Okay so I was a bit skeptical when I started hearing about using cauliflower to make pizza crust. I’ll admit, I like pizza and I really like good crust, you know the thick crunchy and chewy all at the same time kind (the kind that literally makes you thankful you’re not gluten intolerant!). But I was curious, as I usually am with any revamped recipe. So, my friend Lindsay and I developed a cauliflower pizza crust that worked just perfectly baked on a pizza stone, resulting in a crunchy-chewy crust, not like a bread dough, but delicious nonetheless.
When Lindsay came over, two cauliflower heads in hand along with a bunch of herbs, I knew we were going to have some fun in the kitchen. We planned to make two recipes, a Cauliflower Couscous Salad and then this pizza, both using cauliflower pulsed in a food processor. After a bit of testing and adding a little more of this and less of that, we settled on a recipe that both tasted good and was easy to replicate.
To make the pizza, you first make the crust, cook the crust, then add whatever toppings and re-bake for a short time. We chose simple toppings: marinara sauce, cheese and fresh basil. For the cheese Lindsay brought over a manchego, which is a sheeps milk cheese that’s creamy, and distinctive in flavor but not too strong, perfect for pizza. I also learned from Lindsay that sheeps milk cheeses are easier to digest, adding to the compiling healthy benefits of this tasty pizza!
The key to making this pizza crust flavorful is the added chopped herbs and cheese within the crust. A healthy dose of salt also helps improve flavor. And truthfully, as one who loves gluten-full pizza crust, I enjoyed every bite of this. And Josh enjoyed it too, though perplexed when I asked him what he thought was in the crust… he really had no idea but just knew he liked it! Give it a shot, and let me know what you think!
Cauliflower Pizza Crust Recipe
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Chop cauliflower florets into chunks. Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor until it resembles a fine grain, like rice or couscous. Pour cauliflower into a large bowl. Add herbs, and salt, then cheese and eggs.
- Spread a tablespoon or so of cornmeal all over a pizza stone. Place the cauliflower mixture (note- this won't resemble a ball of dough) on the middle of the stone and use your hands to press it into a circle about 1/4 inch thick.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 350 then an additional 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Crust will be done when it turns golden brown in color.
- Remove crust from oven. Change oven temperature to 450 degrees. Add pizza sauce, cheese and whatever toppings you would like, then bake again for about 5 minutes or until cheese on top is melted.
Here are a few more pizza recipes using Cauliflower Crust:
Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Cauliflower Crust by Closet Cooking
Cauliflower Crust Hawaiian Pizza by Recipe Girl
Cauliflower Pizza Crust with Fried Eggs by Love and Lemons
I’ve done a cauliflower pizza crust before and loved the flavor, but it never yielded the right texture. I’m totally pinning this one and trying it next week!
Heather, let me know what you think and if the texture is any different than the others. I’ve also seen some recipes that add in some almond flour to make it more dough-like.
I am going to have to try this! I just hope Josh will let me:)
Luckily, my Josh is a cauliflower fan! I hope your’s is too 🙂
YUM! Can’t wait to try!
I’m so intrigued. Definitely going to try it soon and let you know!
This sounds so amazing! I am always looking for easy/quick pizza crusts, definitely giving this a try
I have a couple questions… This doesn’t stick to the pizza stone? I’ve done a cauliflower crust before but used parchment on a baking sheet. I would love to use the stone, not to mention using manchego instead. Which brings me to my 2nd question; how finely did you grate the manchego? Thanks. I’m looking forward to trying this.
We grated the manchego on a large grater. The cornmeal on the stone helps the pizza not to stick but it will stick a little. Make sure to use a good spatula when your peeling the slices off the stone. You could also bake it on parchment to completely prevent sticking. Hope that helps!
I love how we secretly “test” people to see if they can tell we’ve altered the ingredients. Lol . I’ve tried other kinds of cauliflower crusts and I wasn’t a fan, but like you said, adding the herbs and cheese in the dough should help. Gonna have to try this! I looooooove pizza! And Lindsay too 😉
I have been wanting to try cauliflower pizza crust for some time. I did a Google search and yours was the second on the list. We tried it tonight and loved it. This is so easy to make. I prefer this type of crust now to make at home. It’s easier than fighting with traditional dough. Thank you for posting this.
wonderful to hear!! Hope you’ll come back and visit the blog for more recipes!
Tasty but not pizza. I had to bake it much longer. I used a preheated stone with parchment paper. Probably 30 minutes at 350. 20 at 400 and 7 at 450. Came out beautifully golden. I would make it again and try to press it thinner. Thanks for sharing.
Cindy, thanks for letting me know!
So – you don’t pre-cook the cauliflower? I have seen other recipes where you precook the cauliflower before adding the eggs & chees?
I don’t pre-cook the cauliflower at all and it still works. I think it’s an unnecessary step!
I just made this for lunch and it was SOOOOOO SOOOO good! I used daiya non-dairy cheese which worked out great. Thank you for the post! I’ll definitely be trying more of your recipes.
…..A Heart In Healing is a blog and personal account of a healing journey from disordered eating to emotional and physical freedom. Learn, support and grow with me @ aheartinhealing.com
Love,
Vanessa
Vanessa, So glad you enjoyed it!!
I tried this tonight but be careful of the crust and how thickly you make it. I thought mine was right and I cooked it for as long as the recipe says but it turned out extremely mushy and not crust like at all 🙁 I’m goin to try again though!
What a mess! I followed the recipe to a T but…..the crust looked golden and crunchy, but it did not harden/bind. I had to basically scrape the “pizza” off while it fell apart. It looked more like scrambled eggs than pizza and even had that consistency. So, if you want a recipe that looks and tastes like scrambled eggs, there you have it. ;-0
Taste was OK but definitely not dough or pizza-like.
Claudia,
Thanks so much for your comment and feedback. You may just need to bake it longer so that it doesn’t fall apart. We have used this recipe several times and it has worked well for us. I agree that it doesn’t taste like pizza dough (I think I mentioned that in the post) but we think it has a whole new tasty flavor that is very enjoyable!
Terrific pizza. I made it vegan by replacing eggs with egg substitute and the cheese with soy cheese. Worked amazing. Improve crust to hold together using a bit of ground oatmeal. Amazing! Thank you!!!!
Great tip on the Oatmeal Martha – thanks!!
I just took my first bites and this is AWESOME! I don’t have a pizza stone, so I had to use a cookie sheet. I buttered it before putting the “dough” on (no corn meal, either) and it did not stick at all. Thanks so much for posting this recipe!
PS – My husband just asked for seconds and he (strongly) dislikes cauliflower.
I tried this and have no cooking skills at all. I wanted a pizza that I could make with low calories and high protein content (canned tuna as a topping for protein).
I used two egg whites with 20 grams of cheese and it came out OK. I am going to try it again next week with three egg whites (more protein) and add some oatmeal as suggested above.
I am going to try and dry cauliflower a bit after getting it out of the food processor so it does not take so long to cook.
I tried this recipe last night and omitted the cheese and corn meal and added a quality olive oil and minced garlic to the “dough”. The flavor was delicious and spot on and I did not mind the non-pizza crust texture. In fact, my boyfriend was pleasantly pleased with my ingenuity. My cheese less pizza baked beautifully and tasted amazing. I will definitely try this recipe again and play with different combinations. I liked the previous suggestion of adding almond flour to the mix.
Well, today is the second time I have made this wonderfu