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Why buy them at Costco when you can make these Caesar’s stuffed hot pockets at home? Speaking of hot pockets, I actually nailed the thin, buttery dough with this copycat recipe (read all the rave reviews)!
But that’s a recipe for another time; today, it’s about the Costco Food Court chicken bake.
Copycat Costco Chicken Bake Recipe
Everyone loves the chicken bakes from Costco! This is seriously the best chicken bake recipe ever! I’ve been making them since 2018, and everyone who tries them agrees that they’re incredibly delicious!
Plus, you know exactly what’s in them. This is such an easy recipe, and I got the proportions down to the T so you can make them perfectly every single time!
These taste exactly like Costco’s old, thin, doughy chicken bakes, which are hard to find. Interestingly, a former Costco employee spoke up about the recipe, and I was so close to all his proportions that it surprised me!
They are everything a chicken bake should be. Crunchy and chewy. Less bready with a thin, lighter dough. Stuffed with the perfect ratio of cheesy chicken, bacon, and sauce. And the homemade version tastes so much fresher and creamier!
Making Costco Pizza Dough
I know, we’re all busy and probably have our favorite store brand shortcuts that we turn to, but I want to convince you that you can totally make this iconic chicken bake from scratch, from the chicken breasts to the pizza dough, with only minutes of prep work!
Let me explain. I literally made a batch of this pizza dough last night with a couple of minutes of handwork, and now I have ready-to-go pizza dough sitting in the fridge. This pizza dough was actually a pizzeria recipe that I scaled down and tweaked to taste like Costco’s in-house pizza dough!
It is a must if you want to replicate that thin, almost hot pocket-like consistency.
From Scratch Chicken Breast Strips
The same goes for the chicken breast strips: take a few chicken breasts, season them, and grill or pressure-cook them to doneness. No need to marinade them for long. Chicken is a tender, lean source of meat to begin with.
A couple of minutes of prep work and you have fully cooked chicken breast meat without the need to buy them from the store (did you ever read the ingredients in those store-bought strips?). No, thank you.
From-Scratch Hack
I cooked my chicken breasts, somewhat following this recipe, only halving the brine and letting it sit in it for 10 minutes. I then drained my brine, reserving about 1/2 cup, and cooked it for 15 minutes at high pressure in my Instant Pot. Feel free to season the tops with additional onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste before pressure cooking.
Homemade Caesar Dressing
Caesar’s dressing is one of the easiest dressings to make. I use mayonnaise as the base and add Parmesan cheese to build the flavor. My sisters rave about this Caesar’s dressing, and they are avid fans of the store-bought ones!
DIY Mozzarella-Provolone Blend
It really doesn’t take that much longer to grate a block of cheese. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to come across a block of provolone cheese, not to mention an exact provolone and mozzarella blend. However, I am able to find a 2-lb pack of sliced provolone cheese that I grate and mix with a block of mozzarella. It makes the best pizza blend ever.
Originally, I used part Parmesan cheese and mozzarella, but after the former Cotsco employee mentioned provolone, I switched it up to provolone and half mozzarella. All the exact proportions will be in the recipe card, along with my tweaks.
Let’s jump into the procedure and my helpful tips for making the perfect Costco Chicken Bake!
How To Make Costco Chicken Bake
Let’s walk through how to make the Costco Chicken Bake step by step, and don’t forget to watch how I made these on Instagram (I share a lot of my creations there right from my kitchen).
Make the pizza dough
The first step to making Costco chicken bakes is to make this easy pizza dough. I combine the yeast with the water, sugar, and salt. Give it a good stir, then add the flour and oil, and knead it for 4 minutes in a stand mixer. That’s about a minute of work, and the rest is hands off. Use right away or refrigerate.
This dough yields about 1.5 pounds (24 oz). You’ll need 6 oz of dough for each chicken bake, which makes a total of four chicken bakes.
Next, portion out the dough into a thin rectangle. You’ll want the dough flat and thin as a tortilla (about 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick). I love working on a pastry mat because it’s truly non-stick, and I don’t need to use additional flour or grease to manage the dough.
Once the dough is flattened out, combine the cheese, bacon, cooked chicken, and Caesar’s dressing in a large bowl.
Toast the bacon bits in a small skillet to make them nice and crisp. This takes seconds and adds tons of flavor and texture! Place 1 cup of the chicken/bacon mixture across the center of the dough.
Another thing that makes them extra flavorful is to brush the dough with a thin layer of Caesar’s dressing. This makes them creamy, but be sure to leave a border unbrushed so that they seal.
Portion & Rolling Dough
Roll up like a burrito by folding in the sides first, then lifting the bottom part of the dough over the filling and rolling.
Pinch and seal the bottom of the dough shut. Transfer to a large, round, greased, perforated pizza pan. I love this pan! The holes help the bottoms crisp up evenly.
How to Freeze Chicken Bakes:
Like most freezer foods, par-baking the dough makes it freezer-friendly. If you’re making a large batch of chicken bakes, then freezing them is a good option.
