In this Green Lentil Pizza recipe, the lentils are in the crust! Crazy I know, right?!
I’ve been throwing this idea around for a while and only just decided to add in the sweet potato this morning after seeing it staring at me from the counter.
The inspiration for this recipe comes from veggie burgers (believe it or not). I looked at the ingredients used to make my quinoa burger, considered the ever popular cauliflower pizza and decided to combine some of these flavours with green lentils to make a lentil pizza crust. And it worked!
This is my main dish entry for the Canadian Lentils Revelations Recipe Challenge and most likely my fourth and final entry. What fun creating with lentils!
With this recipe, it’s important to note a cauliflower pizza tastes nothing like a bread dough pizza. Nothing at all. And this crust is the same. It gives the allusion and feel you are eating pizza as it holds together remarkably well, especially with the delicious pizza toppings, but it tastes like what it is, veggies n cauliflower crust. You have to go into this knowing and being ok with that. It really is quite tasty and the perfect vegetarian fare (minus prosciutto).
The kids didn’t enjoy the pizza so much, but I liked the taste and would make it again. If you are trying to cut out carbs, and/or you like the cauliflower pizza, this is a good option full of protein. If you want to keep it vegetarian, top your pizza with grilled veggies.
Here’s how I did it.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups cauliflower florets no stems
- 1/2 cup cooked sweet potato
- 1/2 cup green lentils cooked and pureed
- 1/4 cup green lentils cooked and left whole
- 1/3 cup parsley chopped
- 1/2 cup asiago cheese grated
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese grated
- 1 egg
- pinch of salt pepper
- 1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup pizza sauce
- 3 slices prosciutto
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Put cauliflower in food processor and pulse a few times until the mixture resembles course sand. This will give you about 2 cups.
- Put in oven safe bowl and cover. Cook in microwave for about 4 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool (stir occasionally to help speed it up).
- In second bowl mash together sweet potato and pureed lentils. Mix in whole lentils, parsley, both cheeses, egg and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Add hot pepper flakes and cauliflower, stirring to combine. Use your hands to form into a ball and place on a piece of parchment.
- Roll out ball using rolling pin or hands to flatten evenly.
- Place on baking sheet or preheated baking stone and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add your pizza sauce, prosciutto and mozzarella cheese.
- Place back in oven and back another 5 - 10 minutes or until cheese has started to brown. Remove and eat.
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This looks delicious. What a fabulous twist on the cauliflower crust!
I will definitely try this for my family’s next MYO Pizza night.
I often use the cauliflower crust and you are so right- you have to go in knowing it is not bread. No one will be fooled, but it does the trick when eating wheat or gluten is not an option. I actually find that using *more* cauliflower than is called for makes it fluffier, more bread-like and less like a cauliflower omelette. 😉
Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate the feedback. It’s good to know more cauliflower in the crust helps! Will try that next time 🙂