The Vegan Pizza Challenge

Making pizza at home with family and friends is not only a fun activity. It is also healthier as you can choose only the freshest ingredients, skip preservatives, and enjoy it hot and fresh from the oven. What’s great is that you can experiment on whatever toppings you want based on your diet preference. Today, we’re giving you not one, but two vegan pizza recipes that you, your family, and your friends will surely love: Margherita pizza and bbq chick’un pizza with ranch. Each pizza recipe is easy to make yet absolutely satisfying and delicious.

Ingredients:

• 300 grams of store-bought pre-risen pizza dough

Margherita Pizza:
• ½ cup of raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
• 1 cup of unsweetened nondairy milk
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 ½ tsp tapioca flour/starch
• 1 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp white pepper
• 1 cup of pizza sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup whole basil leaves

BBQ Chik’un Pizza with Ranch:
• ¼ cup of ground shelled unsalted pistachios
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 2 cups of Yves veggie chik’un strips
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• ¼ cup of bbq sauce
• 1 cup of shredded vegan mozzarella
• ½ cup of thinly sliced red onion
• 2 cups of arugula leaves
• ½ cup of vegan mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp nondairy milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ⅛ tsp sea salt
• ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
• ½ tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
• ½ tbsp finely chopped parsley
• ½ tbsp finely chopped chives

Instructions:

This recipe takes about 30 minutes to make. The cashew nuts need to soak for at least 2 hours. Serves 1 16″ pizza.

Pre-heat the oven to 450°F.
Prepare the pizza dough according to packet instructions, then spread it on a 16″ pizza tin.
Set it aside while you prepare the toppings.

To make the vegan mozzarella cheese, drain and rinse the cashew nuts.
Put the cashews in a blender along with nondairy milk, lemon juice, tapioca starch, nutritional yeast, sea salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and white pepper.
Blend until smooth, then transfer the mixture to a saucepot.
Cook the cheese mixture over medium heat while whisking continuously for 8 minutes or until smooth.
Let the cheese mixture cool, then pour it into a zip-lock bag.
To assemble the margherita pizza, spread pizza sauce on half of the pizza crust.
Snip the corner of the zip-lock bag and squeeze out the cheese mixture resembling round slices of mozzarella.
Brush olive oil on the crust.

To make the pistachio dusting, processor the pistachios in a coffee grinder or food processor until a fine powder is formed.
Transfer to a small bowl, then stir in sea salt and garlic powder.
To make the BBQ chik’un topping, heat vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat.
Brown the chik’un strips for 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir in bbq sauce, then cook for another minute.
To assemble the bbq chik’un pizza, spread the pistachio mixture on the other half of the pizza crust.
Spread shredded mozzarella on top of the pistachio dusting.
Spread the bbq chik’un strips, then top off with onion slices.

Bake in the preheated oven for 14 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the ranch dressing.
In a medium bowl, whisk together vegan mayonnaise, nondairy milk, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, ground black pepper, dill, parsley, and chives.
Pour into a sauce bottle, then refrigerate while you wait for the pizza to be ready.
Pull the pizza tin out from the oven, then spread fresh basil leaves on top of the margherita side and the arugula on the bbq chik’un side.
Return to the oven and bake for another minute.
Immediately, take the pizza out from the oven then drizzle ranch dressing all over the top of the bbq chik’un side.
Slice and serve.

Ideas And Tips:

For the vegan mozzarella cheese, you can also use pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts or sunflower seeds.

images – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZEH49337ZQ