Lighten up your pizza with this healthier version of pizza crust made with cauliflower, almond flour, and eggs. Top as desired! Gluten and dairy free.
This is part two of the cauliflower crust pizza post from the other day. I had wanted to try this again as a vegan version using flax in the crust instead of eggs (and figure out how to make it not fall apart). I haven’t gotten around to that yet (I’ll report back when I do), but this version is entirely dairy-free. I topped it with leftover kale pesto that I had stored away in my freezer along with some sautéed broccolini, roasted tomatoes, and pine nuts.
I could have posted these two pizzas as “his and hers” versions. To Jack’s benefit, I’m always pulling cheese off my pizza and piling it onto his.
We’re a match made in heaven like that.
adapted from The Happy Go Lucky Vegan
Cauliflower Crust Pizza, Part 2
- 2 cups ground raw cauliflower florets (about 1 small head)
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 3 eggs (or you could try flax eggs if vegan)
- Sea salt and fresh black pepper
- ½ teaspoon onion powder (optional)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
- 2-3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
- Whatever pizza toppings you like! I used kale pesto, roasted tomatoes, sautéed broccolini, pine nuts, and a drizzle of balsamic.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Chop the cauliflower and pulse florets in a food processor. Be careful not to puree it or grind it until it’s mushy. You’re going for a “riced” fluffy consistency. It should not be sticking together at this point.
- Whisk the 3 eggs and mix with the cauliflower, almond flour, onion powder, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, if using, and pinches of salt and pepper. Form the dough into a ball. It should be pretty wet, but if it’s too sticky to handle add more flour. Gently knead it a few times, adding some flour on top if necessary to help it come together. (Note – this will NOT resemble regular pizza dough – it won’t be as easy or pliable to work with – that’s ok).
- Press “dough” ball down onto a pizza stone or baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Gently mold into a circle, dusting a bit more flour if it makes it easier for you to work with. I was able to lift mine up and flip it over a few times to get it to spread (if yours sticks and you can’t lift it off the pan, it’s still ok). Try to spread it to be a little less than ¼-inch thick.
- Crust needs to be baked for 25-30 minutes total. Since I was topping mine with pesto I baked the crust by itself entirely and added the toppings at the end. I sautéed the broccoli and roasted the tomatoes separately from the crust. If you’re making a pizza with cheese or tomato sauce, bake crust for about 15 minutes, then top with sauce and other toppings and bake for 10-15 minutes more. (Oven times may vary depending on your oven or consistency of your “dough”).
This is absolutely fascinating! My boyfriend is on a carb free diet at the moment and I’d love to try making this for him, thanks so much for sharing!
Glad to hear the vegan option was a success, too. 🙂
I’m intrigued by this cauliflower crust–and you’ve topped it with such scrumptious things! Thanks for the interesting and delicious idea.
Just found your blog-I had pinned your recipe for molten cakes. I am allergic to most major grains and pizza is something I have really missed. I will be making this crust soon! One question-is the cauliflower cooked before you put it in the food processor?
nope, just raw (I’ll make a note of that on the recipe, good question)
I need to try this, I love pizza and still haven’t found a way for it to be healthy so I can eat it everyday lol. This looks like a positive solution.
i love “a positive solution”… funny 🙂
This looks so interesting! Yum!
Hi. I just wanted to say that today was my first time coming to your blog, brought over from a pin of this cauliflower pizza crust, which looks amazing and I totally intent to try it, but what has blown me away is that I L-O-V-E your layout and design. Gorgeous, gorgeous. Really good font selections and style. As someone who always agonizes over design decisions, I know it’s nice to hear those things, ha. ; ) Glad to have found your site!
That is one gorgeous pizza in one gorgeous kitchen. I envy those marble countertops!
Okay, I tried your recipe tonight. I am allergic to almonds, so I used a mixture (more or less equal) of tapioca flour, potato starch, and coconut flour. It never made a ball, so I patted it out on the parchment using a liberal amount of potato starch. Then I baked it 15 minutes, then added toppings and finished. It was one of the nicest pizza crusts I’ve ever eaten-including wheat crust! What joy to find a pizza crust I can eat! Thank you!!!!
I had the vegan version of this for dinner and it was fantastic. I look forward to making it again and even for my friends. They will be amazed!
