I was planning to share a quinoa, kale and tofu skillet recipe this morning, however plans changed after I had one bite of the pizza I made last night for dinner.
Don’t get me wrong, the kale and tofu dish is great (I’ll still post the recipe sometime this week). However, this pizza isn’t your average pie and judging from the response I got when I posted an Instragram photo on Facebook last night, the recipe needed to be shared right away. The thing that makes this pizza so unique is that the crust is made out of cauliflower – yes, the vegetable!
I honestly can’t remember when or where I first saw the idea for pizza made with a cauliflower crust (probably Pinterest), but I know that it has been done many times before. I used this blog post from DAMY Health as a guide and came up with a variation of the recipe. I was a little skeptical about using cauliflower to make a pizza crust, but trust me when I say that it’s pretty amazing. You can taste the cauliflower flavor (which I like) but it still tastes just like pizza – cheesy and delicious. The edges of the crust even get a little crunchy like regular pizza does.
So yes, pizza CAN BE healthy! If you cut this crust into 8 slices, each piece of crust (without toppings) has only 50 calories, 2 carbs and 5 grams of protein! There’s no need to feel guilty about eating a few slices, several times a week. 
- ½ head cauliflower (about 2 cups riced)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
- Prep a cookie sheet or pizza stone. You can grease the cookie sheet or use greased aluminum foil. It will stick if you don’t grease it properly. (I used a Pampered Chef baking stone, which doesn’t require any prep if it’s well seasoned.)
- Remove the stems and leaves from your cauliflower and chop the florets into chunks. Add to a food processor (I used my Vitamix) and pulse just until the texture is similar to rice. If you don’t have a food processor or Vitamix, you can grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater or chop it.
- Sauté cauliflower “rice” in a non-stick skillet over medium heat and cook until translucent, approximately 6-8 minutes. (You can use the microwave for this as well. Just place cauliflower in an uncovered microwave-safe bowl and cook for 8 minutes.)
- In a bowl combine the cooked cauliflower with all remaining ingredients.
- Spread dough out evenly over foil (or stone) – about ¼ to ⅓ of an inch thick. The pizza should be about 9-10 inches in diameter.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden, crispy on the edges and cooked through the middle.
- Remove the crust from the oven.
- Top with pizza sauce and toppings. Be careful not to add too many heavy toppings as you don’t want to weigh down the crust.
- Broil the pizza for 5 minutes, or until the toppings are hot and the cheese is melted. Allow the pizza to cool for 2-3 minutes then cut and serve immediately.
You can top the pizza with whatever you like, just make sure the toppings are already cooked since you’ll only be broiling the pizza for a few minutes. I spread on a layer of my basil lima bean hummus, my favorite homemade pizza sauce (recipe from Ashley of the Edible Perspective), roasted squash and zucchini, roasted eggplant and a sprinkle of the shredded mozzarella, about 2 Tablespoons. The crust already has cheese so you don’t need much on top. Also keep in mind that the cauliflower crust isn’t quite as hearty as most regular dough-based crusts so you don’t want to weigh it down with a ton of ingredients. Keep is simple.
I found that it’s easier to eat this pizza with a fork/knife. Once you get to only a few bites left, it’s fine to pick up with your hands, but it tends to collapse if you try to pick up the whole slice early on.
Overall I LOVED this pizza and will definitely be making it again sometime soon – perhaps I’ll even try a vegan version next time. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!
I hope you have a wonderful start to your week! I’m pumped because we’re headed to Boston this weekend for a wedding and have all day Friday to hang out in the city. If you have any recommendations of things we should do and see while there – restaurants, breweries, history stuff, etc. I’d love for you to leave them in the comment section.
Last but not least, the office arm challenge exercises for week 6 are up so if you’re following along, definitely check those out.
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I love cauliflower crust pizza – so good!
Woah – so this entire pizza has only 400 calories?!
You are a caloric magician!
Boston is awesome. The weather is suppose to be gorgeous here this weekend. I suggest getting a T pass (get the hard Charlie card) and walk your heart out. For breweries there is the Sam Adams brewery, on the orange line get off at stony brook the Harpoon brewery is a little ways walking distance out by south station on the red line. ask anyone and they can direct you. Anywhere near the water front is fun to walk around look for Dewey square and you will find food trucks and the farmers market. You could rent a bike (Hubway) and bike around too. The north end is fun for italian food. Hope this helps. Enjoy the wedding!
Thanks so much for all the suggestions Amy. We’re excited to explore.
amazing!!!!! i am in love with crunchy bread and pizza but dont eat gluten. so i hardly ever eat pizza and usually stick to homemade crackers.
this looks fabulous! cant wait to try!!!
