Name: Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Skillet
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 2 tsp kosher salt; 1 tsp smoked paprika; 1 tsp Italian seasoning; 1/2 tsp onion powder; 1/2 tsp garlic powder; 1/4 tsp ground black pepper; 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes; 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper; 2 tbsp olive oil, divided; 1.25 lbs chicken thighs; 100 grams sweet onion, diced, optional ((about half a medium onion)); 4 cloves fresh garlic, minced, optional; 24 ounce jar pizza or pasta sauce of choice; handful of fresh sweet basil, optional; 8 ounces shredded Italian cheese of choice ((we used 5 ounces mozzarella and 3 ounces Parmesan)); 3.5 ounces pepperoni slices; Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and basil for garnish

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Skillet combines two of your favorite foods into a single tasty and one skillet meal. This low carb and keto friendly dinner is easy to make. Just brown some chicken thighs in a skillet, add some tomato sauce and cover the chicken with cheese and pizza toppings. Have this simple and crave worthy dinner recipe on the table for your family in under an hour, with minimal dishes and big flavor.

lodge cast iron skllet with baked pepperonis and cheese like a pizza with basil

When it comes to comfort food… we really don’t mess around! Nothing is better than a quick, easy, delicious and keto friendly dinner that can be made in one skillet right? We think that’s the case, and yes, you can cook acidic foods in a well-seasoned Lodge Cast Iron Skillet in case you were wondering – read more on that here!

Who doesn’t love a genius mash-up? We’re talking protein packed, low in and high in flavor and satisfaction with this dinner. As much as we’d love to eat pizza every day, and this makes it possible if you have kids or pizza addicts in the house! Bonus that it’s ready in under an hour, with most of that time being spent with the skillet in the oven bubbling away. Keep reading for all the tips, tricks and our suggestions for any substitutions you might need to make.

Here’s What You Need For This Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Skillet:

For the pizza seasoning blend:

*We use a combination of all of the following spices to make an utterly DELICIOUS seasoning blend that tastes like pizza! As always, add ingredients according to your personal taste preferences.

Kosher salt
Smoked paprika
Italian seasoning blend – we posted how to to make your own at home below.
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Ground black pepper
Red pepper flakes
Cayenne pepper

For the dish:

Olive oil – To sear the chicken thighs.
Chicken thighs or breasts – We usually use chicken thighs for this, since it’s just our preference, but breasts would absolutely work. You could even use canned chicken or rotisserie chicken if you want.
Sweet onion – We added diced onion to our tomato sauce base, because we wanted a really flavorful sauce. You could skip or use onion powder if you want.
Fresh garlic – Again, optional. We like to add a lot of extra flavor to our marinara sauce. You could substitute for garlic powder if you want.
Pasta/pizza/marinara sauce – Choose something you like! Rao’s is our favorite.
Fresh sweet basil– Optional, and you could sub for dried. We just think nothing beats fresh basil.
Shredded Italian cheese of choice – We think that mozzarella and parmesan are the most obvious choices, but use whatever you want to use.
Pepperoni slices – We love lots of pepperoni on this… and man is it satisfying!
You could add any of your favorite pizza toppings! Some good ideas would be: mushrooms, onions, green bell peppers, Italian sausage and more!

How Should I Season The Chicken?

For the seasoning blend, we made a mixture that really gave us the pizza scent and color we were looking for. The seasoning is used on the chicken, and you could use whatever your favorite Italian seasonings you like, plus some salt and pepper. We do have to say that the seasoning blend we provided makes for an absolutely delicious dish, but of course, everything is sort of to taste in this recipe. You can always add more or less of whatever you want.

Do I Need To Use Fresh Onion, Garlic and Basil?

You don’t have to use fresh onion, garlic and basil and you don’t have to use dried versions at all either if you don’t want to. We like to add fresh onion, garlic and basil to really create a delicious flavor. Fresh onion, garlic and basil are always optional however. In particular we opted for these fresh ingredients because:
1.) They make everything taste better!
2.) We always have these things on hand (since we grow basil and never run out of garlic or onions!) &
3.) Our marinara sauce that we used at the time (when we ran out of Rao’s!!) was slightly lacking that basil, garlic and onion flavor we craved so much.

