A simple and secretly healthy cauliflower pizza crust recipe that’s so surprisingly delicious, you’d never guess it could possibly be so good for you!
The Best Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Oil Free
Keto
Vegan
Low Carb
Gluten Free
Whole30
Just FIVE Ingredients – Seriously!
If you somehow still haven’t tried cauliflower pizza, this simple 5-ingredient recipe is absolutely one to bookmark for later. Or better yet, make it for dinner tonight!
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Unlike many other keto pizza crust recipes, this cauliflower pizza crust recipe CAN be picked up without falling apart!
Super Easy Cauliflower Pizza
I am a girl who loves carbs.
Like, ridiculously loves carbs. I’m pretty sure I could survive on an all-carb diet.
So I never thought I’d ever get on the cauliflower pizza crust bandwagon. Taking my beloved doughy Italian pizza crust and replacing it with a vegetable? No thank you; I wanted no part of this.
For months, I completely ignored the cauliflower-for-carbs trend sweeping the internet, tuning out whenever a friend would rave about how she’d made perfect low carb cauliflower rice or cauliflower breadsticks and how they were ohmygosh so good.
But as time went on and the cauliflower trend only seemed to be getting stronger, curiosity finally got the better of me… I had to know what all the hype was about.
I gave in and tried my hand at homemade cauliflower pizza.
And I fell in LOVE.
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Healthy Pizza Crust Ingredients
The recipe needs just five ingredients—no eggs, and no cheese required.
It can be low calorie, dairy free, plant based, paleo, and completely flourless. And even before you add any toppings whatsoever, the tasty cauliflower crust is packed with nutrition: 3 grams of fiber, 2.5 grams of protein, and over 50% of the RDA for Vitamin C in each slice of pizza.
That’s just for one slice…
Who ever stops at just one slice of pizza???
*Note: For traditional pizza, try this Vegan Pizza Crust.
Can I Make Keto Cauliflower Pizza? What About Vegan?
The crust is naturally vegan and sugar free. To make it a keto crust, simply use the almond flour option listed in the recipe… and if you have leftover almond flour, you can make Keto Brownies!
I haven’t tried using coconut flour but think it should work; you’d probably just need to use less since it soaks up water like a sponge. If you experiment, be sure to report back!
Where Can I Buy Cauliflower Pizza Crust?
If you don’t want to make your own, you can find frozen cauliflower pizza crust at Target, Wal Mart, Aldi, Costco, Wegmans, Whole Foods, most grocery stores, and restaurants such as California Pizza Kitchen.
Brands include Cali’flour Foods, Caulipower, Green Giant (for vegan cauliflower pizza crust, try either their original or Tuscan options), and even Trader Joes.
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How To Make Cauliflower Pizza
Step One: Chop the cauliflower into small florets and steam until soft.
Step Two: Squeeze out as much moisture as possible from the cauliflower with a clean dish towel. Mash it with all other ingredients in a medium bowl, then form into a ball.
Step Three: Place the ball on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and pat it into a circle about 1/4-inch thick. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned with crispy edges.
Step Four: Remove from the oven and add toppings of choice, then bake an additional 8 minutes. Allow the cauliflower crust to cool 5 minutes, then slice and enjoy!
For dessert, try these Vegan Brownies
Above – Watch the video of how to make cauliflower pizza crust!
Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium head cauliflower (4 cups small florets)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder OR 2 1/2 tbsp ground flax or chia
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup flour (I’ve used spelt, white, oat, almond, or sorghum)
- 1 tsp dried oregano, optional
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment, and set aside. If using flax or chia, whisk with the water and refrigerate for at least a half hour. Steam cauliflower florets until fall-apart soft. Drain fully. Stir the flour with the oregano, garlic, salt, and baking powder (if using). Preheat oven to 450 F. Once cauliflower cools a little, place it in a clean dish towel or cheesecloth over a sink or bowl, and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. At least 2/3 cup water should come out – You want it as dry as possible. Place the squeezed-out cauliflower into a bowl and add the 1/4 cup water (or the flax mixture). Mash and stir well. Stir in the flour mixture. Form into a ball. Place on the baking sheet. Pat into a circle, then use another sheet of parchment on top (and a rolling pin, if desired) to spread the circle to about 1/4 inch thick. Take off the top sheet of parchment. Bake 25 minutes, or until lightly browned with crispy edges. Add toppings of choice. Bake an additional 8 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes. Slice and enjoy! View Nutrition Facts
Notes
Have you made this recipe?
