A vegan pizza with crispy cauliflower crust, topped with cashew cheese, shiitake mushrooms, and drizzled with truffle oil. Vegan party food has never been this healthy and tasted this good.
A pizza-crust made of entirely cauliflower is an easy, guilt-free alternative. You won’t need to proof the cauliflower dough at all and since cauliflower is very low in carbohydrates, you can significantly lower your carbohydrate/grain intake!
Dip the slices of pizza in this fragrant Avocado Basil Pesto, and you’ve got the perfect bite. Basil Pesto compliments the cauliflower crust that is flecked with Italian seasoning — truly a match made in heaven.
How to Make a Cauliflower Pizza
Step 1: Cook the Cauliflower
If you’re using a head of fresh cauliflower, roughly break down the cauliflower into florets (I show you how to break down a cauliflower in this recipe). Boil them in water for 15-20 minutes until they become tender.
If you’re using frozen riced cauliflower, you can skip this step and move on directly to step 2.
Step 2: Squeeze out Excess Liquid
This is an absolutely crucial step. If you don’t do this, your crust will fail 100% of the time. Using any dish towel or thin cloth, wrap the cauliflower florets up and squeeze really hard on them (you can let the cauliflower florets cool off for a bit first). Squeeze for at least 5 minutes to get as much excess liquid out as possible. You’ll find that quite a lot of liquid comes out!
After squeezing and draining your cauliflower, they should look shriveled up like this.
Step 3: Blend in Food Processor
Add your cauliflower along with all the other crust ingredients into a food processor. Blend until the mixture becomes a dough that is loosely held together.
Step 4: Gather the Dough
Place the dough onto a parchment-lined baking tray — add a tablespoon of cornstarch to prevent sticking. At this point the dough shouldn’t stick to your hands and you should be able to easily mould it. If the dough is still sticking to your hands, dust your hands with some more cornstarch.
Step 5: Shape the Pizza Crust
Using your fingers, press down on the dough and try your best to shape it into a round pizza crust. The thinner you press the crust, the crispier it will become!
Step 6: Baking
The Baking process is split into two stages. The first stage, you bake the crust by itself to dry it out — 15 minutes on one side, flip, and 10 minutes on the other side. Be really careful when you flip the crust! The way I flip the crust is I take another parchment-lined baking tray, put it upside down over the original one, and quickly flip it over.
The second stage is a high temperature broil, around 10 minutes. I use the broiler to get that really nice golden-brown crust on the vegan cheese.
Finish the freshly baked pizza with a good drizzle of truffle oil. Bon Appétit!
Vegan Cauliflower Mushroom Pizza
Course: LunchCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium1
pizza50
minutes40
minutesA vegan pizza with crispy cauliflower crust, topped with cashew cheese, shiitake mushrooms, and drizzled with truffle oil.
Ingredients
- Cauliflower Pizza Crust
1/2 head cauliflower (around 2 cups riced cauliflower)
1/2 cup almond flour
1 flax egg (3 tablespoons flaxseed meal + 1 tablespoon room temperature water)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (see notes for substitute)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 cloves garlic, minced
- Vegan Cheese
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
1/2 cup oat milk
3 tablespoons tapioca starch or mochiko (sweet rice flour)
1/2 teaspoon distilled vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
- Avocado Basil Pesto
1 ripe avocado
1 bunch fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Toppings
4-5 shiitake mushrooms
1 handful fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon black or white truffle oil
Directions
- Prepare the Cauliflower Pizza Crust. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add your cauliflower florets and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook the cauliflower florets for around 15-20 minutes, or until tender to a paring knife. Drain the cauliflower florets, squeeze out the excess liquid, and blitz in a food processor along with all the other ingredients for the crust (see above for detailed steps and pictures).
- Bake the Cauliflower Pizza Crust. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Prepare a parchment-lined baking tray and dust it with a bit of cornstarch (helps avoid sticking). Then, spread the crust mixture out onto the tray and shape it into a round, evenly thick pizza crust shape. The flatter you press the pizza crust, the crispier the crust will be! Bake the crust for 15 minutes, flip the crust, and then bake for 5-10 more minutes (see above for how I flip the crust). Pay attention here: just bake the crust until it is almost completely dried out but not too brown, as you’ll be baking it again with the toppings.
- Prepare the vegan cheese and the toppings. See notes for soaking the cashews. Add all the ingredients for the vegan cheese into a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour the blended mixture in a medium-sized pot, and cook on medium heat while stirring until the mixture starts to bubble. Take it off the heat and set aside. Prepare other pizza toppings — I simply sliced some shiitake mushrooms and basil leaves.
- Prepare the Avocado Basil Pesto. Blend all the ingredients for the pesto together in a food processor until smooth. Set aside as a dip for the pizza.
- Finish the Pizza. Ladle on the vegan cheese and spread the sliced mushrooms onto the pizza. Broil the pizza at 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) for around 10 minutes, or until the vegan cheese becomes lightly golden-brown and bubbly. Sprinkle on thinly sliced basil, kosher salt, and drizzle on some truffle oil to finish.
Notes
- A “Flax Egg” is a vegan egg-replacer made with flaxseed meal and water. Remember to let the flax egg stand in room temperature for approximately 5 minutes before using it.
- If you do not have Italian seasoning, you can use a blend of dried oregano and thyme that adds up to the same amount that you need.
- Unlike regular pizza dough, the cauliflower pizza dough will not expand or change its shape after baking. Be sure to shape it as round and even as possible before baking!
- Different methods of softening cashews: 1) soak ahead of time in room temperature water for 4 hours. 2) soak in hot water for 30-45 minutes. 3) Add the cashews and some room temperature water to a pot, and bring it to boil. Boil for around 10 minutes and the cashews should become sufficiently soft.
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Do you think I could successfully freezer this pizza crust?
Hi Steph! Yes, you can!! Just be sure to shape it to exactly how you want the pizza crust to look like before freezing.