Garlic Pizza Recipe
It’s “cauliflower pizza,” but not in the way you think. Instead of making a complicated crust out of cauliflower, we’re using it as a topping for this Roasted Garlic Pizza recipe.
Roasted Garlic Pizza
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but my husband and I try to eat at least a couple of vegetarian dinners each week. One of the easiest and best ways I’ve found to make this happen is with PIZZA.
I mean seriously, everybody loves pizza, and given the right toppings, nobody will miss the meat at all.
Also, any veggie pizza is automatically 500% less greasy than a pie with pepperoni on it, so you won’t be doing the old blot-this-awkwardly-with-a-napkin-before-I-eat-it trick.
Why You’ll Love this Cauliflower Pizza with Garlic
- The savory sweetness of roasted cauliflower pairs perfectly with the rich, aromatic roasted garlic, creating a flavor profile that is both satisfying and unexpected.
- Incorporating cauliflower as a topping adds a nutritious boost to pizza night.
Garlic Pizza Ingredients
- cauliflower – the star of this pizza, but we’re not making it into crust, we’re using it as a pizza topping.
- olive oil – for roasting the garlic
- salt and pepper – for seasoning the cauliflower so it’s as tasty as it can be.
- garlic – we’ll be roasting an entire head of garlic for this pizza!
- pizza dough – buy a 1 pound ball of store-bought dough or use my recipe for homemade pizza dough.
- cream cheese – this acts as the creamy and flavorful base sauce for the top of the pizza.
- Roma tomatoes – these add juiciness to the pizza.
- Parmesan cheese – provides a salty and nutty flavor, and contributes to the cheesy goodness of this roasted garlic pizza.
- chives – add a subtle onion flavor and pop of color as a finishing touch.
How to Make Homemade Garlic Pizza
- ROAST CAULI + GARLIC. Place the cauliflower on a baking pan and toss with oil, salt and pepper. On the same pan, place the bulb of garlic, drizzled with oil and wrapped in foil.
- PULL CAULI, FINISH GARLIC. After about 50 minutes, the cauliflower will be very brown and done. Transfer it to a bowl, but then return the garlic to to the oven for about 10 more minutes until it is dark brown and very soft.
- CRUST. Place a pizza stone in the oven to preheat, then stretch your pizza dough in a large circle. Spray the stone with nonstick cooking spray then place the dough round on the stone and bake 6 minutes.
- SQUEEZE. While the crust bakes, squeeze the garlic from its cloves and mash it into the cream cheese with a fork.
- TOP. Remove the crust from the oven and spread it with the cream cheese mixture. Then, top it with the cauliflower, tomatoes, cheese and chives. Bake 8 minutes longer or until the crust is cooked through.
How to Make Pizza with Roasted Garlic ahead of time (optional)
Many elements of this pizza can be made ahead of time, making assembly quicker when it’s time to eat:
- The cauliflower and the garlic can be roasted up to 3 days in advance. Squeeze the garlic from it’s cloves while it’s still warm and refrigerate in a covered container.
- The garlic cream cheese can be made a day in advance.
Garlic Pizza Recipe Substitutions
- You can use shredded mozzarella in place of the Parmesan, or experiment with any type of cheese that you like.
- Instead of chives, feel free to use another type of herb like basil or oregano.
- Add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes to spice things up.
Garlic Pizza Home Chef Tips
- If you have a pizza stone, you’ll want to preheat your oven with the empty pizza stone IN it, so the stone gets nice and hot and you get the crispiest crust.
- Allow the pizza to rest for a minute or two after baking to allow the flavors to meld before slicing and serving.
How to Store Homemade Garlic Pizza
Store leftover pizza slices in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave.
Cauliflower Pizza with Roasted Garlic FAQs
How do you cut garlic for pizza?
While thinly sliced garlic is great as a pizza topping, in this case, we are roasting a whole head of garlic and then mashing the roasted cloves into cream cheese to make a “sauce.”
Cauliflower Pizza with Garlic
It’s “cauliflower pizza,” but not in the way you think. Instead of making a complicated crust out of cauliflower, we’re using it as a topping for this Roasted Garlic Pizza recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower florets separated and thinly sliced
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 head garlic top of bulb trimmed off until tops of cloves are exposed
- 1 ball 1 pound of homemade pizza dough, or store-bought
- Nonstick cooking spray
- ½ cup cream cheese
- 2 Roma tomatoes sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place cauliflower on rimmed baking pan. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place garlic on piece of foil; drizzle with a small amount of oil and tightly wrap foil around bulb. Place garlic on same pan as cauliflower.
- Roast cauliflower until very brown, about 50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer cauliflower to bowl, then return pan with garlic to oven. Roast garlic until it is dark golden brown and very soft, about 10 minutes longer. Let garlic stand for 5 minutes or until cool enough to touch.
- Place pizza stone in oven (leave at 400 degrees F).
- Toss and stretch pizza dough into a 14-inch circle. Once oven is preheated, carefully remove pizza stone from oven and spray with cooking spray. Carefully place dough on stone. Transfer to oven and bake 6 minutes.
- Meanwhile, squeeze garlic from it’s cloves into a small bowl. Add cream cheese and mash together with a fork.
- Remove crust from oven. Spread with cream cheese mixture, then top with cauliflower, tomatoes, cheese and chives. Bake 8 minutes longer, or until crust is cooked through and toppings are hot.
Did you make this recipe?Leave a Review below or share a photo and tag me on Instagram @foxeslovelemons with the hashtag #foxeslovelemons.
Hi, I wanted to try cauliflower on pizza and luckily i landed on your page first. it was exactly what i wanted. My family loved it and i made it following your tips and ideas exactly. My only addition was that i made a homemade sourdough pizza crust. I never made that b4 either so I hit 2 birds with one stone. Anyway, thanks for the great recipe.
I’m so glad to hear this was a hit for your family, Joanne. Love the idea of sourdough pizza crust!
Sounds delish. I must try this. Thanks.
This is just heaven on a plate! I love love love roasted cauliflower but never tried it on pizza before… It looks amazing, thanks for the idea!
Thanks so much, Sara! Roasted cauliflower is underrated, for sure. I don’t know why more people don’t love it like we do 🙂