If you’re in a rush, feel free to skip these fresh additions and just use dried instead!

Can I Make My Own Italian Seasoning Blend?

Yes! For this recipe the Italian seasoning blend is such a lovely and savory blend of herbs. Of course you can use store-bought, or you can make your own! It’s so easy and cost effective to make your own Italian Seasoning blend at home. The best part is you can always just add a bit more of your favorite herbs to ensure it fits your tastes.

Here’s how we fix ours up:

2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp + 1 tsp (or 4 tsp) marjoram
1 tbsp + 1 tsp (or 4 tsp) dried thyme
1 tbsp + 1 tsp (or 4 tsp) basil
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp sage

*Makes 24 teaspoons or 4 tablespoons.

overhead ingredients for a pizza chicken skillet

What Type of Chicken Should I Use For This Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Skillet?

Honestly you can use whatever you want! We usually opt for chicken thighs since they are a little fattier, super juicy and flavorful in comparison to chicken breasts. Often, they’re even cheaper than chicken breasts too. Alternatively, you could use leftover chicken of any kind, whether that be thighs or breasts. Sometimes we even used canned chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken to get dinner on the table even faster. The point is we want this dinner to be easier and delicious, and we’re confident that no matter the option you choose, you will be super satisfied!

We buy all of our chicken thighs , canned chicken and rotisserie chicken at Costco (along with most of the other ingredients we use for this recipe) in bulk to save money. You can check out our full Costco shopping list here!

Looking For More Easy One Skillet Keto Friendly Dinners? Check Out Our Favorites:

Tools:

spoonful of pepperoni pizza chicken skillet

Need supplies for this recipe? We’ve linked our favorites above and right here in our Amazon Store! You don’t pay anything extra if you shop using our link, but we get a small percentage of the sale. A Full Living is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associate program, an affiliate advertising program designed to promote a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking products to amazon.com. We only share products we use and love. It doesn’t cost you anything extra to shop using our links, but we earn a small commission that helps us keep this site going!

Let’s Make This Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Skillet:

Preheat your oven 375°F. Heat your cast iron over medium heat. Season your chicken with your seasonings of choice (we used the entire batch of seasoning blend we made). Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the skillet, and add in the chicken to sear. Brown on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Remove the chicken from the skillet, and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pan. Add the remaining olive oil to the skillet. If you’re adding garlic and onions to this dish, we are going to cook them now before adding the sauce. If you’re skipping this step, simply add the marinara sauce you’re using to the skillet.

For the onions in and garlic, first add in the onions with a small pinch of salt to sweat out the liquid. Cook for 3-5 minutes until the onions are translucent, then add in your minced garlic. Cook for only about 30 seconds, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add in your marinara sauce right away to cool down the garlic. Then, sprinkle in some sweet basil if you’re adding this fresh ingredient as well, stirring consistently wilt it.

seared chicken thighs in a cast iron skillet

hand adding garlic to cooked onions in a cast iron skillet

Add the chicken thighs back to the pan, then smother with the tomato sauce. Layer on the cheese, and pepperonis.

chicken thighs smothered with tomato sauce in a cast iron skillet

uncooked pepperoni slices and mozzarella cheese over cooked chicken in a cast iron skillet

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 375°F, then broil on high for 3-5 minutes to get the cheese nice and browned. Add fresh basil if desired, we grow some on our window sill so that we always have it. Garnish with more Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.

pepperonis and browned cheese in a cast iron skillet

closeup of pepperonis with sauce, cheese, red pepper flakes and basil

Serve and enjoy!

pepperonis, Italian basil, cheese baked in a cast iron skillet

If you get a chance to try this recipe, let us know what you think, would ya?! Leave us a comment, or catch up with us on Facebook or Instagram, or pin to your favorite Pinterest board for later. We love sharing your versions of our creations over on Instagram @afullliving!

If you could please leave a comment or rating if you loved this dinner, we would be forever grateful! (Ratings helps users find our recipes, since users say that they like them!)

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter so you’re the first to know about new recipes we post on our blog.

Until Next Time,
Briana & Chamere