Pizza night can be simple, kind, and full of flavour. A homemade vegan pizza gives you the joy of a crisp base, rich sauce, and colourful toppings, all without dairy. It suits mixed households, it is easy to make, and it lets everyone build a slice they love.
Keep fresh dough away from children and pets. Read more on food safety for people and pets. Just bin allium scraps (garlic, onion, shallots, chives, leeks) as like citrus/rhubarb, acids could harm compost creatures. Don’t give leftover pizza crust to garden birds or wildfowl (it could choke or harm).
Essential Ingredients for Vegan Pizza
For one 12-inch pizza that serves 4:
- Dough
- 300 g strong white bread flour
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 200 ml warm water (not hot)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pinch fine salt
- Sauce
- 400 g tinned tomatoes (crushed or chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- Toppings
- 100 g vegan mozzarella shreds or cashew cheese
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 handful mushrooms, sliced
- 1 small red pepper, sliced
- A few olives, pitted and halved
- Optional: plant-based pepperoni or sausage
- Fresh basil or spinach leaves
Helpful substitutions:
- Try a chickpea flour base for a socca-style crust.
- Nut-free: make this 5-minute nut-free vegan cheese (or skip and add extra veg)
- Low-oil: reduce olive oil in dough to 1 tablespoon, and skip oil in sauce.
Prep notes:
- Use warm water that feels like a warm bath, not hot. This wakes the yeast.
- Slice veg thin. Thick slices add water and can make the pizza soggy.
- Keep toppings light. A little of each gives better texture and taste.
Building the Perfect Vegan Dough
- Add warm water/yeast to a bowl. Stir once, rest for 5 minutes until foamy.
- Mix flour and salt in a larger bowl. Add the yeast mixture and olive oil.
- Stir with a spoon until it forms a shaggy dough. Turn out and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and springy.
- Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour, until doubled.
Crafting a Tasty Tomato Sauce
- Blend until smooth, or simmer for 10 minutes in a small pan to deepen flavour. Stir in the oil, oregano, salt, and pepper.
- Add-ins: a few basil leaves for freshness, or a pinch of chilli flakes for heat.
- Store leftovers in the fridge for 3 days, or freeze in small tubs for next time.
- Keep toppings light to avoid a soggy base. Aim for a mix of acidic, sweet, and savoury.
Tips for the Perfect Pizza Dough
Ela Vegan (also try her recipes for gluten-free or potato pizza dough)
Kneading and Shaping Your Dough
After the rise, punch the dough down to release air. Keep it gentle. If you are making more than one pizza, divide the dough now.
Roll on a floured surface, or press with your hands from the centre out. Aim for even thickness so it cooks well. For a thin crust, roll a bit longer and dock the centre with a fork. For thicker crust, leave it slightly puffy and add 2 minutes to the bake.
Avoid overworking, it keeps the crumb tender.
Assembling Layers for Maximum Flavour
Start with sauce from edge to edge, leaving a small rim. Add cheese next so it melts into the sauce. Finish with veg and any plant-based meats across the top.
This order helps the sauce protect the base, the cheese sets the toppings, and the heat spreads well. If you like variety, customise each quarter with a different topping.
Baking to Crispy Perfection
Use a preheated pizza stone, or a hot baking tray. Place pizza on the middle rack for even heat. Check for bubbling cheese, a firm base, and a light golden rim.
Let the pizza rest for 5 minutes before cutting. The toppings settle, and the slices hold shape. For extra char, finish under the grill for 1 to 2 minutes. An air fryer also works for small pizzas at 200°C for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Troubleshooting
- Dough too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time and knead lightly.
- Pale crust, preheat the stone longer, or brush the rim with a little olive oil.
- Soggy centre, use less sauce and fewer wet toppings, and bake on a hot surface.
The Northern Dough Co offers pre-made frozen dough balls (vegan but not for allergies due to production methods) that are widely sold nationwide or online.
Variations for Your vegan Pizza
- Simple margherita: tomato sauce, Mozzaloumi, fresh basil
- BBQ vegan pizza, with BBQ sauce, red onion, sweetcorn, and vegan chick’n.
- Hawaiian twist: pineapple chunks, vegan ham, spring onion.
- Veggie supreme: mushrooms, peppers, red onion, olives, spinach.
- Mediterranean style, with a hummus base, olives, cherry tomatoes, and oregano.
- White pizza, with garlic oil, spinach, and mushrooms, no tomato sauce.
Where to Buy Good Vegan Pizza
If you prefer to buy ready-made, there are a few good brands on sale. You can recycle any plastic packaging at supermarket bag bins, if your kerbside does not recycle. Before recycling cardboard, tear off any greasy parts and bin.
One Planet Pizza was founded by a father and son, and offers low-carbon footprint vegan pizzas that taste as good as any from the big take-aways. They are generous in size and bake from frozen in 15 to 20 minutes.
This crowdfunded pizza brand was started in a Norwich garage, and are now made in the Netherlands (and sold across Europe). The son has even appeared on TV, judging plant-based cheeses! Find them in independent stores and supermarkets (ASDA, Morrisons and Boots). Flavours (all on a sourdough base) include:
- Margherita (tomato and vegan cheese)
- Tex-Mex (red onion, sweetcorn, peppers and vegan cheese)
- Peppernomi (secret sauce, smoked vegan pepperoni & vegan cheese)
- Hawaiian (tomato sauce, vegan cheese, vegan bacon and pineapple). Italians don’t class pineapple as pizza, but who cares, if it saves animals?
Whole Creations offers a ‘sheesy’ pizza with char-grilled peppers and courgettes and marinated cherry tomatoes drizzled with basil dressing. It also offers a cauliflower pizza crust (to add your own toppings) and a vegan cheesy garlic bread.
The Rise of Vegan Pizzerias and Delivery
Many cities and towns not only offer vegan pizza options (Dominoes offer two good ones, though they are very expensive as they won’t offer plant-based versions of their ‘mini-pizzas), and each one includes a plastic-sauce pot, many of which you find littered on streets the next day.
Purezza is an award-winning vegan pizzeria that launched around 10 years ago, and has three outlets in London, Brighton and Manchester. Founded by an Italian (obviously), the chain uses (mostly local) organic ingredients, does not use palm oil, and even the outlets are furnished with reclaimed materials. It also runs on green energy, and even the loos even use recycled paper bathroom tissue!
The range includes pizzas topped with their own cashew mozzarella (which is sold wholesale to other restaurants) includes:
- Quattro formaggi (4 vegan cheeses!)
- Fungi pizza (with truffle oil)
- Plant-based salami pizza
- Garlic dough balls
- Gluten-free vegan pizza
Reusable Boxes for Takeaway Pizza
CauliBox is a company that makes reusable takeaway boxes that can be washed and returned, or just deposited back into containers, for collection later on. This saves money and reduces waste packaging. The range includes a box to deliver vegan pizza!
