F-I-N-A-L-L-Y.
I’ve seen it literally 1000+ times on the Internet. The cauliflower pizza crust! Plus I’ve seen all types of variations–Paleo, vegan, crispy, just right, cheesy, non-cheesy, spicy, mild, you get the gist of it. The reason why I’ve never gotten the chance to actually make a cauliflower pizza crust is because, well, I didn’t really have a big head of cauliflower to use it for!
Don’t get me wrong, I eat cauliflower at home, but only in my mother’s cooking. If I were to experiment with vegetables to make something new, she’d think I’m crazy! Don’t even get me started on the hemp fries, by the way.
Luckily, my entire family’s a fan of cauliflower in normal dinners, but I particularly LOVE it for a few reasons: you can use this cruciferous veggie to volumize oats, make cauliflower “rice”, pizza, mashed “potatoes”! Plus, it’s absolutely perfect for fall.
On the other hand, to be quite honest, this recipe doesn’t taste like flour pizza. If you’re looking for an identical substitute for pizza, this isn’t the recipe for you. Sad face. This crust tastes like baked and spiced cauliflower with a little binding. However, the crust still holds very well and still tastes delicious! The toppings also make a difference–I’ve experimented with goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers, kale, eggs, squash, broccoli, pineapple and many more. I found that seasonal vegetables with pesto and homemade tomato sauce taste the best.
To veganize the recipe, be sure to replace the egg with a flax or chia egg. I really wanted to make this crust vegan but I could not find chia seeds to save my life at the time when making the video. Dear vegans: I’M SORRY!
You can find the YouTube video link above on how to make these crusts (serves two small or one large pizza!), or find the full recipe and procedure down below if you want to.
RECIPE
- 1/3 head cauliflower or 1 cup “cauli-rice”
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg or 1 flax/chia egg (1 TBSP seeds + 2-3 TBSP water)
- Toppings: homemade tomato sauce, arugula, black pepper
- Opt: nutritional yeast, mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, etc.
PROCEDURE
- Preheat oven to 450F.
- Chop 1/3 off of a head of cauliflower.
- Rinse the chopped florets in a strainer.
- Pulse the florets in a strong food processor or blender until the florets become a rice-like or grainy texture. You may have to push the pieces around to get everything finely ground.
- Cover a strainer or separate bowl with a cheesecloth (a paper towel also works like in the video, but it breaks apart more easily).
- Pour the “cauli-rice” on the cheesecloth and squeeze out as much water as you can.
- Place the “cauli-rice” in a separate bowl.
- OPTIONAL STEP: Steam the “cauli-rice” until soft to make a better doughy texture in the crust.
- Mix the rest of the ingredients in (except toppings) very well. You can also add in some cheese for extra flavor and binding agents.
- On a baking sheet or parchment paper, use your hands to form the dough into pizza crust. Do not make the crusts too thin or thick! This makes two small pizzas or one medium-large pizza.
- Bake the crust for 10-15 minutes.
- After the crust has baked, spread on your toppings. I added arugula, homemade tomato sauce and pepper.
- OPTIONAL STEP: bake the pizzas again for 5-10 minutes to let everything cook nicely.
Have you ever tried cauliflower pizza? What other interesting recipes are there with cauliflower?
