Cauliflower Pizza Crust with Kale & Basil-Pumpkin Seed Pesto!
This is a recreation of Urban Kitchen Apothecary's pizza on a cauliflower pizza crust. With her permission, I've printed her pesto recipe as well as approximations of the rest of the toppings. Cauliflower Pizza Crust recipe from a local food class, printed with permission.
Author: Healthy Gluten-Free Family
Recipe type: Dinner, Veggies
Cuisine: Gluten-free, Vegetarian
Ingredients
Vegan Basil-Pumpkin Seed Pesto
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1 large garlic clove
- ⅓ cup pepitas
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- pinch of sea salt + black pepper
Toppings
- 1 container chopped kale or 1 bunch kale, chopped
- Approximately 1 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp crush red pepper, or to taste (Optional)
- Approximately ¼ cup goat cheese, or to taste
- Approximately ¼ cup crumbled feta, or to taste
- Arugula micro greens or other micro greens
- Mix of fennel seeds, toasted sesame seeds, salt to taste (I mixed a heaping ½ teaspoon fennel seeds, a heaping ½ teaspoon toasted sesame seeds, and ⅛-1/4 teaspoon salt)
Cauliflower Pizza Crust
- 1 package cauliflower rice or 1 medium head cauliflower, chopped (should yield 2-3 cups fine rice once processed)
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ cup shredded parmesan
- ¼ cup shredded mozzarella
- 1 egg
Instructions
Pesto
- Blend all the pesto ingredients together using a food processor or blender.
- Note: I didn't have any trouble blending it in a blender but if too thick or difficult to blend add an additional 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- Set aside
Kale & Chickpeas
- Heat olive oil in a saute pan, add crushed pepper if desired and stir approximately 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add chickpeas and saute for approx 5-7 minutes or until just starting to brown
- Add kale and saute until just wilted
- Set aside.
Pizza Assembly
- Spoon Pesto over pizza crust leaving a ¼ in edge
- Top with Kale and chickpea mixture
- Top with cheeses
- Bake at 425F for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Top with arugula micro greens and sesame seed, fennel, salt mix to taste
Cauliflower Pizza Crust
- Pulse cauliflower in a food processor until resembles a powdery snow (about 30 seconds to 1 minute)
- Place cauliflower is a microwave safe bowl and cover. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Then pour cauliflower on a clean towel or cheese cloth. Let cool a bit.
- Once cauliflower cool enough to handle, wrap it in cheese cloth or towel and squeeze out as much water as possible. This will ensure a chewy crust.
- Place cauliflower in a bowl. Add parmesan, mozzarella, salt, basil, oregano, garlic powder. Lastly add egg and mix together. Hands tend to work best.
- Form the dough into a crust oiled foil. Pat down well into desired shape.
- Bake in 450F preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until it starts to turn a golden brown. Remove from oven and add your toppings.
This pizza is totally gorgeous, Karen! Thanks for sharing my pesto recipe, and I can’t wait to try this with your cauliflower crust! 🙂
Thanks Nancy! We loved this pizza… Thanks for the inspo and pesto recipe! Cauliflower pizza crust is definitely worth a try… it’s a few extra steps but really yummy!