This gluten-free quinoa pizza crust involves only 6 core pantry ingredients plus a mix of dried spices. Skip the cheese toppings to keep your pizza vegan.
I have an entire shelf in my pantry dedicated to grains.
It is a challenge to keep it organized. I always find myself buying a bag of something that I don’t need.
The problem is when I have just a little bit left in a package and wrap it up with a rubber band, it’s small and gets lots.
When things get too chaotic in that cabinet, I do some rearranging and consolidating.
I am never in short supply of quinoa.
This quick-cooking grain is one of my favorites for mixing with roasted or grilled vegetables and pesto, tahini and vinaigrettes.
But as I’ve been saying for the last couple weeks, I want variety out of the same ingredients that I have in my kitchen.
So now I’ve been combining two of my meal mainstays—veggies grain bowls and pizza—into one with quinoa pizza crust.
This gluten-free pizza base involves 6 core pantry ingredients plus a few dried spices that you may already have on-hand.
Quinoa pizza crust requires a simple step in advance. You need to soak your quinoa grains in a bowl of water for at least 8 hours.
I usually do this the night before.
Softening quinoa in water makes it much easier to transform into batter for the crust.
With a food processor, I puree the drained quinoa with 1/4 cup water, baking powder, salt and spices.
I go all in on dried seasonings instead of relying just on the pizza toppings for flavor. My spice mix includes oregano, onion and garlic powder, oregano, red pepper flakes and black pepper.
It takes a few minutes in the food processor to get to a smooth batter.
Since the consistency is more like batter than dough, it is important to bake the crust in a rimmed pan.
I use an 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pan greased with non-stick cooking spray and lined with parchment paper.
The crust is baked on one side and then is flipped onto a sheet pan to finish baking on the opposite side.
Rather than traditional pizza crust made with flour, water, yeast and salt, quinoa pizza crust is closer to cauliflower pizza crust—almost like a thin chewy cake.
For toppings, I like tomato sauce, olives, roasted tomatoes and spinach.
My tendency is to go light on the cheese, just crumbling on Parmesan after the pizza is out of the oven, but of course you can melt shredded cheese on top.
This gluten-free quinoa pizza crust involves only 6 core pantry ingredients plus a mix of dried spices. Skip the cheese toppings to keep your pizza vegan.
Adapted from Cooking Light
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