A classic vegan margherita pizza with creamy cashew mozzarella on an easy 4 ingredient sweet potato pizza crust. Delicious and simple to make!
4 ingredient sweet potato pizza crust
This healthy sweet potato pizza crust is perfect if you want to add extra vegetables in your diet or simply don't want to wait for pizza dough (made with yeast) to rise! It's vegan, gluten-free, high protein, paleo and grain-free.
You only need mashed sweet potatoes, chickpea flour, ground flax/chia seeds and baking powder to make this thin pizza base. As this is an eggless pizza base, the ground flax/chia seeds help bind the ingredients whereas the baking powder gives it a little rise.
As always, ingredient amounts are in the grey recipe box at the bottom of this post.
How to make the crust
To make the sweet potato pizza crust, simply add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste, although the chickpea flour tastes very different once it's cooked. There's no kneading and no waiting time!
The batter should be like a very thick paste. If it's too thin, simply add a little more chickpea flour. If it's too thick, add a teaspoon of water at a time and mix until needed. From experience, the thicker the batter, the better!
There are 2 ways to shape the sweet potato pizza crust before your Margherita toppings.
First, you can use a spoon to spread the batter on a lined baking sheet or pizza stone. It's a very thick and sticky batter that may stick to your spoon. However, keep persisting and if needed, you can dip your clean spoon in water to prevent sticking!
Alternatively, you can place another piece of baking paper (or parchment paper) on top and flatten the pizza with a rolling pin. Slowly and carefully peel away the top piece of baking paper and you'll have a pizza crust!
I spread my pizza crust so it was about 5mm thick. It puffs up a little in the oven to create a perfectly thin pizza crust!
I found that just 10 minutes in the oven was enough to pre-bake the crust. We're going to bake it a little more with the vegan Margherita pizza toppings so we don't want to pre-bake it for too long.
How to make a vegan margherita pizza
The toppings for any Margherita pizza are simple. However, to make it vegan and dairy-free, you can either make your own cashew mozzarella sauce or use store-bought vegan mozzarella cheese or vegan pizza cheese.
I made my own soy-free cashew mozzarella sauce using raw cashews, dairy-free milk (or vegetable stock), nutritional yeast and a few other condiments/spices. I simply blended all ingredients in a blender until smooth. The result is a umami-packed creamy cheese sauce!
Recipe ingredients and ratios are at the bottom of this post.
Assembling the easy pizza
Now that you have a par-baked pizza crust, simply spread the tomato pasta sauce on top. When making pizza, I always spread the sauce very close to the edge so I can add more toppings!
Then top the pizza with sliced tomato and dollop your cashew mozzarella sauce on top. It's a thick cashew sauce so dolloping or adding spoonfuls of the sauce is the best way to use it!
I baked my pizza in the oven for another 10-15 minutes which was enough time to bake the tomatoes and cheese. We don't want to bake the pizza for too long as it'll dry out the base!
If you'd like to brown the surface of your mozzarella, you can also place your pizza under your grill or broiler for just 5 minutes.
Customising the pizza
Alternate toppings for the sweet potato pizza crust include:
- Veggie Supreme including pre roasted capsicum, zuchinni, eggplant, mushrooms, olives etc. You can also top it with vegan pepperoni, just like Amy's Kitchen Vegan Supreme Pizza!
- Hawaiian including vegan ham, pineapple and dairy free cheese.
- 'Meat Lovers' including all the vegan mock meat and vegan cheese you can find!
Alternate pizza crusts with the vegan Margherita pizza toppings include:
- Pumpkin pizza crust where you substitute mashed pumpkin for the mashed sweet potato in the recipe
- Classic yeast pizza crust. You can use my basic yeast pizza base from my fig pizza recipe but bake the pizza on a baking tray or pizza stone rather than in a casserole dish.
- Healthier yeast pizza crust using buckwheat flour.
More vegan comfort food
Vegan Margherita Pizza with Sweet Potato Crust
Ingredients
Pizza base
- 2 cups (400g) sweet potato puree
- 2 cups (170g) chickpea flour
- 1 tbsp ground chia or flax seeds
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Dried basil, oregano and herbs, to taste
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Mozzarella cashew cheese sauce (or store-bought vegan mozzarella style cheese)
- ⅔ cup (85g) raw cashews, soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes then drained
- ½ cup (120g) dairy-free milk, or vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp onion powder, or garlic powder
- ½ tsp white miso paste, optional but adds umami flavour
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Pizza tomato sauce (or use store-bought)
- ¼ cup (55g) tomato paste
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp onion powder, or garlic powder
Toppings
- 2 medium size tomatoes, sliced
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves
- Extra virgin olive oil, as desired
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Chilli flakes, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
To prepare the sweet potato pizza crust
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined. The mixture should be like a thick paste.
- On 2 lined baking trays, use a spoon to spread the mixture into 2 circles which are about 5mm thick. Alternatively, place another piece of baking paper on top. Use a rolling pin to flatten the pizza dough into a circle and gently remove the top sheet of baking paper (note 1).
- Bake the pizza bases in the oven for 7-10 mins or until the surface is dry to the touch.
To prepare the cheese sauce
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
To prepare the pizza sauce
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined. Set aside.
To assemble the vegan margherita pizza
- Spread the pizza sauce on the par baked bases. Top with the sliced tomato and dollop the cashew cream on top.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the tomato has softened. Place the pizza under a grill or broiler for another 5 minutes if you’d like to brown the surface and cashew mozzarella.
- Top the pizza with basil, olive oil, chilli flakes and season with salt and pepper. Enjoy immediately. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
- See the blog post above for images and extra tips for spreading or rolling out the pizza base.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in 2018 and updated in 2021.
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Marcelle says
Hi, Anthea! Thank you so much for this recipe! I’m planning on doing it tonight. I can’t easily find chickpea flour here in Brazil. Do you think I could substitute it with whole wheat flour or maybe the cooked chickpea itself? Thank you so much!!
All the love from Brazil!
Anthea says
Hi Marcelle! I don't think cooked chickpeas will work as they have a lot more moisture. Regular flour might work though! You may need to add a little more flour to get the right texture. Hope that helps!
Ruth says
The recipe looks fabulous. I make the typical crust with cauliflower but have never tried sweet potato so this looks marvelous!
Anthea says
Thanks so much Ruth! I looove sweet potato and pumpkin crusts as it adds a lovely sweet tone. Thanks for popping by xo