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More Easy Cauliflower Recipes
Faith says
Someone else asked this, but I didn’t see an answer, and it’s not in the recipe. At what temperature to you bake the crust?
Jason Sanford says
Hi, it’s in the recipe directions. 450 F. 🙂
Jason
Rei says
I love this yeast free alternative! And I love this blog for many many years now. The recipevideos are so nice! It’s good to see you live Katie! 🙂
A good (italian style) pizza also contains good quality olive oil. But the most important part is actually the sauce since it carries most of the flavour. I would highly recommend to make your own sauce from scratch using real tomatoes etc. It will make your homemade pizza taste so much better! I would also put a bit of olive oil into the dough and on top of it as well. Also, the cheese always comes first, then you can add anything you want on top. 😉
Christopher Collett says
Tip for your cauliflower pizza recipe. One it takes longer then 40 min, here I am 120min later and unfortunately the recipe didn’t ask me to oil my parchment first. Which I clearly shpuld have, the entire freaking pizza has been baked into the parchment paper. Safe to say the entire thing is now garbage. 10:30pm no dinner and alot of wasted time. Pretty disappointed.
Christopher Collett says
Okay sorry I gotta give you credit hear, I was able to peal off some ends. Enough to make two mouthfuls anyways, well it was fantastic. Next time I’m going to rub the wax paper with olive oil before making contact. Lookng forward to going round two!
Christina says
If I remember correctly, this recipe used to call for flax or chia, but baking powder is a new option. Is that correct? If so, how did the crust turn out when you used baking powder? I imagine that flax or chia would help it thicken more.
andrea says
Hello!! I love your blog! Could you tell me if you ever tried to do it with the raw cauliflower, well chopped ?? thanks for your recipes! a big hug from Argentina!
Flor says
Hi! I’m a new vegan and I loved the black bean brownies, in fact I have a get together this weekend where the host asked me to make them!!!
I’m a bit confused about this pizza crust recipe. You say “1 1/2 tsp baking powder OR 2 1/2 tbsp flaxmeal or chia seeds”
If I use the baking powder should I also mix it with water and put in fridge???
Jason Sanford says
Hi! Looking back, we agree this is confusingly worded! No need to mix the baking powder with the water first, but still do use both of those ingredients. Katie is going to change the recipe instructions :).
Kristin says
I am kind of confused, what is the water and the baking powder for? To soak the cauliflower before steaming it?
Karljürgen says
I’m wondering two things:
1. It seems counter-intuitive to me to squeeze all the water out of the cauliflower just to add water back in later. I did that the first time with another (very similar) recipe, and it was a BAD idea, too wet. I’ve made this recipe twice and haven’t found it needed any extra water at all.
2. I’m wondering why the flax is being put into water and refrigerated? Does that start some rising process? I wonder because it’s listed as an alternative to baking powder….
Thanks! Great recipe!!
Nicole says
Can you tell me if this crust can be made and frozen? If so, should it be baked before freezing? Thanks!!
Jason Sanford says
You can! And yes probably best to bake first.
Jason
Valerie says
I think you are optionally replacing baking powder with flax eggs, and I am curious about that. I am mildly sensitive to the baking soda in baking powder, and flax is more of a whole food anyway, so if I could more generally make this switch in other things that I cook, I would like to!
Joey says
Any chance of a quantity of cauli rice yield from the initial starting point? I get 300g bags of it when I (try) making my own.
Also, if poss, PLEASE a metric measurement for the flour?
Nearly all of the other online recipe databases I use have this same little recipe card, and you can switch between metric and imperial. I don’t know anything about making websites or anything, but if you had this for your recipes, I think it would be fantastic! I see so many that I’d love to try, but I can’t due to all sorts of differenr converted quantities.
