Sweet Chili Chicken is the star of the wok station at Lakeside Dining Commons, one of Georgia Southern University’s residential dining halls. Executive Chef Clay Culpepper developed the popular dish several years ago, but he recently ramped up the heat with a spicier sauce in response to diner requests for more kick—and then decided to transform the Asian flavors into a pizza. “Compared to Lakeside’s other six stations, the pizza station is the busiest from lunch on,” says Culpepper. To meet demand, he menus a specialty pie every week, and Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza has become a fan favorite.
- At the wok station, the chicken breasts are coated with a tempura batter and deep-fried. For the pizza, Culpepper instead bakes the uncoated chicken in the oven until it’s almost cooked through. The breasts are cut into bite-size pieces and finish cooking as the pizza bakes.
- For ease of operation, Culpepper purchases prepared 16-inch round pizza dough shells. He measures sweet chili sauce into a squeeze bottle and squirts stripes of sauce onto the dough, then scatters chicken pieces on top and drizzles them with more sauce.
- Diners have always been able to customize the wok chicken dish with a choice of veggies; the most popular add-ins are snow peas and carrots, says Culpepper. “I top the pizza with these same vegetables, adding red onion for extra flavor,” he says. The pizza is finished with a shredded mozzarella-provolone blend, baked and served by the slice.