Easy recipe for a healthier pizza crust. It's made with cauliflower 'rice' and tastes incredible! Healthier alternative to your traditional pizza!
Cauliflower has been making news everywhere for some time now. So without pulling it off any longer, I had to try this. Pizza crust made with cauliflower. Yup, it's made with cauliflower, and yup, it tastes great! It has this crunch, that every pizza crust should have. But it is also chewy towards the center, just the way pizza crust should be.
So we are in March, would you believe it? And the craze for lighter, healthier food choices is on it's way! That's why I'm kicking the new season off with this 'green machine' pizza, topped with asparagus, peppers, mushrooms, basil, mint and pine nuts. Also, there is spicy tomato sauce for the base, and spinach pesto for a drizzle.
I meant to try cauliflower pizza crust for ages, but never actually did. So when I saw the recipe in Vegan Life Mag few weeks ago, I knew I will be finally giving it a go. So far, I've tried cauliflower cake, cauliflower mash, cauliflower steak, and cauliflower in a smoothie (not cool). It clearly was time to try pizza crust made with cauliflower too!
To start off with, the dough was really sticky, but some more flour mix did the trick. Once you shape the crust into your desired size, it takes just 10 minutes to bake! No waiting for the dough to rise, no hassle- no fuss. Also, feel free to use your own selection of toppings. Because it's Spring and everything is getting green, I went with mainly green toppings...
Because it's too good not to try, I have also included a recipe for super simple spicy tomato sauce. This can be used on your pizza base, before topping it up with vegetables. Also, to pack even more goodness into this beauty, I've added the drizzle of spinach dressing. Bursting with beautiful green colour, and fresh flavors for the new season! Perfect way to welcome long awaited spring!
Remember to let me know if you tried any of my recipes! Leave me a comment below or tag me with your creations on social media #anna_banana_co
Cauliflower pizza base (vegan)
Ingredients
For Pizza Crust:
- 500 g cauliflower (chopped roughly)
- 3 tbsp flax seeds (plus 9 tbsp water)
- 150 g chickpea flour
- 150 g spelt flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 30 g nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Spicy Tomato Sauce:
- 100 ml passata
- 1 tbsp chili paste
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
Spinach Pesto:
- 250 g spinach (fresh or frozen)
- ½ small lime (juice only)
- 50 g pine nuts
- 75 ml olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 C, line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Place the cauliflower florets into a food processor, and pulse until the consistency is rice- like.
- Place the cauli rice in a non stick pan and dry cook for about 5 minutes. Once cooked, set aside to cool.
- Once cooled, place into a cheesecloth or tea towel and strain as much liquid as possible.
- Mix together the flax seeds and the water, set aside for 5 minutes until gloopy.
- In a large bowl mix cauliflower, flax eggs, chickpea flour and spellt flour and the rest of the ingredients with your hands. Add more flour if the mixture is too sticky, or more water if too dry.
- Knead the dough on a floured surface and shape the crust onto your baking tray.
- Bake for about 15 minutes. Add sauce and toppings of your choice and bake for a further 10- 15 minutes
To make tomato sauce:
- In a small saucepan, stir together passata, chili paste and tomato paste. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes on a small heat and set aside.
To make spinach pesto:
- Blend all the ingredients together until smooth. Drizzle over your pizza.
Holly Bagnall
Hey,
I just ran a nutritional check on this recipe and it looks like a portion is closer to 827kcal per portion!
annabanana
Hey Holly, thanks for stopping by! I've just double checked the nutritional information on the software I'm using, and getting same result as previously. Calories quoted are per portion, not sure why there is such a big discrepancy in the numbers?
Michele Rose
What is passata for the sauce?
annabanana
Hi Michelle!
Passata is the uncooked tomato purée, or type of. It's smooth, with no skins and no seeds. Alternatively, you can use canned tomatoes and blend them in a blender or food processor, then run through a sieve.
Hope it helps!
Ela
This pizza looks amazing! I love that you used cauliflower, since I love cauliflower so much, the taste is incredible and its so healthy. Going to pin your recipe 🙂
annabanana
Hey Ela! Thanks for popping over! 🙂 So glad to hear you share the cauliflower love and you like my pizza recipe! Thank you, xxx
Sarah | Well and Full
I need to try this crust... It's vegan, healthy, and most importantly - egg-free!! This looks genius!!
annabanana
Oh Sarah! Thanks so much!!! I thought that I must be the last person on Earth to try this, but it proved me wrong! ???? and I'm so pleased to hear you may also give it a go! Let me know if you do! Hugs xx
Evi @ greenevi
This is the prettiest pizza ever! And I'm kinda sure it's the most delicious too, looks incredible!!!
annabanana
Aren't you the kindest person everrrr Evi?!?
Thanks so much, you always say the nicest things! ???? And I really appreciate it!
Hope your cheese is doing well (look, I'm talking about a cheese as if it's a pet 🙂 ) and I'm buzzing to see it!!! Have a great week! X
Rebecca de Silva
This looks amazing : D X
annabanana
Thank you beautiful lady!!!
Your comment is much appreciated, and I hope we can share one of those soon! 😉 xxx
Stephanie
Anna, I can't wait to give this a go! I've been meaning to try this for ages too, and recipe for the crust is so simple! The colour of that spinach dressing just compleats the look! Fabulous and perfect for Spring!
annabanana
Hey StepH!
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's been taking so long to try cauliflower pizza! 🙂
You will not be disappointed, it's so much lighter than usual dough, so you won't feel stuffed after (nothing wrong with feeling stuffed, but just saying) 🙂
Let me know how did you like it! X