-based cheddar and mozzarella – all of which is perfection in savory BBQ Sauce.

Topped with soy curls, pineapple, banana peppers, red onion and cheddar and mozzarella cheeses on our BBQ/red sauce

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a sliced vegan bbq chix pizza on parchment paper

This pizza was inspired by Pizza Luce’s ‘Rustler’ pizza, which is one of the best BBQ Pizzas in the United States (in my humble opinion). I’m sure we all have our favorite pizza spots; even though I’ve lived in multiple states throughout the US, Luce will always be my favorite.

This vegan BBQ chicken pizza recipe is simple to make and will leave you addicted to making homemade pizzas! (Cheaper AND better tasting than a pizzeria? Yes please!)

This recipe uses a sourdough pizza dough, but feel free to use a premade pizza dough from the grocery store!

Looking for Premade Pizza Dough?

All of these shops carry premade pizza dough to help make your pizza adventures simpler. If you can’t find any fresh dough, check out the freezer section of your local grocery store.

Trader Joes
Whole Foods
Safeway
PCC Market

Vegetarian Chicken for the Barbecue Pizza

This recipe uses soy curls as the ‘chicken’ for this Vegan BBQ Chicken Pizza.
Soy curls are delicious, chewy, meaty, and very chicken-like. They are dehydrated strands of soy that, when marinated and tossed in a sauce, taste fantastic! The soy curls are much more budget friendly compared to the vegan chicken you’ll find in the freezer section, yet they are high in protein and great for you. They are my go-to gluten free chicken replacement whenever I cook (if I’m not making seitan).

The reason soy curls are a household staple is they are a high protein, very meaty, yet can be juicy, and they are more affordable than most vegan proteins. They are healthy in that they have no added ingredients, no salts, with no preservatives. They can really be dressed up nicely, as you can rehydrate them in any variety of sauces to make them extremely flavorful. If you cook them at a high heat following hydrating them, they get a crispy skin with a juicy center. It’s not an exact replica of chicken strips, but it is very similar! If you want something that is a copycat version of chicken strips, it’s worth it to invest in some of the premade chicken alternatives. Or consider making your own vegan seitan chicken!

The affordability is another thing to consider, especially when we are all feeling inflation.
Each bag (linked in the recipe, and below) makes about 1 1/4 lbs. of protein, making them $3.21 per pound (in 2022) when hydrated if you order the 6 pack from the manufacturer directly. In comparison, Alpha foodie strips is $14 per pound, Daring chicken is $14.9 per pound, and Gardien is $8.82 per pound.

That being said, soy curls are something you’ll most likely have to order online. I’ve included links to what I order, otherwise for the most budget option is to order them from the Bulter website in bulk! Since they are dehydrated, they store great!

The process to make these soy curls into vegan chicken is to simply marinate them in a flavorful broth. I’ve found that the mixture of nutritional yeast, garlic, onion, and mushroom seasoning creates a chicken-like flavor. Another great option is to soak them in a vegetarian chicken broth to really get that flavor. As a person who doesn’t want too much sodium in their diet, I prefer my spice blend over the premade broths, but the flavor is great for both!

After the soy curls are rehydrated then you’ll toss them in some BBQ sauce and pan fry them. Pan frying them helps the soy curls caramelize and helps improve the overall texture. It also helps set in the onion flavor for the pizza!

Pizza dough stretched out with bbq sauce next to cheese, pineapple, and soy curls

Alternatives to Soy Curls

If you are looking for other alternatives to soy curls for this pizza, there are a few great options to consider.
These are all brands I tried from local grocery stores and have these ranked in what I would recommend the most. Otherwise, if you order from a vegan specific website like GTFO It’s Vegan, Vegan Essentials, or Herbivorous Butcher you’ll have a wide selection of vegan chicken alternatives. I personally save websites like that as a special treat, because it’s not the most budget-friendly option.

Gardein has the best overall flavor and texture of all the frozen vegan chicken strips. (This link brings you to an 8 pack, it’s here so you can see what I’m referring to. Check your local grocery store for this).
Daring Chicken also makes a fantastic vegetarian chicken substitute that’s gluten free. It’s drier than the Gardein and the flavor isn’t as great. But It’s still a decent option.
Sweet Earth makes an acceptable chicken strip. It’s dry in texture and felt dense.

Other Topping Suggestions

This pizza really gets its magic from the tangy banana peppers, the sweet pineapple, savory soy curls, BBQ sauce, with loads of vegan cheddar and mozzarella. It’s a lot. It’s magical. But there are even more possibilities with this pizza! You could add some coconut bacon over everything, you could crumble over some smoked cheddar over the pizza, or you could even garnish it with chive flowers.

What’s the Best BBQ Sauce to Use on this Vegan BBQ Pizza?

Any of your favorite barbeque sauces will work great for this pizza. Sriracha Garlic BBQ sauce from Trader Joes was a hit with this pizza!

Looking for more Vegan Pizza recipes?

a person grabbing a slice of mushroom pizza — Creamy Garlic Morel Pizza- This pizza has a creamy garlic base that is topped with plant base mozzarella, garlicy morels, sundried tomatoes, then garnished with green onions, vegan feta, and edible flowers