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Quinoa crust pizza topped with melted cashew mozzarella vegan cheese. This quinoa pizza is naturally gluten free, wheat free, flour free and dairy free. A high protein vegan and gluten free pizza that contains all essential amino acids.

Full of heart healthy fats from the cashew dairy free cheese. If you need convincing to make this then watch the video recipe below to see the gooey vegan cashew mozzarella as you pick up a slice. Suitable for gluten-free, dairy-free, whole 30 vegan and general healthy diets.

In this gluten free pizza recipe the quinoa is not boiled but instead is soaked and blended then cooked in the oven. The resulting quinoa crust pizza is firm enough to eat with your hands yet has a crispy outside with a fluffy centre.

It may look like a lot of ingredients and take an hour in total to make but each step is very easy. The oven is doing all work and only a small amount of prep is needed.

The cashew mozzarella is especially easy to make, and the only way you can really go wrong is not stirring enough and the bottom burning.

Quinoa Crust Pizza with Cashew Mozzarella Video Recipe

Play on YouTube.

You can place the pizza back in the oven after putting the tomato sauce and cashew cheese on it. I’m sure this would look even better as the cheese would get a bit of colour on it. But I’m all about simple and quick recipes – I’m quite happy to just eat it as soon as it’s topped.

The residual heat of the quinoa pizza makes the tomato sauce warm and the cheese is hot from the simmering to make it stringy.

I try to avoid heating my nuts too much as it destroys lots of the goodness and delicate fats in them. While this cashew cheese isn’t raw it’s only gently heated for a few minutes.

I prefer raw basil leaves on top. I tried for my last pizza cooking the basil in the oven, but it didn’t look very appetising so I replaced them with fresh leaves for the photos.

I created a sunflower seed cheese pizza that uses the same base. However, the cheese on that didn’t go gooey like this and many did say they could tell from the look of it that it was a healthy plant based pizza. Hopefully, this one looks more like traditional pizza with mozzarella.

Nut Free Vegan Cheese Pizza

If cashew nuts are expensive where you are you can make this with sunflower seeds. It won’t be quite as white and smooth but it will still be delicious. I eat way too many cashew nuts so often opt for the sunflower seed version.

This quinoa crust pizza is also grain free is quinoa is technically a seed. Quinoa is a great addition to a vegan diet as it contains all essential amino acids that the body can’t produce so is a complete protein.

It’s not vital that every food contains all essential amino acids as you can get them all by eating a variety of plant-based foods, just handy to know that quinoa has them all.

The tapioca starch this helps tip to give the cashew cheese that stringy mozzarella type texture. Tapioca starch is a key ingredient that can’t be substituted if you want gooey vegan cheese.

This cashew mozzarella cheese has a mild creamy taste and is stringy and gooey. Tapioca starch is a bit of a nutrient void ingredient – it’s just there for the texture.

To give this vegan pizza more flavour double the nutritional yeast, or add yeast extract or miso. It tastes similar to how I remember mozzarella tasting – gooey and stringy but with a very mild creamy taste.

Nutritional yeast is a vegan condiment made from dried inactive yeast. It has a cheesy nutty taste and is naturally high in b vitamins, although not b12 unless it’s been specifically added (some brands have added b12).

Nutritional yeast is an important ingredient in vegan cheese recipes to give the cheesy nutty taste. It can be replaced with yeast extract if you don’t have any. The recipe still works without nutritional yeast but lacks a cheesy umami taste.

Yield: 1 pizza Quinoa Crust Cashew Cheese Pizza Print Quick and easy recipe for a quinoa crust pizza that is topped with melted cashew mozzarella. The quina base is naturally gluten free and cashew cheese tastes amazing without any dairy or unhealthy oils. Prep Time 15 minutes Cook Time 45 minutes Total Time 1 hour Ingredients QUINOA CRUST PIZZA INGREDIENTS ¾ cup / 135 g quinoa

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp baking powder

3/4 cup / 175 ml water CASHEW MOZZARELLA CHEESE INGREDIENTS 1/3 cup / 50 g cashews

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 clove garlic

1 cup / 240 ml water

pinch of salt

2 tbsp tapioca starch PIZZA TOPPING INGREDIENTS Use any that you like, this is just a guide

6 tbsp sieved tomatoes/tomato paste

basil leaves Instructions Soak the quinoa for 15 mins or overnight. Rinse and drain the quinoa then put in a blender jug with all the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Line an 8″ pan with greaseproof paper or just use a silicon pan and pour in the quinoa batter. Bake the pizza batter 30-35 mins and 375 F / 190 C, until a knife comes out clean. Let the quinoa pizza base stand for 5 mins and then take out of the pan. Bake pizza base for 10 mins on no tray at 375 F / 190 C, just to make it crispy on both sides. Put all of the cashew mozzarella ingredients apart from the tapioca starch into a blender and blend until smooth. Empty the mozzarella mixture into a pan and sift in the tapioca starch. Heat gently while stirring constantly to stop the bottom from burning. It’s ready when it’s thick and gooey and rolls off the spoon slowly. Spread the tomato sauce or passatta over the base, then blob on the cashew mozzarella and sprinkle with basil leaves. Notes You can place the quinoa pizza back in the oven after topping with the cashew cheese, I usually don't but some people like the cashew cheese a bit browned. Recommended Products Links maybe affiliated, meaning I earn a commission from purchases but at no extra cost to yourself. Nest and Glow Recipe Book

Nutritional Yeast Nutrition Information Yield 6 slices Serving Size 1

Amount Per Serving Calories 142 Total Fat 7g Saturated Fat 1g Trans Fat 0g Unsaturated Fat 5g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 329mg Carbohydrates 17g Net Carbohydrates 0g Fiber 2g Sugar 1g Sugar Alcohols 0g Protein 5g