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frozen cauliflower pizza crust

Frozen Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Frozen Cauliflower Pizza Crust

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Frozen Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Frozen Cauliflower Pizza Crust

 

THE SECRET TO PERFECT CAULIFLOWER PIZZA CRUST

This Cauliflower Pizza Crust recipe is a healthy veggie-packed option that is naturally gluten-free and grain-free. It’s perfect for people who still want to eat their pizza, while following a low-carb or food combining diet.

Ingredients for Cauliflower Crust

  • Cauliflower: You will need a large head of cauliflower, 6″ – 7″ in diameter, about 2.5 – 3 lbs.
  • Egg: Egg is part of “the glue” that holds cauliflower pizza dough together.
  • Cheese: As cheese melts during baking, it helps to bind small pieces of cauliflower into a crust. Cheese is crucial! So is the egg. Sorry cannot be vegan.
  • Spices: Simple dried herbs like oregano, basil or Italian mix plus salt and pepper add flavor to the crust. Cauliflower itself is pretty bland. Also you can add garlic powder.

HOW TO MAKE CAULIFLOWER PIZZA

Making cauliflower pizza is straight-forward, but a little labor intensive. If you start with fresh cauliflower, you’ll need to steam it until tender. (You can skip this step by using frozen cauliflower– read further down in this post for more info.) Then, you’ll pulse it in a food processor until it’s rice-like in texture.

(You can save even more time by purchasing pre-riced cauliflower, either fresh or frozen.)

1. Separate Cauliflower Head into Florets

  • Using cauliflower rice: Skip this step.
  • Preheat oven: It is a good time to preheat oven to 375 degrees F. We first cook rice in it and after bake the crust, so it makes sense to keep the oven on.
  • Separate cauliflower: Using a paring knife, remove outer leaves, rinse and cut off florets one by one. Here is easy tutorial how to cut cauliflower.

2. Rice the Cauliflower

  • Food processor: Place cauliflower florets in a food processor and process until “rice” texture. Some coarse chunks are fine. You will be baking and then squeezing the cauliflower, so chunks do not matter.
  • Using cauliflower rice: Skip this step.

3. Cook “the Rice”

  • Dish: I spread rice on same baking sheet I will be using for baking or use pie plate for microwave.
  • Oven: Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
  • Or Microwave: For 8 minutes.

4. Let Cool a Bit

  • Line large bowl with cheesecloth: You can also use linen tea towel. We will be folding and squeezing “rice” in this material.
  • Transfer and cool: Then transfer cooked cauliflower “rice” to prepped bowl and let cool down until safe to the touch. We will touching the ball with hands to squeeze.

5. Squeeze All Water Out

  • Fold, hold and squeeze: Holding by the four corners of a cheesecloth with one hand, squeeze out as much liquid as you can with another hand.
  • How much to squeeze? Squeeze really well. Quite a few times. I mean it! Count it as an arm workout for the day. I squeezed and then moved the cauliflower around a bit, and squeezed again. If your arm is sore for a bit after, you did it well.
  • Final product: You should be left with a cauliflower mash that is very-very dry.

6. Form the Crust

  • Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F: If you cooked “rice” in the oven, it is a good idea to keep it on. And now is a good time to crank up the temperature for baking the crust.
  • Make pizza dough: Transfer squeezed cauliflower to a bowl. Add egg, oregano or basil, cheese, salt and pepper, and mix well.
  • Prep baking sheet: Line rectangle or round baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and spray with cooking spray well. Can also use pizza stone but line and spray!
  • Flatten the crust: Using your hands, flatten pizza dough. Make it smaller than in the video. I made it a bit too thin and edges burnt a bit, which is not the end of the world though.

7. Bake the Crust

  • How long to bake? Bake for 20 minutes at 450 degrees F.
  • Make crispy: Flip and bake for a few more minutes until crispy.
  • Ready! Your healthy pizza crust is ready for toppings.

8. Add Toppings and Bake

  • Load it up in this order: Add pizza sauce, toppings, cheese and bake again until cheese is melted.
  • Not too much: Do not overload the crust with heavy toppings as you won’t be able to hold the slice then.

 

Frozen Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Frozen Cauliflower Pizza Crust

 

USING FROZEN CAULIFLOWER FOR PIZZA CRUST

I’ve been making this cauliflower pizza crust for years, and there are a number of ways you can make it, but the easiest method is by starting with frozen cauliflower.

I buy 1-pound bags of frozen cauliflower, so that I don’t have to do any chopping, and then I thaw them in the fridge the night before I want to make my pizza.