Thanks so much for this recipe. I am obsessed with pizza and this healthy option actually looks better than regular pizza !
This looks amazing! I never tried a cauliflower crust.. I should though because it loks great!
Yes, I would love to see a vegan version of this!
Welcome to New England! Apart from the obvious touristy places, I would recommend a visit to Newbury Street. It’s a nice walk along some fancy shops where window shopping is definitely recommended. They also have some nice restaurants there. Prudential Center is also within walking distance from there. Of course the Boston Commons and Public Gardens are a must see. The North End’s Mike’s Pastry has some delectable treats as long as you’re willing to wait in line for a while. If you’re still up for some walking after all this, the Harborwalk is a nice way to take in the sights of the city. Enjoy Boston!
Thank you so much for all the suggestions Jayashree!
I am still dying to try the cauliflower crust. I’m very intrigued but I keep hearing that it’s delicious!
Have to give a vegan version of this a try!!!
This pizza looks amazing! I’m making cauliflower rice tonight for another recipe but now that I have made it I know what to use it for next time
Yum!
Ah-maze-ing!!!! I am nervous, but I will be attempting this recipe.
I’ve seen people use this cauliflower crust quite a lot and I wanna use it soon too! Looks awesome!
Can this be made vegan w/ egg sub?
I’m pretty sure it can – just use a vegan cheese like Diaya and sub a flaxseed egg for the egg. I haven’t tried it but I think it should work.
On Fridays there is a great farmer’s market in Copley Square! You should definitely check that out. There is also an amazing restaurant in the South End on Tremont Street called The Beehive. It has amazing food and usually has live music – often jazz. I definitely recommend it!
Thanks so much for the recommendations Jessica. I really want to try that restaurant! We named the house I lived in my senior year of college “The Beehive.” Good memories.
yum!!!!!!!! I have been wanting to make cauliflower pizza crust foreveeeeeeer…but I don’t have a food processor… and my blender isn’t very powerful! DOH! Someday! It looks delicious!
Hope all is well,
GC
oh! clearly I can’t read!! chop finely or grate?! SWEET! I will have to make this! I DO need a blender for cauliflower mashed faux tatoes. THAT I did try and it was a FAIL.
YES!! You can chop it finely or grate it. Let me know if it works out.
xoxo
This looks so good! Every time I make cauliflower pizza it turns out mushy and falls apart, I must be doing something wrong!
I have made cauliflower crust but it didn’t turn out well. I will have to try your recipe!!
This looks really good! Let us know if you make a vegan version…would love that recipe!
oooh yum. Thanks for the recipe. This weather is making me crave carby foods so I’m sure this will be just the ticket! Good luck with wedding planning!
Boston: walk the Freedom Trail. Lots of history, good eating and drinking stops along the way. Fabulous running along the river–loops between the bridges with a path on both sides. Have fun and please post a vegan version of this if you make it!
I am not sure why I haven’t made a cauliflower crust pizza yet, but I think i need to get on that. I am hoping it will work with non-dairy cheese… I can’t wait to try! Thanks for sharing!
Let me know if you try it with non-dairy cheese. I think it should work!
This sounds like such an interesting recipe! I can’t wait to try it. I’ve been seeing so many interesting uses of cauliflower lately – from rice to pizza crust. Who knew such a bland looking vegetable could be so versatile!
I can’t believe there’s no flour in this crust recipe! I can’t wait to try this. And I lurve cauliflower so it’s a win-win all the way around. Holy cow, thanks!!
Just made this and it was great! Really making my low carb diet more yummy! Thanks!!
Just made it last night! fantastic! Boyfriend had nooo Idea! (hahaha)…. brought it as a cold pizza for lunch and let the ladies try it and they were amazed of how good (even as “cold” pizza). They all asked for recipe. I put pizza sauce, sauteed mushrooms and peppers, sprinkled with cheese! It was great!
I just heard about this amazing pizza crust and I can’t wait to try it out. I love your pizza stone too, where did you ever find it?
I hope you love the pizza. I got the stone from Pampered Chef – http://astore.amazon.com/eatbirfoo-20/detail/B001F0LYRM It’s awesome!!
OK, so I expected mediocre pizza at best, but this was really good. I tweaked a few things b/c that is how I cook, but it was sooooo good. Bookmarked for future use.
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it Melissa. I was skeptical at first too, but it’s really good.
