Cauliflower Pizza Crust
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Love pizza, but want to keep it healthy? Make this low-carb cauliflower pizza crust. Only 6 ingredients and so easy!
Cauliflower has blown up in recent years. No more soggy steamed cauliflower… now there’s cauliflower rice, cauliflower tortillas and cauliflower pizza crust.
You name it, cauliflower can do it!
That said, cauliflower pizza crust is arguably the most fun way to eat cauliflower! It’s obviously not the same texture or flavor as a traditional doughy pizza crust, but it’s so delicious! It’s crunchy around the edges, has a hint of roasted cauliflower flavor and tastes just like pizza.
Cauliflower Pizza Crust Ingredients
There are two parts to this recipe – the crust and the toppings!
Here’s what you need for the cauliflower pizza crust:
- riced cauliflower – learn how to make cauliflower rice or use store-bought
- garlic
- part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
- egg
- dried basil
- dried oregano
Some topping ideas:
- pizza sauce
- shredded mozzarella cheese
- fresh basil
- crushed red pepper
Notes & Substitutions
Riced Cauliflower – The star of the show is riced cauliflower. If you’re new to the cauliflower rice world, don’t be intimidated! Simply place cauliflower florets in your food processor and pulse until the cauliflower is broken up into rice-sized pieces. If you don’t have a food processor you can use a blender or cheese grater to manually make rice. You can also buy pre-riced cauliflower, but make sure it’s fresh and not frozen as frozen has excess moisture that won’t work well with the crust.
Dairy-free – You can either use dairy-free mozzarella cheese or try omitting the cheese. I personally prefer this with cheese, but others have tested the recipe without cheese and it turned out just fine.
Vegan – If you want to skip the egg in the crust, you could try a vegan egg replacer or a flaxseed egg. I haven’t tried either, but it should work!
Toppings – 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. Also keep in mind that the cauliflower pizza crust is less firm than most regular dough-based crusts so you don’t want to weigh it down with a ton of ingredients. Keep is simple.
How to Make Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Make cauliflower rice – Remove the stems and leaves from your cauliflower and chop florets into chunks. Add to a food processor or blender and pulse until the texture is similar to rice. If you don’t have a food processor or blender, you can grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater or chop it or buy pre-riced cauliflower.
Sauté cauliflower rice – In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the riced cauliflower until translucent – about 6-8 minutes. This step is key and really helps to dry out the cauliflower.
Combine crust ingredients – In a large bowl, combine the cooked cauliflower with the garlic clove, shredded cheese, egg, dried basil and dried oregano. The cheese may melt a bit during this process, but that’s okay.
Make crust – Line a baking sheet or pizza stone with parchment paper and grease with olive oil. Spread the dough out evenly on the baking sheet and form into a circle. You’ll want it to be about 1/4 inch thick.
Bake crust – Bake at 400ºF for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden, crispy on the edges and cooked through the middle.
Add toppings – Remove the crust from the oven and set the oven temperature to broil. Top the crust with pizza sauce, cheese and any other toppings you’d like.
Broil – Broil the pizza for 5 minutes or until the toppings are hot and the cheese has melted. Allow the pizza to cool for 2-3 minutes before cutting and serving.
Can Pizza Be Healthy?
YES! 100%. If you cut this crust into 8 slices, each piece of crust (without toppings) has only 75 calories, 5 carbs and 5 grams of protein! There’s no need to feel guilty about eating a few slices… several times a week. Enjoy!
More Healthy Pizza Recipes
- Spaghetti Squash Pizza Crust
- Naan Pizza with Butternut Squash and Pesto
- English Muffin Pizza
- Cottage Cheese Pizza Crust
- Chicken Crust Pizza
Want More Cauliflower Recipes?
- Cheesy Cauliflower Nachos
- Cauliflower Soup
- Baked Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
- Roasted Cauliflower
- Cauliflower Gratin
Be sure to check out all of the cauliflower recipes here at EBF!