I prefer to store a large batch of pizza dough in the fridge to keep it fresh to order, but here’s how to freeze it for longer storage.
Prepare the chicken bakes per instructions, only bake them for 10-12 minutes instead of the full baking time. Cool them completely on the pizza pan. Then wrap each chicken bake in foil and arrange them into a jumbo freezer bag. Label them and place them flat into the freezer.
Once frozen, you can move them around and keep them frozen for up to 2 months.
How to Bake Frozen Chicken Bakes
There are two ways to cook frozen chicken bakes:
- Microwave: unwrap the chicken bake and place it onto a plate lined with a paper towel. Microwave for 4 minutes, flipping over once in between. It should be hot and the center heated through. Heat for an additional 30 seconds until it’s hot.
- Oven/Toaster oven: Heat the oven to 350°F. Place the chicken bakes wrapped in foil onto a pan and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Then carefully unwrap them and place them back into the oven to crisp up. Bake uncovered for an additional 10-15 minutes or until hot.
Bake until they are crispy and done
Before you put them in the oven, brush the tops with additional Caesar’s dressing and a good sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Costco uses large shreds, so the bigger the better.
If you are baking them on a 16″ pizza pan, place them evenly apart on the pan (about 1.5 to 2 inches apart) and bake at 450°F for 20 minutes.
The most important piece of advice I can give you is to bake chicken bakes at a high oven temperature to get them nice and crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Costco uses commercial ovens in its food court, and so, the pizzas and chicken bakes need to be cooked in a faster manner at higher temperatures.
For extra crisp bottoms, spread the bottoms with Caesar’s dressing and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. These will be extra crispy and so crunchy!
Cool
Cool the chicken bakes on the pizza pan for 10 minutes before cutting into it. This helps the filling set.
Store
Store chicken bakes, sliced in half to fit into an airtight container. And store up to 5 days in the fridge or the freezer for up to 2 months. We go through these in one sitting for our family of 8 (I cut each chicken bake into 3-4 pieces to stretch the servings).
FAQs About Chicken Bakes
How do you make thin dough like the old Chicken Bakes?
Costco has always used pizza dough for its chicken bakes. The key to making a lighter, pastry-like pizza dough is to stretch the dough very thin. It needs to be rolled pretty thin, somewhere between pita dough and tortillas (about 1/16 and 1/8 of an inch).
Why do my chicken bakes look bready?
There are a few main reasons for this that I’ve found in my experience.
- The yeast is activated in the dough, and the process needs to move quickly. I like to refrigerate the pizza dough so that it slows down the yeast activity. And it makes for a more pleasant shaping experience as the dough is cold.
- The chicken bakes were rising in the pan for too long. As soon as I’m done shaping them, they go into the oven, no waiting time.
- Incorrect oven temperature. If you bake pizza at a lower oven temperature, it has a tendency to still grow in the oven. Baking at a higher oven temperature gets things cooking and not proofing. There is a difference.
Can I use store-bought pizza dough?
Yes, store-bought pizza dough can be used, just make sure you’re working with 1.5 pounds of dough and that you roll the dough thin.
Can I make ahead?
Absolutely! I love making the pizza dough and Caesar’s dressing in advance. That way, when I need to fill and roll them all, I have to do is focus on the filling and assembly. If you wanted to, the chicken filling can be made ahead, too. This is a great way to host guests, as most of the prep is done.
I don’t have Caesar’s. Can I use Ranch?
Yes! Ranch dressing can be used with great success! I’d add a handful of shredded Parmesan cheese to get that Caesar’s flavor.
Mise en Place(Everything You Need)! :
Equipment:
- 16-inch perforated pizza pan (for extra crunchy bottoms)
- Mixing Bowl
- Small cast-iron skillet
- Heavy-duty Kitchen Aid mixer
- Pastry mat
The Best Costco Chicken Bake Recipe: Ingredients & Substitutions
There are a few ingredients that I would be confident to change. The Caesers dressing, chicken strips, and cheese. Do not change anything else in the recipe for the best results. Here are some tested substitutions.
- Pizza dough- I highly recommend making this easy pizza dough for the best chicken bakes! This tastes like the real deal and only takes a couple of minutes to combine, and then the mixer does the rest. If all fails, store-bought can definitely be used, just make sure it’s 1.5 pounds of dough. I use unbleached bread flour to make the homemade pizza dough.
- Cooked chicken breast meat- I’ve had these with store-bought grilled chicken breast strips and homemade. It’s so quick to poach a couple of chicken breasts in a little water and seasonings that it doesn’t make sense to buy them.
- Cheeses- grate half provolone and half mozzarella cheese to make 1.5 cups of shredded cheese. If you can’t find provolone, use 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella and 1/3 cup of parmesan shreds. It will taste just as good, if not better. This parmesan combo works and is how I used to make them for years.
- Caesars dressing- can be substituted with creamy ranch dressing, no problem. I will brush the pizza dough with it before the filling goes on and the tops. My homemade Caesar’s dressing is amazingly delicious and takes a couple of minutes to prepare! But if you want to substitute store-bought, then the creamy Marzetti dressing is as close as you can get.