I made your crust last night. VERY easy and really good. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Hi Brittany, I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe soon. I just wanted to ask you if it is crucial for the structure of the dough to put the mozzarella in the crust, or if you can leave it out and do like a regular pizza with the cheese on top? Thanks!
erik
I’m not 100% sure because I haven’t tried making the crust without the cheese but I don’t know if it would hold together as well. You could certainly try it. Let me know if you do!
I have a funny question… do you think that I could make this crust with out cheese?
Angela
I’m not 100% sure because I haven’t tried making the crust without the cheese but I don’t know if it would hold together as well.
Are we supposed to put the cheese in the crust mixture? Referring to the sentence below from the recipe:
“In a bowl combine the cooked cauliflower with all remaining ingredients.”
Thank you!
Yup!
Thanks Brittany!
I tried it based upon your recipe! Fantastic! Thank you… I will experiment without the cheese maybe more egg? I will let you know…
Hello,
I loved your recipe. I was searching about this recipe after a friend tell me about this tipe of pizza. I made it today for me and my Hubby. When I finished I thought I think it is not enough food for 2…But believe or not we were Happy w/ half and full…Thanks so much.. I just changed the topping…We are in a low proteine diet so it was the best thing for us. And pizza is my hubby favorite dish…So I will make it again in this week…
Thanks again,
Margie
I just had to leave a comment. I was a bit skeptical of cauliflower crust but have seen it a lot recently. I just finished making this ad haves to say it is DELICIOUS!!! I subbed the basil and oregano for mixed Italian herbs. Thank you for the great recipe!!
My husband and i tried this for lunch it was great. Will definitely try this again with different toppings.
So glad you both liked it Kathy!
Made this last night for dinner and we LOVED it. Great recipe Brittany!
I made this the other night and was pleasantly surprised! It was very yummy and I will make it again, but when I have someone to cook for. The leftovers were not as good as when it first came out of the oven. I topped my cauliflower pizza crust with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and green olives. Thanks for the recipe.
This recipe looks awesome, I saw that tina used it and I am def going to try it soon!!
Thank you Sara. I hope you love it.
Thanks for the share of your Pizza. Will be trying this out on the kids this weekend.
This pizza is incredible! Made one tonight and topped with veggies I had on hand: olives, green and yellow bell peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes. It was delicious! Hubby and I had no problem polishing it off!
Hi, I made your recipe last night, followed everything as written but the dough was very soggy.
I topped it with my own Italian mix of turkey sausage, diced tomatoes and herbs and it was delicious but I am wondering how to avoid the wetness of the crust as we could not lift it from the plate at all without it breaking.
If you have any advice, I am happy to follow.
Currently eating the leftovers and they are even better!:)
Awesome recipe! I will have to copy some of this down for one of my blog posts soon! I’ll be sure to mention your site!!
-Live Satisfied
Made this tonight. Outstanding! I used sauteed yellow onion, mushrooms, red and green bell peppers as well as roasted rell bell pepper, spinach, feta mozarella, and a homemade chunky tomato sauce.
Has anyone tried it w/o cheese yet?
I made this for my boyfriend and I last night with chicken, onion, red pepper, kale, and mozzarella on top and let’s just say there are no leftovers! Clearly, we hated it.
Thanks for the recipe!
Loved it! Been wanting to try a cauliflower crust for ages and finally took the plunge. Thank you for posting this!
So glad that you liked it Tanya!
Thanks for the recipe! I’m transitioning into a GF diet and it’s always helpful to find things like this
Mine turned out OK. I used vegan mozzarella, baked for 40 minutes, but still a little soggy. Trying to figure out what might have gone wrong. Oh well–will give it another go at some point.
I’ve been reading up on the cauliflower crusts and finally decided to try it tonight!! It is AWESOME!!!! I used garlic powder, LOTS OF IT and regular Italian seasoning. I did add a little salt too!!! I started it on a silpat and then once it was ready for toppings, I pulled it off and finished it on an perforated pizza pan!!! I’m beyond happy about this!! I eat a ketogenic diet and will make this OFTEN!!!!!!!! Soooooooo happy!!! Thanks!!!
This is DELICIOUS! Thanks so much! The only things I did differently was to saute the garlic in a touch of olive oil first, then add the cauliflower and herbs (I used Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset blend, and added salt) and cooked it all together. I topped my pizza with (drained) sautéed fresh garlic spinach and sliced sautéed mushrooms, and a grating of parmesan. Incredibly tasty! Five stars (for some reason the system wouldn’t let me rate it)!
Yum! I haven’t tried Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset blend but it sounds great. I’m glad you enjoyed the pizza.
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