If you are missing pizza, you have to try this cauliflower crust. It’s cheesy and crispy and so great you will happily throw out all of those pizza coupons on your fridge door. This version is layered with mozzarella, pepperoni, roasted mushrooms, black olives, and fresh basil but you can add what you love: peppers, sausage, meatballs or even just cheese. Get creative! This just happens to be one of my favorite combos. And the pizza is so rich and satisfying you should only need one mini pizza per serving.
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 cup cauliflower, riced
1/2 cup shredded Parm cheese
1 whole egg
1/8 tsp garlic powder
pinch of salt and pepper
For the toppings:
2-4 tbsp low carb/sugar tomato sauce or tomato puree
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
8-10 slices pepperoni
6 mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp black olives, sliced
6 basil leaves, thinly sliced
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
The first thing we need to do is roast the mushrooms. You could skip this step to save a few minutes of time but I highly recommend roasting your mushrooms as it adds so much flavor to the final product. So with that in mind, place your sliced mushrooms on a lined sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss them around to coat them evenly with the oil and spices. Sometimes I like to add some dried oregano and garlic powder for added flavor but today I kept it simple.
Roast those mushrooms for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, start making the cauliflower crust. You will need riced cauliflower for this. Many grocery stores have it ready to go and if you can find it riced, I would recommend saving yourself the time and mess of doping it yourself. If you don’t have it pre-riced, just throw florets into a food processor until it is the size of rice kernels. You can also chop it up with a chef knife. Once you have your riced cauliflower, move on to the crust.
I have tried so many ways of doing cauliflower crust. It was one of the first keto “dough” substitutes I tried. The biggest issue with using cauliflower is that it contains a lot of water and your crust will not hold or be crispy if you do not remove most of the water. One method is to take the riced cauliflower, wrap it in a dish towel or paper towel and squeeze out all that water. What I don’t like about this method is your lose a lot of the fluffiness of the veggie, it gets very compressed. Instead, I prefer to cook the water out either in a pan or baked in the oven. To bake it in the oven, spread the cauliflower in a large sheet pan (lined) and bake for 10 minutes at 300 degrees. Stir it around halfway through. Do not use any oil!
To do this on the stove top, put the cauliflower in a dry, non-stick skillet. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly. You do not want to toast or cook the cauliflower through, you just want to slowly warm it and let the water release through steam. This takes about 10 minutes. Turn off the burner and let the cauliflower cool.
In a small bowl, beat the egg and stir in the cheese. You need to use the shredded parm and not the grated because the larger pieces will help to create the texture of the crust and help it hold together better.
Stir in the cauliflower, a pinch of salt and pepper and mix well. You can also mix in some spices like garlic powder, dried oregano or dried basil.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Lightly oil with cooking spray. Form two little pizzas that are about 6 inches in diameter. They should have some thickness so they can support your toppings. I also like to give the tops of the pizza a little spray of oil just for a little added crispiness.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until they are a lovely golden brown. Check out those crispy edges!
This is where you get to be creative and layer your favorite toppings to your pizza! My pizza layering went like this: first, a scoop of low carb/low sugar tomato sauce. If you are adding sauce, don’t add too much or it will get soggy.
Next, I added some freshly grated mozzarella. I literally could have eaten it just like this. But I had some yummy toppings waiting to go on so I had to control myself.
Then came pepperoni, sliced olives and the roasted mushrooms. Oh man, this is looking good! And finally, some thinly sliced basil leaves.
Once you have your toppings, bake the pizzas in the oven for just about three minutes , just long enough to bubble up the cheese.
And eat these little pizzas right away!
Amaze Cauliflower Pizza
Ingredients
Cauliflower Crust
- 1 cup cauliflower riced
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 1 whole egg
- pinch salt and pepper
- nonstick cooking spray
Pizza Toppings
- 1/2 cup full fat mozzarella freshly grated
- 2-4 tbsp tomato sauce low carb/sugar like Rao's
- 8-10 slices pepperoni
- 2 tbsp black olives sliced
- 1/2 cup mushrooms sliced
- 6 leaves basil thinly sliced
Instructions
- Cauliflower Crust
- Heat riced cauliflower in a dry, unoiled, non-stick skillet on low heat until most of the moisture has been removed. Turn off the heat. Beat one whole egg with parm cheese until well blended. Stir in garlic, salt, pepper and cauliflower and mix well. Form 1/2 inch thick mini pizzas on a lined baking sheet. Spray tops of pizzas with olive oil (optional). Bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees until crusts are golden brown. Remove from oven.
- Making the pizzas
- If using mushrooms, toss them in olive oil and season with pinch of salt and pepper and bake them on a sheet pan at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Layer pizzas with your favorite toppings (pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, mozzarella, etc). Because the crusts are thicker, they can hold up to several ingredients if you wish. Return the pizzas to oven for about 5 minutes until cheese is melted. Your pizzas are done!
Notes
MACROS
Makes two mini pizzas
Serving size: one pizza
Amount per serving:
Calories 283
Total Fat 19g
Carbohydrate 9g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Net Carbs 7g
Sugars 3g
Protein 21g
Potassium 295mg
Vitamin A 41%
Vitamin C 22%
Calcium 45%
Iron 9%
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