I’m a lover of pizza.. and it tends to be my go-to treat on days I want to indulge (it happens more often than not). I recently heard of making veg-based crusts and my mind was blown. Being on a weird zucchini-lovin’ phase right now, I decided to try a zucchini-based pizza!

I was a bit weirded out by the fact the crust’s structure would be coming from the zucchini since it tends to be a soft/mushy veggie when cooked. It seemed to work pretty well though! The big tricks: drain as much water from the zucchini as possible and (if you’ve got one) use a pizza stone to cook on – both tips will remove excess water, leaving a crunchy crust!

I really enjoyed this recipe and didn’t feel tooooo guilty nomming through 3 slices of this bad boy! Top off with your fav pizza add-ons (I used prawns, spinach, mozza and caramelized onion on one side / bocconcini and basil on the other for a margherita fix).

Ingredients:

• 8 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 large zucchinis)
• 1 tsp (5mL) salt
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I also used mozza)
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced/finely grated
• 2 tsp (10mL) dried oregano
• 1 tsp (5mL) dried basil
• 1 large egg, beaten
• Pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings of choice!

What to do:

• Preheat over to 500 degrees F. Place pizza stone or baking sheet in oven (if using a baking sheet, you may want to stick it in the oven post-zucchini water squeezing).
• Grate the zucchini. Mix with 1 tsp salt. Set aside to allow the salt to extract the water – I left mine sitting in a colander so the water would drain to the bottom. After about 30 minutes, squeeze out any excess water using a cheese cloth, clean towel or your hands.
• Add cheese, flour, garlic, oregano, basil and egg to zucchini and mix until incorporated.
• Shape “dough” onto parchment paper – I recommend the crust being on the thinner side (0.5cm) to allow the crust to be crispy!
• Transfer parchment paper with pizza “dough” onto the pizza stone or baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes on the pizza stone (or 12-15 minutes on baking sheet) until the crust in crispy and slightly brown.
• Remove from oven and sprinkle your favour toppings. Put back into over for 3-4 minutes or until the toppings are heated/melted through.
• Cool.. then nom!

Note: this crust will become a bit soft as it cools completely/the next day. Stick into a toaster oven to bring back the crispiness!