Best wishes,
Joey
Jason Sanford says
Sorry we haven’t tried it with cauliflower rice yet! I don’t know how that metric thing would work, but we can definitely look into it and see if it’s a possibility. I think I know what it is you mean.
Jason (media relations)
Joey says
Cheers – the cauli rice thing I mean, I’d just use this riced cauli just to sub in for the steamed and drained cauli in this recipe – it’s just I’m so exhausted all the time because of my health condition, and struggle time-wise because of it.
-When I asked about the yield, I’d just like to know what the initial cauliflower measures AFTER the steaming and removal of moisture.
Much appreciated 😀
Joey
Addie says
What do you think about making this crust and then freezing them before assembling a pizza? I have lots of cauliflower but no need to make pizza at the moment. Thanks. 🙂
Jason Sanford says
We haven’t personally tried freezing, but I know some commenters say it worked well for them 🙂
Jason (media relations)
Kristen says
Thanks for reminding me about this recipe. I have made it before and I love it!
Melanie Pickering says
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes.
I was excited to try this out and I am glad it was a success because it took so long (1.5 hours from start to plating) and was a real faff to make, not to mention the fact that I had to use the whole cauliflower to get enough florets. So I have just consumed a whole cauliflower because I ate the whole thing, having waited so long for it.
Not sure I will make it again but the recipe’s there if I need it.
Izzy Edelbrock says
Hi! If using the baking powder are we still supposed to add the 1/4 cup water or is that just for the flax egg?
Jason Sanford says
It’s for both versions, so add the water no matter what 🙂
Anita Nessin says
Does this pizza get crispy on the bottom? I love crispy thin crust pizza.
I am not vegan, but I love good tasting food. I am a holistic health and nutrition educator who follows the Intuitive Eating philosophy. I like trying out all kinds of recipes. Your recipes always look wonderful.
Jason Sanford says
I’ve found that if you broil it a bit after baking, it gets crispy. It’s crispy enough for me, but I’m not sure if that would be on the bottom or what you’re looking for!
Jason
twinkle kumawat says
Freshly baked sweetness.
its amazing blog
Minu says
Awesome recipe it came out very good for us
FRAN says
I WANT TO MAKE THIS PIZZA CRUST – BUT I AM A BIT CONFUSED – WHY SQUEEZE OUT ALL THE WATER IF YOU ARE ADDING 1/4 CUP BACK IN OR IS THAT JUST IF YOU USE THE FLAX?
Jason Sanford says
You don’t have control over how much comes out, whereas when you put 1/4 cup back in, it is exact 🙂
Jason
Mary theresa Boudreau says
Hi, looks great, have you tried using frozen cauliflower? what do you think about using frozen cauliflower?
Stacey says
May I please have the brand of Melty Vegan Mozzarella?
Jason Sanford says
It’s a recipe in her Hello Breakfast ebook 🙂
https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2016/10/11/healthy-breakfast-cookbook-food-blog/
Melissa says
Adaptations I made: I didn’t squeeze out all the moisture. I steamed it and then just let it cool in the strainer so it could drip dry. (I hate removing nutrients from a recipe if I can get away with it. I even save the steaming water to use in other recipes.) I used buckwheat flour. I did the flax/chia in water method (not baking powder). I had to cook it far longer. 35 min followed by 25 min and it was still too soft but held together. In future I think I would sprinkle the chia/flax onto the cooked, drained cauliflower and then mash them together and let it rest (not adding any extra water). The chia/flax should absorb the extra liquid. I would probably add 2/3 cup of buckwheat flower next time as well. And bake it 40 min for the first bake. I’m keen to try the recipe again but I’d allow a lot of extra time to do it. Great concept. I’m pretty sure other mashable veg would work too. Sweet potato/yam, carrot, beet, broccoli… Has anyone tried it?
Melissa says
Wondering if anyone has tried coconut flour successfully? If so, what was the measurement used? I was thinking it might dry out the dough nicely and avoid needing to squeeze out the cauliflower water. Hmmm…