Going plant-based doesn’t mean you have to miss out on pizza parties. No way. You can make that pizza and eat it too.
Vegan pizza can be just as delish, yet way more nourishing than your usual suspects on the pizzeria menu.
Homemade roasted tomato sauce, thinly sliced potatoes, a truck load of veggies, and you’re on your way to a pizza party packed with pizzaz. There will be more than enough satisfying tastes and textures so that you can call it comfort food.
The thinly sliced potatoes first up on the layering order, give the pizza a decadent texture when you bite into it. These spuds laying on top of the italian roasted, roma tomato pizza sauce will sky-rocket your taste buds to pizza heaven.
I like mine without the vegan cheese, but Davey still doesn’t get how pizza can be pizza without some kind of cheese 😉 I’m sure lots of you are in the same boat.
So, we used Follow Your Heart mozzarella shreds for his, and a healthy sprinkle of nutritional yeast for mine.
Benefits:
-Roasting tomatoes actually increases the availability of their phytochemicals. Eating plants in their raw form is usually the way to make sure you receive all the nutrients they are carrying, but tomatoes are one of the very few that actually become more beneficial to your body when you cook them.
–Red Peppers bring you some of the highest amounts of vitamin C (for immunity), vitamin A (for eye health), antioxidants, and folate (to help prevent anemia). Green peppers are actually just unripe red peppers with half the vitamin C, and a bitter taste! Go for the most colourful red option.
–Nutritional yeast (I wish there was a better name for this!) is packed with B Vitamins! B vitamins are vital for your nervous system and energy. It’s also antiviral, anti-bacterial and immune-boosting. Plus it’s a great source of protein and B12 (great for vegans).
Serves 6 (great for left overs)
Takes 1 hour
Ingredients:
Tomato Sauce:
- 8 roma tomatoes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp basil
- Pinch of Himalayan rock salt
Pizza:
- Pizza dough for 3 pizzas- use your favourite store-bought, or here is a good recipe
- 5 new potatoes, thinly sliced with mandolin (or by hand)
- 1 red onion, diced
- 2 red peppers, chopped
- 5 white or crimini mushrooms, sliced
- zucchini, diced
- a few handfuls of spinach
- 1/2 cup coconut flour, or your flour of choice (for rolling dough out)
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (to spread on pan for non-stickyness) ALTERNATIVELY just use parchment paper
- Follow your Heart mozzarella vegan cheese
- OR….
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Directions:
- Make tomato sauce: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, slice roma tomatoes length-wise and place cut-side up, single layered on parchment paper covered pan and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 25 minutes (you will see caramelization in action). Blend tomatoes in high speed blender with spices until smooth.
- Lightly oil pizza pans with coconut oil, or just use parchment paper. I often use my cookie sheets, and make square pizzas.
- Sprinkle coconut flour (this is gluten free, but you can use any flour) on clean counter and roll out pizza dough as best you can! I’m no expert here.
- Spread dough onto pan. Cover with pizza sauce.
- Layer the thinly sliced potatoes all over the pizza.
- Layer the rest of vegetables on the pizza.
- Sprinkle with cheese (or don’t).
- Bake in 425F oven on the middle rack for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown crust.
- With one minute remaining, sprinkle the spinach across your pizza.
- Sprinkle on nutritional yeast when served.