Are you craving a cheesy pizza but you aren't a fan of store-bought vegan cheeses? The simple solution: Make your own vegan cheese! It's really easy! Add your favorite toppings to this Vegan Cheese Pizza!
Store-bought vegan cheese is oftentimes hit or miss. Over the last years, there have been so many new vegan cheese products and while some of them are quite good, I've had my fair share of weird almost like plastic-tasting cheeses as well.
I still love to make my own vegan cheese, though! It's easy. It's quick. You can adjust the flavor and texture to your own liking. And for this recipe, you won't need to soak nuts and you don't need a blender. The cheesy flavor comes from the Nutritional Yeast.
I've made a rather simplistic vegan cheesy pizza with homemade crust, tomato sauce, vegan cheese sauce and topped it with fresh basil after baking. Of course, you can add your favorite toppings!
Versatile Vegan Cheese Sauce
I love this vegan cheese sauce recipe so, so much! I make it all the time.
My favorite uses besides on pizza are
- on lasagna
- as a dip with tortilla chips
- in Mac & Cheese
- with spaetzle
- in sandwiches (Vegan Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich, Cheesy Vegan Meatball Subs)
I've been making this cheese sauce (with some modifications) since I went vegan in 2012. There were no vegan cheese products in the stores, so making my own cheese was the only option. Now there are so many options, but I still make this vegan cheese sauce regularly. I have so much love for this one.
How to make Vegan Cheese Pizza
As always, you will find the whole recipe with measurements in the recipe box below but I want to give you an overview of the main ingredients and basic steps first.
The ingredients & possible substitutions
You will need:
- pizza dough
- all-purpose flour
- instant yeast
- salt
- water
- oil
- tomato sauce
- tomato passata
- salt
- dried oregano
- garlic powder
- vegan cheese
- vegan butter or coconut oil
- all-purpose flour - makes the cheese stretchy
- spices - I used salt, paprika powder, curry powder, ground pepper, and garlic powder (but feel free to experiment with different spices!)
- nutritional yeast flakes - adds the cheesy flavor!
- water
- fresh basil
The basic steps
Preparing the pizza dough
The vegan cheese sauce
Tip: If you don't use the sauce immediately, it will thicken up quite a bit. Add a bit more water and whisk again. Then it's good as new!
Making the pizza
More Vegan Pizza Recipes for you to try
- Vegan Breakfast Pizza with tofu scramble and seitan sausages
- Mini Pretzel Pizzas with cider cheese sauce
- Grilled Veggie Pizza
- Vegan Chanterelle Pizza
- Pumpkin Pizza with zucchini and caramelized onions
- Whole Wheat Roasted Veggie & Tempeh Pizza
Love it? Rate it!
I hope you will enjoy this 'cheesy’ pizza as much as I did! Let me know if you give it a try!
And don’t forget to rate the recipe if you like it, this helps other users figure out if it is worth a try!
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Cheers, Bianca
Vegan Cheese Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour + more to dust the dough and surfaces
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon olive oil + more to coat the dough
- ¾ cup water
Vegan Cheese Sauce
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter or coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon curry powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika powder
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- ½ cup water
Tomato Sauce
- ¾ cup tomato passata
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Toppings
- ¼ cup fresh basil chopped
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- Combine the flour, instant yeast, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil and water. Mix and knead by hand until it's a soft, non-sticky dough or put all the ingredients in a kitchen machine and let the machine knead the dough for you. Finetune the dough: If it's too sticky, add more flour. If it's too crumbly, add more water.
- Coat the ball of dough in a drizzle of olive oil. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size (2-3 hours depending on the room temperature).
Vegan Cheese Sauce
- Heat the vegan butter or coconut oil in a small pot on low heat.
- Add the salt, paprika powder, garlic powder, and curry powder.
- Add in the flour and whisk.
- Add nutritional yeast, whisk again until clumpy.
- Add the water and whisk on low heat for a few minutes. If it gets too thick you can add a little bit more water and whisk again.
Combining it all together
- Preheat the oven to 480°F/250°C.
- For the tomato sauce, mix the tomato passata with salt, garlic powder, and dried oregano.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts. Carefully roll it out on a lightly floured parchment paper into two pizza crusts (don't use too much pressure). You can stretch it a bit with your hands until it has the right shape.
- Transfer the crust on the parchment paper onto a baking tray. Top the pizza dough with tomato sauce. Add dollops of vegan cheese sauce and spread them into circles. At this point, you can also add additional toppings (such as olives, artichokes, mushrooms, whatever you like on your pizza!).
- Spray the pizza with oil and bake it for 5-10 minutes (until golden and crispy). Top with fresh basil after baking and enjoy!
Karen says
This sauce was a nice change from the plainer nutritional yeast sauce I usually use. Thanks for sharing this recipe!