Using frozen cauliflower allows you to skip the pre-cooking of the cauliflower, and ultimately saves you time, but I’ve also included directions for starting with fresh cauliflower in the recipe below if you’d prefer to do that.

You must thaw and squeeze out the liquid from the cauliflower to get a non-soggy crust.

Update: Many stores are also now carrying frozen pre-riced cauliflower, which will save you even more time, since you won’t have to break out the food processor, either.  I’ve made this crust using two 12-ounce or two 16-ounce bags of frozen cauliflower, so know that this recipe is relatively flexible with the cauliflower amount.

 

Nutrition Facts

Servings Per Recipe: 4
Calories: 67.2
% Daily Value *
Protein6.3g13 %
Carbohydrates4.4g1 %
Dietary Fiber2g8 %
Sugars0.2g
Fat3.1g5 %
Saturated Fat1.6g8 %
Cholesterol53.6mg18 %
Vitamin A Iu111.7IU2 %
Niacin Equivalents0.9mg7 %
Folate6.8mcg2 %
Calcium94.1mg9 %
Iron0.3mg1 %
Magnesium4.1mg2 %
Potassium26.2mg1 %
Sodium114.9mg5 %
Calories From Fat27.9
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
**Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-)Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.

The 5 best frozen cauliflower pizza crusts, ranked by an RD:

1. REAL GOOD FOODS Cauliflower Crust, $6 for 2

Rifkin says Real Good Foods’ product is, nutrition-wise, the best frozen cauliflower pizza crust. Besides cauliflower, it’s made with almond flour, eggs, coconut flour, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, xanthan gum, and salt. “Of all the brands, this one is the highest of fiber,” Rifkin says as to why it’s her fave. “Since it’s made with almond flour, it’s a good pick for diabetics and people on the ketogenic diet, too.” She does say that at 500 milligrams per serving, the sodium is a bit high (you want to cap it at 2,300 milligrams a day), so to just be conscious of your day’s worth of sodium intake when enjoying this cauli-crust.

2. TRADER JOE’S CAULIFLOWER PIZZA CRUST, $4

Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi is already a cult favorite. If you’re into this other cauliflower product from TJ’s, rest assured that Rifkin is into it too; it comes in at number two on her list. Rifkin likes that this crust—made with cauliflower, corn flour, corn starch, potato starch, olive oil, and salt—has less sodium than most other crusts, with 220 milligrams a serving. She also likes that it’s low in carbohydrates and calories, as those are two reasons many eaters opt for cauli-crust over wheat crust. Still, it’s not perfect. “It’s low in fiber and protein,” Rifkin says, pointing out it only has one gram of each per serving. It will be up to your pizza toppings to fill in the gaps.

3. OUTER AISLE PLANT POWER CAULIFLOWER PIZZA CRUSTs, $30 for 8

Made with cauliflower, eggs, parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast, garlic, basil, and oregano, this crust comes smack dab in the middle of Rifkin’s ranking because she says it has both nutritional positives and negatives. “This one has good protein content, with 10 grams a serving,” she says as to the crust’s major benefit. But one strike against it is the low fiber content, which clocks in at just one gram per serving. It’s also higher in sodium than Rifkin likes, with 310 milligrams per serving.

 

Frozen Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Frozen Cauliflower Pizza Crust

 

4. GREEN GIANT Cauliflower Pizza Crust, $5

Similar to Outer Aisle, Rifkin has both some nutritional pros and cons to Green Giant’s cauliflower crust, which is made with cauliflower, rice flour, corn starch, corn flour, cornmeal, canola oil, salt, and black pepper. She likes that the ingredients list is simple and also that the fiber content (two grams a serving) is higher than some of the others on this list, which only have one gram. But she says its low protein content (two grams per serving) knocks is down her list of the healthiest cauli-crusts.

5. CAULIPOWER PLAIN CAULIFLOWER PIZZA CRUSTS, $50 for four

Caulipower was one of the very first brands to come one with a frozen cauliflower pizza crust, which is made with cauliflower, brown rice flour, cassava flour, tapioca flour, coconut oil, yeast, flaxseed meal, baking powder, egg, salt, xanthan gum, and honey. “This one is the highest in carbs and is low in both protein and fiber,” Rifkin says, as to why it nears the bottom of her ranking. But as a positive, the ingredients list is simple; there’s nothing sketchy in it.

While it never hurts to compare the nutritional value between products, the good news is, all of the cauliflower crusts here have value, so you can feel good about whichever one you put in your grocery basket. It bears repeating that the ranking here is only based on nutrition, not taste—which definitely matters, too. And of course, as any pizza lover will tell you, it’s all about the toppings!

 

 

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