I have wanted to try a healthy pizza crust recipe for aaaages. The only problem was that there were tonnes of different variations available – broccoli crust, quinoa crust, some with lots of cheese involved. And anybody that knows me well, knows that I’m painfully indecisive. I went for this recipe because cauliflower crust was the type I had heard of first, so I figured it must have stood the test of time? And this one didn’t have any cheese involved in the crust itself. (Although it may as well have done because I smothered the entire thing in mozzarella afterwards…)

I am so glad that I went for this recipe because it went so much better than I had expected. It was also really filling, and it usually takes a hella lot of healthy stuff to fill me up. Despite distant memories of making pizza in my childhood, it was also super quick to make so can definitely be tried out mid-week.

Shopping list: 1 cauliflower, 100g ground almonds, 2 eggs, dried oregano, 200g chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, basil leaves, olive oil.

This list covers the base and tomato sauce (although you could also use pesto instead). The rest of the toppings are, of course, up to you. A personal fave of mine is goats cheese, caramelised onions, and spinach. However, this Wednesday I couldn’t be bothered to make caramelised onions so I went for a classic pesto, cherry tomato, mozzarella and rocket combo!

Gimme the pizza: 

1) Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Cut the cauliflower into chunks and then blend in a food processor until it becomes rice-like. (I almost lost my finger at this stage because my Mum’s blender didn’t like cauliflower… Stay safe) Put the ‘rice’ in a bowl, cover with cling film, and then microwave for 5 minutes.

2) Tip the cauliflower onto a tea towel (the cotton kind not kitchen roll…) Once cool, squeeze out as much liquid as poss through the tea towel. Transfer back into a bowl and add the ground almonds, egg, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix until it becomes dough-y. (Yes, that’s an adjective.)

3) Stretch out some baking parchment and grease with a little oil. Place your dough in the centre, then use a spoon and your hands to make your ‘crust’. I mostly used my hands for this… A rolling pin would really not work at this stage. Bake for 15-18 minutes until it looks like mine above (golden brown and stuff)

4) If you have toppings that need cooking/general prepping, then now’s the time to crack on with that. It is also the time to make the tomato sauce: blend the canned tomatoes, 1 tablespoon tomato puree, a few basil leaves and one garlic clove. Then cook in a saucepan until thick (around 8-10 minutes).

5) Once the cauliflower base looks just as delightful as the one I prepared earlier, take out of the oven, and then turn the oven up to 240 degrees Celsius. Spread the tomato sauce over the base, and then arrange your toppings. Return to the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Although this recipe worked reeeeally well, it’s likely that I may also try the broccoli base and quinoa base. Just because I’m curious and also love pizza, obviously. Although my pizza looks a bit like those ones in Pizza Express where they cut out the middle and substitute it with salad, I promise it was alll there! And it was amazing.