- Bacon- I used to bake my bacon strips and chop them for these chicken bakes. But now, I take some shortcuts. So, bacon bits it is. They taste phenomenal if you toast them in a skillet!
- Parmesan cheese is sprinkled on the tops (and bottoms if you want super crunchy bottoms). Grate a Parmesan wedge yourself, or look for a bag of large Parmesan shreds. Costco sells large shreds of Parmesan cheese in the deli section.
Helpful Chicken Bake tips:
I know I covered a lot in this post, but here are some key notes.
- Toast the bacon bits in an ungreased skillet to revive the flavor and texture.
- I like to combine the filling mixture. It makes assembly so much easier and tastes just as good!
- Anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 cup of Caesar’s dressing can be used. It depends on how dry your chicken is; sometimes it takes more or less. I find that store-bought chicken strips don’t need much.
- To serve a crowd of 15 to 20 people, triple the pizza dough recipe to make 12 chicken bakes. Cut them in half to stretch the servings.
More of My Favorite Copycat Chicken Recipes:
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The Best Copycat Costco Chicken Bake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Pizza Dough:
- 2 1/2 cups bread flour, (scooped and leveled)
- 1 cup warm water, (80-90°F)
- 1 tsp dry active yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp olive oil, (or any neutral-flavored oil)
Chicken bake filling:
- 9 oz cooked chicken breast , (chopped) see notes below*
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, (half of it mixed with grated provolone cheese) It should equal 5 oz.
- 1/2 cup bacon bits, (toasted)
- 1/4 cup creamy Caesar dressing
Topping:
- 2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese , (for tops)
- 4 Tbsp creamy Caesar dressing, (smeared on top)
Instructions
- To make the pizza dough, mix 1 cup of water and 1 tsp yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp salt, and 2.5 cups of flour, give it a good stir, and add 2 tsp of oil. Knead for 4 minutes. Then rest for 15 minutes covered. It's ready to be used at this point. I often keep this dough refrigerated. It should be tacky and very pliable.
- Pre-heat oven to 450°F. Lightly grease a 16-inch perforated pizza pan. Cut the pizza dough into four equal pieces. Roll each piece into a thin 11×8-inch rectangle and smear the inside with 1 Tbsp of Caesar's dressing, leaving a 1-inch border around the edges.
- Combine all the filling ingredients: 9 oz cooked chicken, 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella (blended with half provolone), 1/2 cup toasted bacon bits, and 1/4 cup Caesar's dressing. Then place 1 cup of filling across the center of each rolled-out piece of dough.
- Fold in the sides and roll up jelly-roll style, pinching the seams to seal.
- Place all the Chicken bakes onto the prepared pizza pan and brush each chicken bake with 1 Tbsp of Caesar dressing and 1/2 Tbsp shredded parmesan cheese. Bake at 450°F for 20 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven.
Notes
- The pizza dough should yield 1.5 pounds of dough to make four chicken bakes. I often triple the recipe to yield three balls of dough (12 chicken bakes). For that, I knead together 7.5 cups (1058 grams) of bread flour, 3 cups of water, 1 Tbsp of yeast, 2 Tbsp of salt, and 2 Tbsp of sugar.
- For exact flour measurements in the recipe, I weighed 2.5 cups of bread flour, and it weighed 367 grams.
- Cook two medium-sized chicken breasts with seasonings of choice to make 9 to 10 ounces of cooked chicken meat. I include how I made mine in the blog post. You can also buy a 12-oz bag of fully cooked, flame-grilled chicken breast strips at Walmart or Aldi next to the raw chicken (or frozen). Costco uses John Soules Foods Chicken Breast Strips.
- If using store-bought pizza dough, then use 1.5 pounds of any refrigerated pizza dough.
- Originally, the cheeses that I mixed 1.5 cups of mozzarella and 1/3 cup of shredded parmesan cheese for the filling. Costco makes its chicken bakes with a mozzarella and provolone blend, which is why I tweaked the cheese. It’s so delicious either way.
- A perforated pizza pan makes the bottoms super crisp. You can use any pizza pan to make them; just make sure you cool them in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack so the bottoms don’t get soggy.
- To freeze chicken bakes: Par-bake the chicken bakes for 10 minutes. Then cool completely and wrap each chicken bake in foil. Freeze for up to 2 months in a jumbo freezer bag.
- To bake frozen chicken bakes: Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 25 minutes wrapped, then unwrap and bake uncovered for an additional 15-20 minutes. Or microwave on high for 4 minutes (on a paper towel-lined plate), rotating in between (be sure to remove foil if microwaving).
- For extra-crisp bottoms, brush bottoms with creamy dressing and extra shredded parmesan cheese. These will be so crunchy!
- Depending on the chicken breast being used, you may need to add a squirt or two more of creamy Caesar’s dressing. If it looks too dry, add enough to coat the mixture well.
- Can use fully cooked bacon strips or oven-bake six strips; just chop them to make 1/2 cup of crumbled bacon.
Nutrition (per serving)
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