I am so excited to share this recipe from the amazing cookbook Cooking With Coconut Oil: Gluten-free, Grain-free Recipes for Good Living by Elizabeth Nyland of Guilty Kitchen. Earlier this month, I wrote an in-depth review of the cookbook. If you haven't read it, you should! And then you should pick up a copy ;-)
This recipe is one of the several that I tested from the cookbook, and Elizabeth was awesome enough to give me permission to share it with y'all!
I'm going to tell you a secret: this is the first time I ever made a cauliflower crust pizza. I've been paleo/primal since Sept 2010, and I cooked this recipe in January 2014. I'm not really quite sure what's wrong with me!
Actually, that's not true. I do know. The primary reason why I never made one before is because all the other recipes that I've seen call for a large amount of cheese in the crust. I love cheese, I've done dairy elimination trials in the past and know that my body is OK with (good) cheese, and I put cheese on top of my pizzas, but the idea of packing in an extra 1-2 cups in the crust, too, just doesn't sit right with me. Good news: Elizabeth's recipe doesn't call for any cheese in the crust!
Not everyone includes cheese in their diet, and pizza can actually taste quite good without cheese on top, so if you are avoiding both grains AND dairy on your paleo or real food journey and dig the idea of a cheese-free pizza, you can use this crust to build your own tasty creation!
In the cookbook, Elizabeth notes that this is a crust that you have to eat with knife and fork. I found that each slice would tend to break in half or thirds that were stable enough to pick up and eat, but it was easier to just use a fork to eat. The flavor, though, is spot on. It's a delicious paleo pizza!
I didn't follow her recipe exactly for the toppings -- I used what I had on hand: shallots, bell pepper, pepperoni, and fresh basil. Being creative with toppings is the best part about a pizza, right? However, I do want to follow her recipe exactly, it sounds delicious. I love asparagus so much, but never thought to put it on pizza!
Cauliflower Crusted Pizza
Ingredients For the Crust
- 1 large head cauliflower, cut into chunks (not uniform)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
- half tsp sea salt
Ingredients For Pizza Topping
- tomato or pizza sauce
- 6-8 mushrooms, sliced and sauteed
- 1 onion, sliced into half moons and caramelized
- chorizo sausage or other cured meat, sliced
- asparagus or sweet peppers, cut into chunks
- 2-3 cups grated cheese
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Wrap aluminum foil around a pizza stone or over a large, round pizza- baking sheet and rub a bit of coconut oil all over it. Set aside.
- Set a pot fitted with a steamer insert and filled one third of the way with water on high heat. In a blender or food processor, pulse the cauliflower chunks until they resemble snow. When the water is boiling, put the cauliflower snow in the steamer and steam for 5 minutes.
- Remove the cauliflower and pour into a mesh strainer. Squeeze the cauliflower against the sides of the mesh, straining out all the excess liquid. (The more liquid you can get out of it, the crispier your crust will be.) [Note from Amanda: You can also put it in a clean dish towel or in a few layers of cheesecloth and wring it out to remove the moisture. I had to do this because my mesh strainer is not very fine).
- Mix the cauliflower with the eggs, yeast, oregano, coconut oil, and salt. Pat it out onto the greased sheet of aluminum in a circular shape. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until the crust is golden on the edges and completely cooked right through the center. remove from the oven and add your toppings.
- Spread the sauce you are using onto the crust. Evenly distribute all the toppings you are using (except cheese) over the sauce. Sprinkle cheese over the whole thing and return to the 425°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes. remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Slice with a pizza cutter and serve.
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Nyland, from her book Cooking With Coconut Oil, used with permission
Disclosure: I received a copy of this cookbook for free. I was under no obligation whatsoever to write a positive review and have received no monetary compensation for publishing this review. As you can tell, it turns out that I LOVE this cookbook and think you will love it, too. If you decide to purchase it from Amazon after clicking on one of my links, I'll receive a small commission from Amazon. My full affiliate disclosure is here. Thanks for your support!
