Cauliflower crust pizza is a healthy and low-carb alternative to a classic pizza. Topped with colourful peppers, olives, tomatoes and salty bacon it makes a real delight. A gorgeous meal that everyone will adore.
Pizza. Who doesn’t love it, right? Since the first pizza has been invented, many new variations were created. Sometimes I think that there are too many choices of pizza. Ahh, not. Wink. I love pizza. In fact, I could eat it almost every day, but I am afraid I would probably get bored and get 10 muffin tops on my waist. Wink.
Therefore, I would like to introduce you to this low-carb cauliflower crust pizza. The base is made internally of cauliflower, which is held together with one egg and some cheese. This is also a perfect keto recipe if you are counting your carbs. Wink.
Tips and tricks to a great cauliflower crust
I recommend blending the cauliflower in smaller batches, in order to get a smoother texture without any struggle. Also, drain and squeeze as much water as possible out of the cauliflower, to avoid a soggy pizza. In order to keep the pizza base firm and strong, prebake the crust before adding the toppings and sauces.
I kept it simple. I think. Wink. I didn’t use any sauce. Instead, I simply picked some colourful ingredients, which bring happiness to the table. For instance a bright yellow bell pepper, black olives and red tomatoes. As a flavour contrast, I picked bacon and for a more delicate look, I sprinkled it with fresh thyme.
If you are a pizza lover and you’d like to try new recipes, then you might love these pizza and pizza-like recipes: a classic dough pizza Hawaii, a fruity cheesy apple pide, vegetarian quinoa crust pizza or a persimmon flammkuchen.
Ingredients for cauliflower crust pizza (25×40 cm):
- 1 head of cauliflower (no stalk, cooked, blended, drained)
- 1 eggs
- 150 g grated cheese
- 10 g thyme
- salt and pepper
Ingredients for the toppings:
- 100 g bacon cubes
- half of yellow pepper (cut into strips)
- 10 black olives
- 10 cherry tomatoes (halved)
- 50 g grated cheese
- fresh thyme
To begin, trim the cauliflower into florets and cut them into small pieces. Put them in a larger pan or pot, add some water (a finger high) and cook until tender.
Next, drain them and add a quarter or a third of the florets into a blender. Blend until rice-sized pieces form. Lay a clean cotton kitchen towel in a sieve and put the shredded cauliflower florets in it. Once you shredded all of the florets and they are all in the towel, let them cool off a bit. Afterwards, pick up the corners of the towel and twist them to trap the cauliflower in the towel. Twist and squeeze the towel in order to drain all of the excess water in cauliflower.
The volume of cauliflower will visibly decrease a lot. Transfer it into a bowl and allow it to cool off completely. Preheat the oven to 180 º C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. After the cauliflower is cool to the touch, stir in the grated cheese, thyme and one egg. Season with salt and pepper and transfer onto the baking sheet.
Using a spatula or a spoon, spread the mixture into a square or oval form, about 1 cm thick. Place in the oven for 30 minutes until a lovely crust forms.
In the meantime, wash the vegetables, cut the pepper into strips and halve the tomatoes. Once the cauliflower crust is slightly golden, take it out of the oven and increase the oven temperature to 200º C. Then, place strips and tomatoes on it, add the bacon cubes, olives and cheese and put it back in the oven for 10 minutes or until the bacon is done.
Finally, take the cauliflower crust pizza out of the oven, sprinkle it with fresh thyme and cut it into irregular pieces. I like to serve it directly on a wooden cutting board.
Enjoy.
