Did you know you can make pizza crust from cauliflower?
It tastes nothing like pizza dough, but also nothing like cauliflower!
Surprisingly, it’s quite good. Just make sure you do it right. 🙂
On the second try, our cauliflower crust pizza was perfection!
We always do a “test kitchen” before publishing recipes. Because let’s be honest, very few recipes online are calibrated correctly.
We do our research and with some guidance from what’s already out there, we create our own version.
Usually it’s:
- Simpler.
- Easier.
- Quicker.
But it usually takes two tries. And this one was no exception.
Our first crust was wet, soggy, and thick. More like a casserole in the shape of crust-ish pizza slices.
The second time around? Perfection!
Crispy, flavorful, and the good kind of filling.
The secret?
Get as much water out of the riced cauliflower as possible.
The first time we used a kitchen towel, oops.
The second time around we used a filtration bag and less (boiling!) hot water.
Now this was more like a thin crust pizza. YUM!
Here’s how we make cauliflower pizza crust (Video: 6:43)
Other Noteworthy Versions
- Oatmeal with a fork: Personal pan cauliflower pizza crust
Recipe
Cauliflower pizza crust
Crispy, delicious, cauliflower pizza crust.
Ingredients:
- cauliflower - 2 cups riced and packed
- olive oil - 3 tsp.
- nutritional yeast - 3 tsp.
- salt - 1/2 tsp.
- oregano - 1/2 tsp. dried
- basil - 1/2 tsp. dried
- garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
- egg - 1 whole
- (optional replacement for egg) aquafaba (chickpea water) - 6 Tbsp.
Instructions:
RICE
- Rinse your cauliflower
- Cut into golf ball sized florets
- Fill blender half full with water
- Add cauliflower to blender (might have to do in 2 rounds)
- Pulse for 2-3 seconds until rice consistency
BOIL
- Dump the contents of the blender in a pot
- Bring to boil
- Cover pot
- Turn off heat
- Leave covered on burner for 10 minutes
- Use filtration bag to drain water (rinse with cold water first)
- Wring out bag to remove as much water as possible
- Measure 2 cups by packing cauliflower tightly
CRUST
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Mix egg, oil, nutritional yeast, and spices in a bowl
- Add cauliflower
- Mix until combined
BAKE
- Cover pan in parchment paper
- Spread mixture evenly on pan with a spoon
- Crust should be 1/3 inch thick w/o any patches
- Bake the crust for 35-45 minutes (should brown on the top)
TOPPINGS
- Increase the oven temp to 450 degrees
- Spread sauce evenly, leave an edge
- Sprinkle cheese evenly, leave an edge
- Top with toppings
- Bake for 5-7 minutes until cheese is browned
- Enjoy!
Useful tips for Cauliflower pizza crust
Make sure to measure the riced cauliflower instead of pouring the whole load into the batter. The size of cauliflowers varies greatly and can effect the ratio.
If you don’t have a filtration bag, use a clean kitchen towel and wring out the riced cauliflower. Make sure to rinse with cold water first.
The crust sticks to the pan, so either use parchment paper or a silpat mat.
Resist the temptation to over-sauce. You want a crispy crust, not a soggy one.
We topped with vegan cheese & olives, but any cheese and topping combo works here. You can even sub out sauce for pesto.
This recipe takes some time, but is such a FUN activity to do with the family!
This was very tasty but I agree, doesn’t really taste like pizza crust but a great vehicle to deliver pizza toppings to my belly.
I’ve found some frozen pizza cauliflower crusts that taste more like actual crust, but always prefer the “real” version. I would make this again.
My 2 complaints are that when I squeezed out all the water, the cauliflower shrank so much that I only had about 1.5 cups of rice. I used 1 head of cauliflower so will try 2 next time.
Second complaint, my crust was crispy on the edges but mushy on the center. I prefer crispy. Next time I will squeeze out even more water, if it’s possible, & bake for a bit longer to see if it crisps up.
It was a fun Friday night project & very yummy result.
Question:
The recipe says one whole egg but the video shows you using the whites and getting rid of the yolks. Did you actually use one whole egg and one egg white? Very contradictory.
I DO want to eat an entire head of cauliflower 🙂 haha.
I wish this recipe was easier, but it is worth the effort!
Hi Lenny,
This recipe is great.
Only one question: at which point should I use the 6 tbsp of aquafaba?
Hey Dan, this was a typo. We tried to veganize this recipe by replacing the egg with aquafaba. But when we tested it, we couldn’t get the crust to the right consistency (too mushy and didn’t hold together).
Long story short: feel free to play around with the aquafaba, but it’s not required.
One note on this recipe: It’s sneaky filling. It’s not going to look and feel like a lotta food. But when you realize how much cauliflower is packed into one slice, you’ll want to be careful. Of course, you’re going to want to eat the whole pizza. But would you want to eat a whole head of cauliflower? Not so much.