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- Crust
- 2 cups riced cauliflower, about ½ head
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Olive oil spray or 1 teaspoon olive oil, for greasing
- Toppings
- ⅓ cup pizza sauce
- 1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
- Fresh basil
- Crushed red pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Prep a baking sheet or pizza stone: Line a baking sheet or pizza stone with parchment. Grease the parchment with olive oil spray or rub on regular olive oil.
- Prep cauliflower: If using whole cauliflower, remove the stems and leaves from the cauliflower and chop the florets into chunks. Add to a food processor or blender and pulse just until the texture is similar to rice. If you don’t have a food processor or high powered blender, you can grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater or chop it. Another (much faster option) is to buy riced cauliflower.
- Cook cauliflower rice: 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.)
- Mix cauliflower dough: In a bowl combine the cooked cauliflower with garlic, mozzarella cheese, egg, basil and oregano. The cheese will melt a bit and this is okay.
- Spread dough to make the crust: Spread dough out evenly on your parchment lined baking sheet and form into a circle. You’ll want it to be about 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch thick. The pizza should be about 9-10 inches in diameter.
- Bake: 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 and set oven to broil.
- Add toppings: Top with pizza sauce and cheese. You can also add additional toppings, but be careful not to add too many heavy toppings as you don’t want to weigh down the crust.
- Broil: 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. Serve with fresh basil and crushed red pepper.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This Recipe? Rate & Comment Below!
Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Can this be cooked on parchment paper?
Yes, but I would spray the parchment paper with a non-stick spray to just to be sure it doesn’t stick. 🙂
OH MY YUM!
This was amazing! It came out just fine on parchment. After I baked it, I slid it off the parchment and onto my pizza pan (it has holes in it) and broiled it like that. It crisped up a little on the bottom that way. I don’t have a pizza stone otherwise I would have used that.
Thank you so much for this great recipe.
That’s a good idea, about the pizza pan with the holes in it. I made it last night and loved it. Next time I’m not even adding the sauce or cheese, more like a flatbread. I love cauliflower so this works for me. Tonight I’m making cauliflower fried rice.
For Vegans you could try using Tofu to replace the egg? Add ¼ cup to blender with enough water to smooth it out = 1 egg.
I am super interested in the vegan pizza you said you will try next! This one sounds great, but I don’t know what I would substitute for the egg. (and I don’t do cheese)
Keep up the great recipes!
Do you think frozen cauliflower would be okay if I drained the excess water? I have a couple bags sitting in my freezer, so I’d love to use those when whipping this up if possible. This looks great, and I can’t wait to make it this week!
I haven’t tried frozen cauliflower so I’m not 100% sure, but if you do try it, I’d cook the cauliflower then wrap it in a towel to squeeze out all the water. Let me know if you try it!
I have been using your recipe for about a year now. I cannot have pizza any other way! I double the recipe and make a nice big giant pizza and my husband and I can polish off almost the whole thing! With healthy toppings and this crust, no way do I feel guilty about having thirds!
Could you use an egg white substitute in place of the actual egg?
Hi Callie. I haven’t tried it but I think it would work just fine.
This was delicious and I was very happy it was healthy too! I made it tonight, my husband told me it was “fancy” and it tasted like it came from a high-end restaurant. I’ll take that compliment! Thanks! 🙂
Hi Sarah. Thank you so much for trying the recipe. I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed it and that your husband thought it was tasty as well. I love it when people come back to tell me how the recipe turned out! 🙂
Looks delish, will have to experiment to see how to veganise it.
Tried your recipe and LOVED it! Husband loved it and toddler daughter loved it too! Thanks for posting! Will definitely be making this a regular in our recipe rotation!
This was tasty! I riced the cauliflower and cooked it in a pan. Added three garlic cloves an egg, mozzarella, parm, feta cheese, and some italian spices. Cooked the crust on my baking stone for 25 minutes and added veggies and more cheese for the toppings. I really liked the taste of this and may experiment with the crust a bit more by adding different cheeses. What can I say, I love cheese. Thanks for posting and I really enjoy your website!