Vegan BBQ Chickpea Pizza in the house! Wap wap!!
Ok, we need to discuss pizza. Lately, there has been this boom of pizzerias offering vegan cheese for their pizzas, and this is wonderful news. However, I know there are a bunch of you out there that prefer to prepare their own dinners (at least I hope so), and I know there are a bunch of you that hate the vegan cheeses these shops use, and I also know there are a bunch of you out there that didn't even realize you can have your melty stretchy gooey pizza and eat it vegan too.
So let's see what we've got here.
- An epic pizza recipe that can easily be prepared at home in under 45 minutes. And when I say epic, I mean Vegan BBQ Chickpea Pizza epic. Did you see that picture? Epic, am I right!?
- A vegan pizza cheese that tastes totally bomb (and bonus points: doesn't even contain any oil)! It's melty, gooey, stretchy, and if you feel like being crafty, you can even tweak it to your own taste preferences.
- A pizza that is savoury, cheesy, spicy, smoky, and total comfort food bliss, but is also entirely, 100% vegan.
Are we excited yet? Yes, yes we are.
I am LOVING this combo of smoky BBQ chickpeas, with a zing of red onion, and slightly spicy banana peppers, on top of ooey gooey vegan mozzarella. Mmmm mmm!
Now, if you have a copy of Fuss-Free Vegan cookbook you can find recipes for many of the ingredients in this pizza if you would like to make them from scratch (but store-bought also works fine, I don't judge). My Favorite BBQ Sauce (page 209), Go-To Pizza Dough (page 211), Life Changing Mozzarella (page 200) -both mozzarella recipes work great here so whichever you prefer, and My Family Favourite Tomato Sauce (page 156).
To make Vegan BBQ Chickpea Pizza: in a small bowl mix together the chickpeas and BBQ sauce.
On a lightly floured surface, stretch the pizza dough until it fits the pizza pan. Spread the tomato sauce evenly across the pizza dough.
Pour the cheese on top of the tomato sauce, and use a spatula to spread it evenly.
When preparing the Melty Stretchy Gooey Vegan Mozzarella, make it according to the instructions but add in an extra ⅓ cup of water to the blender. When you cook the cheese, it will be less gooey than normal which will make it easier to spread on the pizza.
*I have a new recipe for grateable mozzarella so if you prefer, feel free to use the new recipe, both work great!
Top the pizza with red onion, banana peppers, and the BBQ chickpeas. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven then garnish by adding an extra drizzle of BBQ sauce across the pizza and sprinkling with cilantro.
Vegan BBQ Chickpea Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Melty Stretchy Gooey Vegan Mozzarella (see instructions below) *see notes
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 cup chickpeas
- ¼ cup vegan BBQ sauce (plus more for drizzling) *see notes
- 1 pizza dough *see notes (gluten-free if preferred)
- ½ cup tomato sauce *see notes
- ⅛ red onion, thinly sliced
- several slices hot banana peppers
- 1 handful cilantro, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425F (220C). Lightly grease a pizza pan.
- Prepare the Melty Stretchy Gooey Vegan Mozzarella according to the instructions but add in an extra ⅓ cup of water to the blender. When you cook the cheese, it will be less gooey than normal which will make it easier to spread on the pizza.
- In a small bowl mix together the chickpeas and BBQ sauce.
- On a lightly floured surface, stretch the pizza dough until it fits the pizza pan. Spread the tomato sauce evenly across the pizza dough. Pour the cheese on top of the tomato sauce, and use a spatula to spread it evenly. Top the pizza with red onion, banana peppers, and the BBQ chickpeas. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven then garnish by adding an extra drizzle of BBQ sauce across the pizza and sprinkling with cilantro.
Notes
Nutrition
Bon appetegan!
Sam.
Lois says
Hi Sam, I am an oil-free kind of gal and saute with water or broth. You use oil in the pizza crust and I wondered if I left out the oil from the crust would it be okay or do you suggest to use something to replace it. Thanks!
Daria says
Yes , it works with no oil just fine . I made it recently and it was perfect !!
Zabrascrap says
I didn't know what banana peppers were so I used red, yellow and green bell peppers, and used Sriracha sauce as I was out of BBQ sauce... I also used a store bought cauliflower pizza base... and added some mushrooms and tomato... My hubby and I loved it! The cheese was enough for both bases, and combined deliciously with the tomato sauce and topping flavors... Definitely a new favourite
Sam Turnbull says
Yay! So happy you loved it 🙂
Megan says
Sam.... This is seriously the best pizza and I don't even like BBQ. Even the meat eating husband went for seconds 🙂 Thank you for this recipe!
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! That's awesome, thrilled you enjoyed it so much, Megan!
Sofia says
Hi Sam! I am thinking of making your pizza but don't have the cookbook for the dough. How much dough would you recommend making? A recipe with around 3-4 cups of flour in it, perhaps? Or one of the bigger ones? Thanks!
Sofia says
Also, would it be ok to make the cheese in a food processor? I know you can usually make subs like that, but I want to make sure it doesn't come out gritty. My high-powered blender broke down and I would rather not wait! 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Sofia! My pizza dough recipe uses 2 1/2 cups of flour which makes 2 pizza doughs. Unfortunately, I don't think a food processor will work too well as I don't think it will be able to turn the cashews into a completely smooth creamy, and usually food processors don't work well with liquids. Hope that helps!
Suzy says
I've been looking for a vegan pizza that still felt and tasted "cheesy" and this fit the bill! Instead of tomato sauce, I smeared just a tad of bbq sauce on the crust first. My cheese didn't come out very gooey though, did I not cook it long enough? It spread fairly easily; I used my fingers to push it around toward the edges and I didn't add the extra 1/3 cup of water to the blender. I topped with shallots (out of red onions?!). I know I'll be making this again using the cheese but sure would like to find a way to get that mozzy stretch out of it! Thanks for this great recipe!
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Suzy, so happy you enjoyed it so much! I would definitely add the extra 1/3 cup of water which will not only help the cheese spread more but it will help it from drying out too much in the oven so it will hopefully maintain the stretchiness. Hope that helps!
Jaime says
This looks beyond amazing. When I was a meat eater BBQ chicken pizza was one of my favorites, so for me this is a must try!!
Sam Turnbull says
That's where I took the inspiration from! I hope you love this pizza, Jamie 😀
Wanda says
Hi Sam! Looking forward to trying this and several other pizza recipes you have, but I have one general question if I may. For the pizza dough recipe in your cookbook, page 211, and referred to in the recipes, it says it will make enough for 2 pizzas but doesn't say what SIZE of pizza. Could you please give us the diameter of the pizza dough that the recipe will make? Thanks sooooo much!
Sam Turnbull says
My pizza pan is 14 inches across, but you could make your pizza bigger or smaller depending on how thick or thin you like your crust 🙂