Do you think it is possible to chop the cauliflower enough manually to make this recipe work? I don’t own a food processor 🙁
HI Lou,
I wouldn’t really recommend trying this without a food processor – it has to be a bit finer than a fine chop. I have just a mini food processor that was really cheap that I use for these sorts of things.
You could probably get by by grating it (use the small holes).
Lou, try using just the florettes, they will chop up nicely. I ground mine in an ancient blender with excellent results, but a hand chop should work well on those flower parts. You will love this recipe, it is so delicious!
Use a box grater.
Could this recipe be considered Paleo as well?
I’m not sure what the paleo rules are, (it’s not my specialty) but I’m sure you can google the ingredients and find out from a source that has more specific paleo information.
i’m on the paleo diet and this meal is paleo (maybe a bit of controversy over the yeast, but im including it and its optional too)
Yes, pretty sure.
I’m vegan so I went the flax substitute route, and I’ve made this a couple times now, it tastes great.
I’m hoping I can figure out something to make the crust hold together a little better, mine always falls apart (and doesn’t look anywhere near as pretty as the photos above hehe)
Thanks for the recipe
I”m glad to hear that it tastes great with the flax – I wonder what would be a better binder in lieu of eggs… (mine in the photo was made with eggs).
Thanks for sharing!
I discoverd this blog via pinterest,
and i’m all excited , can’t wait to start using some of the recipe’s.
Just love the lay out and design of the blog too,
Thanks for this! I tried making a cauliflower crusted pizza last week for the first time and it was good, but it had So Much Cheese when you consider both the crust and then more cheese on top. I’ve been trying to brainstorm recipes for a friend who struggles with both gluten and dairy, and this looks just perfect.
I thought that too when I first saw most of those recipes – way too much cheese for me (esp. because i’m lactose intolerant)… I hope you like this one! I surely enjoyed it…
I followed the recipe to the T but I thought that three eggs gave too much moisture to the dough. I had to add a significant amount of more flour to the mixture. Did I do something wrong?
I also had that issue. Maybe the recipe calls for smaller sized eggs. I think the recipe only needed one of my eggs which is considered large.
I made two batches of these with my Paleo friends and my mostly vegan (like me) boyrfriend last night. This is a great alternative pizza crust for anyone who is GF! The taste is amazing and I think I may like it better than normal GF crust. I topped mine with pizza sauce, a ton of vegetables and nutritional yeast. We used a blender to “chop” the cauliflower and it turned out great.
Hi Shelly, so glad you all liked it!
After four trials and some tweaks to the vegan version I think it would benefit adding less water (only 2 tbsp instead of 3 tbsp per flax egg), adding 1 tbsp of psyllium husks and 1/4 tsp baking powder, chilling the dough before rolling, dusting with very fine cornmeal and flipping the pizza halfway through the cooking time before adding the toppings.
ooh, I’ll have to try that, sounds like you nailed it!
I wouldn’t say that. Still I can’t deny the psyllium sets the hold of the crust right. It yields a very pliable crust but also a tad of bread chewiness which is far from my ideal thin pizza crust, even granting that it would be possible to achieve it by using those very unusual ingredients.
I just made my first one of these, and it is incredibly delicious! It was easy to chop up the cauliflower florettes in my trusty old blender. The best recipe I have come across in a long while. Thank you!
You can definitely see your enthusiasm within the article you write.
The arena hopes for even more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid
to say how they believe. All the time go after your heart.
I’m not vegan–I’m on weight watchers so could I use whole wheat because it’s almost half the points plus of almond flour??
This is delicious. Love that it’s raw. Simple. Lost the recipe, searched and searched online, couldn’t find it again. Then found my handwritten card, so relieved. That’s how much I love this recipe. There is nothing else like it out there that I could find. (I am not going to be cooking, draining, squeezing cauliflower!) Well done & thank you.
I saw a few dry it in a skillet over low heat to get the moisture out.
What a wonderful idea to use cauliflower as a crust! I used some brown rice and celery seed for extra flavor. I wanted to make some food for a friend as they experience a great loss.
I have seen some mix a hard cheese (Romano Pamesan etc.) in with the cauliflower dough before baking, supposed to hold it together. It has to be hard cheese – not something like cheddar or mozz. Mozz does get sprinkled on top.
Vegetarians, could prob use some faux cheese.