Chicken Tikka Pizza (Desi Pizza)
Photo: Shameel mukkath on Pexels
Indian-Italian Fusion

Chicken Tikka Pizza (Desi Pizza)

चिकन टिक्का पिज़्ज़ा

Chicken Tikka Pizza is India's most successful food fusion of the modern era — smoky, tandoori-spiced chicken tikka on a pizza base with a creamy tikka masala or schezwan sauce, topped with fresh coriander, green chilli, onion, and cheese. It became famous at Indian pizza chains (Domino's India's chicken tikka pizza is one of their best-selling Indian-exclusive varieties) and has since proliferated across every home kitchen and cloud kitchen. The genius of the combination is that both tikka and pizza share a fundamental architecture: marinated, cooked protein on a flatbread base with sauce and toppings. The Indian spice profile on pizza converts every pizza into an incredibly bold, satisfying experience that Italians would not recognise but India loves. A Gen Z and millennial crowd favourite.

Total
45 min
Serves
4
Level
Medium

Prep 25 min · Cook 20 min

Ingredients

4 servings

Method

  1. Marinate chicken: Mix chicken cubes with yoghurt, Kashmiri chilli, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, and salt. Rest 30 minutes. Pan-fry or grill until golden and slightly charred (7–8 minutes on high heat). Set aside.

    About 15 min

    Tip: Grilling the tikka first and then putting it on the pizza is the key — raw chicken on pizza produces watery, undercooked results.

  2. Preheat oven to 220°C. Spread tikka masala or pizza sauce on each base. Scatter chicken tikka pieces. Add onion slices, green chilli, and mozzarella generously. The mozzarella should cover everything.

    About 5 min

    Tip: The desi trick: add a drizzle of cream on top of the cheese before baking — it produces an incredibly rich, golden, bubbly cheese topping.

  3. Bake 12–15 minutes at 220°C until cheese is melted, golden, and bubbling with slight char on the crust. Remove from oven. Immediately sprinkle chaat masala and fresh coriander on top. Squeeze a wedge of lime over the pizza. Serve with green chutney as a dipping sauce.

    About 15 min

    Tip: The chaat masala and lime juice added at the very end (not before baking) are what make this distinctly Indian rather than just "pizza with Indian toppings."

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

Calories
580
Protein
36 g
Carbs
62 g
Fat
22 g
Fibre
3 g
Sugar
4 g
Sodium
1100 mg

Contains: gluten, dairy

All Fusion recipes

Recipe by Boon Tools.