Pizza! Who doesn’t like a hot, well done, crusty pizza? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. As delicious as pizza is, each of those slices is drenched in greasy cheese and prepared condiments. Vegan pizza makes a much better alternative, depending on what it’s made with. If done right, vegan pizza can be much healthier than your go-to pizza.
Vegan pizza cooked from only vegetable-based ingredients is going to have fewer calories due to the absence of all the fat and grease. The key to nailing the best homemade vegan pizza is to keep it plant-based. If you are looking to spice things up in the kitchen and cook yourself some bomb vegan pizza, you’ve come to the right place.
Is Vegan Pizza Healthier Than Regular Pizza?
Many vegan recipes contain some non-vegan additives. You can probably try to bake your own homemade vegan pizza by replacing the essentials with vegan substitutes, but most of these vegan cheeses and meats are highly processed and have tons of added sodium. That’s why sticking to plant-based diet is recommended if you are trying to go for the healthier version.
Switching from your traditional go-to pizza for a vegan option doesn’t necessarily mean you’re eating something healthier. However, switching from a bacon and sausage pizza to a less cheesy pizza topped with healthy veggies will result in a much healthier option.
Making a Vegan Pizza
The homemade vegan pizza recipe we’re going to look at today tastes amazing, no cheese needed! We’ll even teach you how to make your own homemade vegan mozzarella cheese so you can stay away from that store-bought cheese.
You can use some pizza making tools to improve your pizza game. While these are not required in today’s recipe, they make for the perfect pizza.
- Pizza Stone: Using a pizza stone bakes the dough at very high heat, and you are left with a masterpiece or should we say, master pizza- crispy on the outside and a chewy on the inside.
- Pizza Peel: If you are planning on using a stone, you’ll need a pizza peel to transfer the dough from the stone. These two pizza peels are excellent choices: Aluminum Peel or Super Peel.
When it comes to toppings, we’ll leave that up to you, but if you need some recommendations, the following toppings can be excellent additions to your homemade vegan pizza:
- Sautéed mushrooms
- Lightly sautéed spinach
- Red onion
- Black olives
- Shaved brussels sprouts
- Canned artichoke hearts
- Green onion
- Roasted sweet potatoes or squash
Pizza Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (+ more for seasoning crust)
- 1 cup of warm water
- 1 packet fast-acting yeast
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt (+ more for crust)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Toppings
- 1/2 cup marinara sauce
- homemade vegan mozzarella cheese, sliced (or store-bought cheese)
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, diced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (optional)
Note: You’ll need a pizza pan and parchment paper.
Vegan Pizza Instructions
Pizza Dough
- First, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
- Mix yeast and 1/2 tablespoon sugar into warmed water until fully dissolved. Let it rest for 8-10 minutes or until it becomes foamy.
- Add the flour, salt, garlic powder, and remaining sugar in a large bowl and whisk to mix. Next, add the activated yeast to the bowl and add your olive oil. Stir until all components are thoroughly blended and create the dough. If the dough is too glutinous, add some flour (a couple of tablespoons will do).
- Fold the dough into a ball and place it back in the bowl. Fully wrap the bowl with a moist paper towel for 25-30 minutes or until the dough doubles in volume.
- Put a large piece of parchment paper over your work area. Sprinkle the paper with flour so that the dough can spread easily.
- Use your hands to spread the dough over the parchment paper into a traditional pizza shape of your fancied thickness. The edges should be slightly thicker to make a good crust.
- Gently brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and Italian herbs to season your crust.
- Use a spoon to spread the sauce uniformly over your pizza and top with the homemade mozzarella.
- Carefully transfer the parchment paper onto your pan before putting it in the oven.
- Let it bake for 10-15 minutes or until the crust becomes golden. Make sure to keep an eye on it, as this pizza cooks fast.
Nutrition
- Serving: 1 slice
- Calories: 189 calories
- Carbohydrates: 32g
- Protein: 3g
- Fat: 3g
- Sodium: 345mg
- Potassium: 71mg
- Sugar: 3g
- Vitamin A: 125IU
- Vitamin C: 1mg
- Calcium: 9mg
- Iron: 1.6mg
Notes
Recipe yields 2 10-inch pizzas.
If the yeast doesn’t foam up after 8- 10 minutes, do it again with a new packet. This time, make sure the water is warm.
Nutritional info does not contain the homemade mozzarella cheese topping.
