Published: January 27, 2023
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This Cauliflower Crust Pizza is veggie packed and absolutely delicious. Easy, cheesy, while also being healthy and satisfying! Give these two varieties a try or top with all of your favorite toppings!
Hungry for more? Try out our BBQ Chicken Pizza, Margherita Pizza, or Cauliflower Buffalo Wings!
Why This Recipe Works
Savory & Satisfying: I know the feeling of craving a delicious, cheesy pizza but also wanting to stay healthy and eat a balanced meal. That is where this cauliflower crust pizza comes in! Not only is it savory, crunch and super satisfying, but it is actually pretty simple to make! I like making my cauliflower crust from scratch because I know exactly what goes into it.
Makes Cauliflower Delicious: Cauliflower isn’t exactly the most desirable vegetable… But my cauliflower crust pizza turns it into a crispy and delicious creation! The beautiful thing about cauliflower is that it doesn’t have a strong flavor and can be turned into a lot of things like my Cauliflower Mac & Cheese, or my Cauliflower Buffalo Wings! Truly, cauliflower can be made transformed into anything.
Versatile: You can make any pizza that you dream of with your cauliflower crust! I offer up two of my favorites, a Spicy Margarita and a Pesto Antipasto version. But you can do classic pepperoni, or pack it with veggies like peppers, onion, olive and mushrooms!
Ingredients
This cauliflower pizza crust takes whole, healthy ingredients and transforms them into the perfect meal! Here’s what you’ll need:
For the Cauliflower Crust:
- Riced Cauliflower: You can use one medium head of fresh cauliflower and blitz it in a food processor until fine.
- Almond Flour: Almond flour offers a bit of structure, without adding gluten.
- Shredded Parmesan: Added a bit of shredded parmesan adds flavor and helps the cauliflower crust to stick together.
- Eggs: Eggs also help bind everything together!
- To season: Salt, Garlic Powder & Oregano
For the Italian Pizza Sauce:
- Olive Oil: This sauce starts with olive oil to heat up the garlic powder.
- Garlic Powder: Garlic powder adds depth of flavor here. You can also use fresh garlic if you prefer!
- Canned Tomatoes: A can of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes will work here, depending on how you prefer the texture of your sauce.
- Basil Sprigs: A few basil springs infuse extra flavor into the sauce!
- To Season: Salt & Pepper and Sugar.
For a Spicy Margarita Pizza:
- Italian Pizza Sauce
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Fresh Basil
For a Pesto Antipasto Pizza:
Here’s How to Make It
Step by Step Instructions
- Steam the Cauliflower: Cover the riced cauliflower in a glass bowl with kitchen wrap with a few small holes poked in the top and microwave for 6 minutes or until tender and steaming. Set aside to cool.
- Preheat: Preheat the oven to 390 and prepare a baking sheet with a piece of baking parchment.
- Make the Sauce: Warm the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once it is shimmering, stir in the garlic powder. Almost instantly, add the tomatoes. Add a pinch of salt and sugar, and submerge the basil sprigs. Once the sauce is bubbling, reduce the heat to low and allow it to simmer, uncovered whilst you work on the pizza base. Once you are ready to use the sauce, remove the basil sprigs, check to see if it needs more salt to taste, or sugar if it is too acidic. Using an immersion blender, blitz until smooth. Leftovers will keep in a jar in the fridge for up to a week.
- Strain the Cauliflower: Transfer the riced cauliflower to a large piece of cheesecloth, and gather the edges up so that it is in a ball with your hand sealing the top. Over the sink, proceed to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Alternatively, you can use paper towels and grab a handful of cauliflower at a time and squeeze out the excess water.
- Make the Crust: Add the cauliflower to a large bowl and add the almond flour, shredded parmesan, eggs, salt, garlic powder and oregano. Mix with a spoon, then your hands until the mixture comes together. Press it down on the prepared baking sheet and smooth it into a round pizza base.
- Bake & Enjoy: Bake the pizza crust for 10-15 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and add your sauce, cheese and toppings. Bake again for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melty and bubbly. Add fresh basil on top if desired, and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a blender or a cheese grater to rice your cauliflower!
- If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can simply skip that step when making the sauce. If you like a smooth sauce, you can let the sauce cool down and blend it in a regular blender instead!
- For a strong cauliflower crust base, squeeze as much excess moisture out of the steamed cauliflower either using a cheesecloth or paper towels!
- You can also use frozen cauliflower for this cauliflower pizza crust recipe, just let it thaw first and then squeeze out the excess moisture!
More Italian-Inspired Recipes to Try
Cauliflower Crust Pizza
This Cauliflower Crust Pizza is veggie packed and absolutely delicious. Once you have the crust, make my two varieties for a satisfying and healthy meal!
Servings: 2
Ingredients
For the Cauliflower Crust
For the Italian Pizza Sauce
For a Spice Margarita Pizza
For a Pesto Antipasto Pizza
Instructions
Cover the riced cauliflower in a glass bowl with kitchen wrap with a few small holes poked in the top and microwave for 6 minutes at 600 W until tender and steaming. Set aside to cool a little while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 390 and prepare a baking sheet with a piece of baking parchment.
To make the Italian Pizza Sauce, warm the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it is shimmering, stir in the garlic powder. Almost instantly, add the tomatoes. Add a pinch of salt and sugar and submerge the basil sprigs. Once the sauce is bubbling, reduce the heat to low and allow it to simmer, uncovered whilst you get on with the pizza base. When you’re ready to use the sauce, remove the basil sprigs, check to see if it needs more salt if it is a bit too bland, or sugar if it is a bit to acidic. Using a stick blender, blitz until smooth. Leftovers will keep in a sterilized jar in the fridge for up to a week.
Transfer the riced cauliflower to a large piece of cheesecloth, and gather the edges up so it is in a ball with you hand sealing the top. Over the sink, proceed to squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible. If you feel like you’ve got it all, go away for a few minutes, come back, and do it again. Alternatively, you can just use paper towel to grab a handful of cauliflower at a time and squeeze out the excess water. The more water you remove from the cauliflower, the stronger your pizza base will be!
Add the cauliflower “pulp” to a large bowl and add the almond flour, shredded parmesan, eggs, salt, garlic powder, and oregano. Mix with a spoon, then your hands until the mixture comes together in a bowl of dough. Press it down on the prepared baking sheet and smooth it into a round pizza base.
Bake the pizza base for 10-15 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and add your sauce, cheese and toppings.
Bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melty, bubbling and golden. For the Spicy Margarita Pizza, serve with fresh basil if desired.
Notes
- Get ahead by steaming the cauliflower in advance. The cooler it is the easier it is to squeeze all the liquid out of it!
- If you don’t have a microwave, pour boiling water over the cauliflower in a saucepan and set over a high heat. Once it is bubbling, remove from the heat and drain. Once the cauliflower has stopped steaming, proceed with the recipe.
Recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen
