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.
This crust looks amazing – have you tried a non-dairy version? I’m thinking of using Daiya – wonder if I could skip the egg or use flax meal – I’ll try it if no one else has and let you know!
Looked like a great time at the Jamba Juice Fit Event – was following another great healthy food and fitness blogger and that’s how I got to your site – you all have a wonderful community!
This is amazing… so excited to see a healthy version of pizza. Heading to the grocery store to get the missing components. Excited for Pizza tonight!
I hope you enjoyed it!
I just made this and it is AMAZING. Better than pizza dough in my opinion. I eat gluten, but I was trying this recipe for my gluten free father and it is just fantastic. I will make again and again, thank you! How did you come up with this?
Quick question: Do add the cheese in the crust mix or only after once you’ve put the veggies? By the look of this picture, it looks like there isn’t any cheese on top.
You add the cheese in the crust mix. I only put a tiny amount of cheese on top since the crust has quite a bit. 🙂
Hello,
I am just wondering when you said “the pizza crust of cauliflower isn’t as hearty as most dough-based crusts”, I am confused. I thought this was healthier, as you said Pizza can be healthy as the beginning of the article? Isn’t the point of cauliflower crust to be healthy?
Hi Joanna,
When I said “hearty” I was referring to the ability for the crust to hold a ton of toppings and be held in your hand like most regular dough based crusts. Hope this helps explain it.
Hi Brittany,
Thank you for clarifying that to me! I didn’t know hearty could be used that way. It certainly tasted like a hearty/healthy pizza crust!
Joanna
Hardy…
Found this post while doing a search for cauliflower pizza crust, but am intrigued by the kale, tofu and quinoa skillet you mentioned…have you posted that recipe yet?? Excited to make this pizza tonight!
Oh, forgot to mention that I don’t eat dairy so I replaced the mozzarella with “mozzarella style” almond cheese and tasted great. May help Teresa above.
I’m so glad that you liked it Christine! What brand was the almond cheese? Or did you make it yourself?
Wish I could say I make my own cheese, haha! It’s made by Lisanatti Foods. Whole Foods sells it. my litte ones (6 & 8) also thought it was pretty tasty! Yay!
Just had this for dinner. Delicious!
do you have to cool the cauliflower before making dough?
You can let it cool a few minutes but I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary if you’re in a rush.
Question: was thinking of trying this tonight for dinner but don’t have any shredded mozzarella cheese on hand, can I use other cheese in replacement? Would it mess up the cauliflower crust? Cant wait to try this!
Hey Teresa. I can’t say for sure because I’ve only made it with shredded mozzarella. Let me know if you ended up trying it with a different cheese.