Well, back in the day when I was slingin’ pizzas at Whole Foods, we made a special Vegetable Pizza using hummus as a replacement for the sauce and cheese.
Everyone loves pizza! I know it sounds weird, but hummus on a pizza?
We didn’t really ever get any requests for this pizza but we made it a few times just for fun. So, what was it like? GOOOOOOOOOOD!
The hummus just kind of works because it’s thick and rich like cheese and it’s almost as moist as a sauce. Not to mention, hummus has LOADS of flavor.
I guess you can just think about it like dipping some pita into hummus and then eating some roasted vegetables in the same bite. See? It does make sense.
Anyway, I made this pizza from scratch using dough and this hummus recipe.
So, it did take a while to make but I was able to make both the hummus and the roasted vegetables during the rise time for the dough. This is a great rainy summer day project.
If you don’t want to go through the trouble of making the dough, check with your local pizzeria to see if they sell raw dough balls. Also, check the frozen section of the grocery store.
Sometimes pizza dough balls are sold frozen. They just need to be thawed and stretched then they’re ready to go!
Vegetable Pizza Recipe:
Ingredients
| • 1 recipe pizza dough |
| • ½ recipe hummus (any flavor) |
| • 1 small zucchini |
| • 1 small summer squash |
| • 1 medium portabello mushroom cap |
| • ½ small red onion |
| • ⅓ of 12 oz. jar roasted red peppers |
| • 2 Tbsp olive oil |
| • to taste salt and pepper |
| • ½ tsp crushed red pepper (optional) |
| • 1 Tbsp cornmeal |
Instructions
- Prepare and knead the pizza dough. Place the ball of dough in a bowl, loosely covered, in a warm place to rise for one hour.
- While the pizza dough is rising, make the hummus. Add enough liquid to the hummus so that it is easily spreadable with a spoon. Keep the hummus refrigerated until ready to use.
- Wash the vegetables to remove debris. Slice the squash and onion into half-inch thick pieces. Place the squash in a bowl and drizzle with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Preheat a countertop grill and then grill the squash for about 5 minutes. Wipe excess oil out of the bowl the portabello cap and onion pieces. Grill them in the same manner as the squash. After the vegetables are grilled, cut them into bite-sized pieces. Also, cut one of the roasted red peppers from the jar into strips.
- Once the dough has risen to about double its original size (about one hour), begin to preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Prepare a pizza pan with non-stick spray and a generous sprinkle of cornmeal.
- Punch the dough down and, using floured hands, stretch it into a 16-inch circle. Using the back of a spoon, spread about half of the batch of hummus over top of the dough. Top with the grilled vegetables.
- Bake the pizza for 20-25 minutes or until the outside edges of the crust are golden brown. Cut into 8 pieces and enjoy!