Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

cauliflower crust pizza bites

Recipe by
Andy Anderson !
Wichita, KS

Here’s an interesting twist on the normal bread crust pizza… use cauliflower in place of the bread dough. While the idea of a cauliflower pizza crust is not new; I didn’t like the recipes that I found. They tasted like cauliflower baked with eggs, and most were pretty bland. So, off to the test kitchen, and eight hours, and six attempts later, I came up with this one. It holds together quite well, and the flavor of the cauliflower compliments the toppings you choose to add. So, you ready… Let’s get into the kitchen.

yield 6 as appetizers
prep time 20 Min
cook time 20 Min
method Bake

Ingredients For cauliflower crust pizza bites

  • 1 md
    head organic cauliflower – about 1.5 pounds
  • 1/2 tsp
    dried basil
  • 1/2 tsp
    dried oregano
  • 3 clove
    fresh garlic minced, about 1 tablespoon
  • crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
  • 1/4 c
    parmesan cheese, shredded
  • 1/4 c
    pecorino romano, shredded
  • 1 pinch
    salt, kosher variety
  • black pepper, freshly ground, to taste
  • 1 md
    egg
  • pizza toppings, of your choice.

How To Make cauliflower crust pizza bites

  • 1
    Place a pizza stone in the lower position, or use a baking sheet if you don't have a pizza stone, and then preheat oven to 450f (232c).
  • 2
    Clean your cauliflower in the sink, and then dry as much as possible.
  • 3
    Cut the florets from the head, leaving as little of the stems as possible.
  • 4
    Chef’s Tip: Cauliflower stems are great in a lot of Autumn soups and stews, so you might want to reserve them for another use.
  • 5
    Add the florets to a food processor, fitted with an S-blade.
  • 6
    Give the florets about 6 to 8, 1-second bursts at high speed until you get what we call, cauliflower snow (finely chopped cauliflower).
  • 7
    Chef’s Note: You should have about 3 cups of cauliflower snow.
  • 8
    Chef’s Tip: We need to get rid as much of the moisture from the cauliflower as possible. So, use a steamer to steam the cauliflower for about 4 minutes.
  • 9
    Chef’s Note: I tried doing this in the microwave, but it changed the texture of the cauliflower in a way that I wasn’t happy with.
  • 10
    Place the steamed cauliflower in the center of a nice clean tea towel, and then squeeze until you get all the water out.
  • 11
    I got almost a quarter cup of water out of the cauliflower.
  • 12
    Chef’s Tip: Let the cauliflower cool a bit before doing the squeezing… unless you like third-degree burns.
  • 13
    Chef’s Note: I found that by squeezing out all that additional moisture, you will get a chewier crust. So, don’t skip this step.
  • 14
    Gather your ingredients.
  • 15
    Add the squeezed cauliflower to a bowl, and then add the cheeses, salt, basil, oregano, garlic, egg, and crushed red pepper. Add some freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Mix thoroughly.
  • 16
    Chef’s Note: The egg was a bit of a problem. Most recipes called for two eggs, but that left the final crust tasting like egg. I tried two yolks, but that wasn’t much better. I finally settled on one medium egg. That held the mixture together, without overpowering the crust with egg taste.
  • 17
    Make the crusts 3 inches in diameter, and I used a stacker press to achieve that goal.
  • 18
    Chef's Note: If you're not looking for appetizers, then this mixture should make one 12-14 inch pizza crust.
  • 19
    Add the crusts to a piece of parchment paper.
  • 20
    Chef’s Note: The thickness of the crust made a big difference. If I used 2 ounces of mixture to make the crust, it was too thick and overpowered the pizza. I tried 1 ounce but that didn’t give me enough crust to hold together. I found that if the pizza round is 3-inches in diameter, then 1.5 ounces is the best.
  • 21
    Chef’s Note: If you’re doing this by hand don’t make the crust any thicker than 1/4 inch.
  • 22
    Slide the parchment paper with the pizza crusts onto the hot pizza stone, or the baking sheet, and then cook for about 11 to 14 minutes.
  • 23
    Chef’s Tip: Don’t go by oven time… instead, take them out when they are starting to turn a nice golden brown.
  • 24
    They should look like this.
  • 25
    Add some sauce to the browned crust.
  • 26
    Chef's Tip: I found out (about the 4th try) that brushing the crusts with a bit of extra-virgin oil, really helped with the flavor.
  • 27
    Add some cheese, or any additional toppings.
  • 28
    Return to the oven and cook for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and starting to brown. Enjoy.
  • 29
    Keep the faith, and keep cooking.
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