Scare up some fun by serving some eerie Cheesy Broccoli and Chicken Stuffed Skulls for Halloween dinner. Each pizza crust skull is filled with flavorful cheese sauce mixed with fresh broccoli and chicken and will add some excitement to your Halloween meal.
Halloween is a busy time of year in my kitchen. My friends gather to help create treats for our party, and in turn, I provide them with meals, many of which consist of take-out food.
The other day when I had a houseful of helpers, I decided to make dinner instead. I wanted it to be festive and fun yet quick and easy.
In less than 20 minutes, the time it would take to drive to a restaurant, I whipped up 8 of these skull-shaped pizza crusts filled with cheese sauce, broccoli, and chicken and popped them in the oven.
After they baked to a deep golden brown, we dug in. Everyone thought they looked a bit creepy but really cool on their plate and were amazed by how yummy they tasted considering my lack of time spent in preparation.
If you are looking for a fun Halloween dinner that will fill up your kid's bellies before they head out to Trick or Treat, this is it! So, let's make some skulls.
Ingredients
Supplies
2 skull pans - When I made these skulls back in 2015, I used a Wilton Skull pan. That pan is no longer available but you can use Nordic Ware Skull Pans that you can use to make this recipe. Just note that that pan is deeper so fill them only about ¾ full.
You can find the pan on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales).
Nordic Ware Halloween Bakew...Shop on Amazon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Brush 8 skull cavities with butter or baking spray.
- Unroll tubes of pizza dough.
- Cut the pizza dough in half.
- Lay 1 piece of dough over a skull cavity in a pan.
- Continue filling 8 skulls with dough.
- Combine the cheese sauce with the broccoli, chicken, and shredded cheese.
- Equally, divide the filling among the 8 skulls.
- Fold the dough over the top of the filling, cutting off the excess dough, and pinching the seams together.
- Brush egg wash over the tops of the dough.
Bake for 24-28 minutes until the top dough is baked through.
Make Ahead
These stuffed skulls are best the day they are made but you can make them ahead. Go ahead and bake them, then refrigerate them, and reheat them in a 300-degree oven for about 15 minutes until heated through.
Related Recipes
If you like these, you might also enjoy making these other creepy skull-shaped meals for your Halloween dinner.
These pizza skulls are made with pizza dough and pizza toppings in the Nordicware Skull Pan.
These Burrito Skulls were made with homemade tortilla dough. They are stuffed with seasoned ground beef, corn, black beans, and tomatoes. You can also make Enchilada Skulls using homemade tortillas. There are so many possibilities with this pan.
Recipe
Pizza crust skulls filled with ooey gooey cheese sauce mixed with broccoli, chicken, and cheese.
- 1 pouch Campbell's Cheesy Broccoli Chicken Oven Sauce
- 1 cup broccoli, chopped into small pieces
- 2 cups diced chicken breast
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 4 tubes refrigerated pizza dough
- egg wash - 1 egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Brush 8 skull cavities in 2 skull pans with butter or spray with non-stick spray.
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Combine Cheesy Broccoli Chicken Oven Sauce with broccoli, chicken, and cheese. Stir until well combined.
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Unroll tubes of pizza dough.
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Cut dough in half.
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Lay 1 piece of dough over a skull cavity in a pan.
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Continue filling 8 skulls with dough.
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Equally divide the filling among the 8 skulls.
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Fold dough over top of filling, cutting off excess, pinching together the seams.
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Brush egg wash over tops of dough.
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Bake for 24-28 minutes until the top dough is baked through.
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Elizabeth
What’s a good substitute if you can’t find the Campbell's Cheesy Broccoli Chicken Oven Sauce?
Beth Klosterboer
I found a delicious-looking cheesy chicken broccoli casserole recipe that looks like a great filling for these skulls. https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/one-pot-cheesy-chicken-broccoli-rice-casserole/
Cheryl Brunson
My store was out of stock so I substituted for cambells broccoli and cheddar soup
Beth Klosterboer
That's a great idea! I'm going to guess the soup is very similar to the sauce packet.
Beth Klosterboer
Another reader said she used Campbell's Broccoli and Cheddar Soup. I'm guessing they taste very similar.
Lorra
Question for you - any idea how you could make these ahead of time and keep warm for an ongoing party? How to keep them warm for a few hour?
Beth
Your best bet is to keep them in a 200-degree oven, but I realize that might be challenging for a party. A large chafing dish will work reasonably well too. I'd leave the lid off so that they don't get too moist though. Have fun at your party!
lynn reynolds
I would love to get these pans could you tell me how to do that Thanks Lynn
Beth
Sadly right now they are all sold out, but they might be back in stock next Halloween.
Andrea
Loooooove this recipe. My 5-year-old could normally not care less about what I make, but is still talking about this dinner from three nights ago. It works perfectly with the large Wilton skull pan, if that what you happen to have. I used the same amounts of everything, except 1 tube of pizza dough did the trick with the large pan. The cook temp and time you used for the small pans also worked perfectly for the large - I did mix up and heat through the cheese sauce, chicken and broccoli before adding to the dough and pan, as I was worried with the larger version about it cooking through otherwise. So fun, thank you for giving me all new ideas with the skull pan!
Beth
I am SO happy to hear that your child loved this recipe and really happy to know that it worked so well in the large skull pan. I think it was a great idea to heat up the chicken mixture though. You are right, the large pan holds so much more filling that it might not have gotten hot enough by the time the dough was baked. I have a large pan too. Now I need to try making something in it! Happy Halloween.
KM
Does the chicken breast need to be cooked before adding to mixture?
Beth
Yes, you want to use cooked chicken.
Cindy
Where do you find the pans to make the skulls. I always have a Halloween dinner and this looks so fun!
Beth
Hi Cindy, you can find the pans on Amazon by using this link - http://amzn.to/2cFzRob. You may also be able to find them at JoAnn's or Michaels during Halloween.
tya Nelson
Where in the market do you find these pouches? I llooked all over the soup isle and the frozen foods.
Beth
I found them at Target near the jars of sauces, like pizza sauce. At Kroger they were close to the macaroni and cheese. They are shelf stable pouches.
phoenix
I've been making these awesome stuffed skulls in prep for my own halloween party, and have a note/tip. If you're uncoordinated like me, or are using homemade pizza dough, which can be a bit stickier and stretchier, try this alternate technique: form four calzones out of one batch of dough, close the seams carefully and then ease them into the skull pan.
It's easier for me to handle, as the dough wanted to stick to the other calzones when I tried to work one calzone in the pan at a time, and it was difficult to pinch and seal the seams inside the cavity itself.
Just an alternate method. I love the idea of using that wilton pan to make savory stuffed everything!
Beth
Thanks Phoenix for that tip. That is a GREAT idea! I hadn't thought to do that and it does make a lot of sense especially when using homemade dough. I hope they turned out great for you. Happy Halloween.
phoenix
My skulls turned out great! Turns out that if sauce leaks out while baking, it just turns black in the pan so you end up with scary black touched skulls. Kinda pirate-y. I'm good at finding out what happens if you screw something up a little 🙂
Beth
I'm so happy to hear your skulls turned out. I think sometimes things like scary black touches adds to the look of the edible craft. I hope you had a great Halloween.
the partiologist
Wow, Beth, these really look delicious in a gory sort of way! They would be so fun to serve, guests would DIE for them.
Beth
Thanks:) They were fun to serve.
Lynn@Happier Than A Pig In Mud
Ha, ha, I love it! They turned out great:@)