Recipe: Quinoa Pizza Crust

I mentioned this pizza crust on Twitter the other day after I made it because I was SO excited to discover a quinoa crust that was actually crispy. In the past, I’ve found recipes that make really spongy crust–and that’s cool if that’s what you like but I love the traditional New York style pizza with the thin crust.

The pizza I made was dairy free–so NO cheese! However, the recipe allows you to be creative and use whatever you want to make a delicious meal.

For starters, you need quinoa. I purchased mine from a local health food store so keep yours eyes open while you are shopping.

If you haven’t used quinoa before, here is some basic information on the food for you:
• naturally gluten-free
• contains iron, B-vitamins, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, vitamin E & fiber
• considered a complete protein
• comprised of amino acids

The recipe calls for you to soak the quinoa for eight hours in water–but I only soaked mine for about an hour and loved my results.

Directions:
1. Place the uncooked quinoa (3/4 of a cup) in a small bowl and cover it completely with water. Let it soak for eight hours (or whatever you prefer–I didn’t follow this second part).
2. Drain and rinse your quinoa (this apparently prevents any bitterness in the crust).
3. Place the quinoa, 1/4 cup of water and 1 tsp. of baking powder in a food processor (I used a Magic Bullet) and process until smooth. I will note that I added more water to the mixture–probably an additional 1/4 cup since I thought the mixture was too thick.
4. Line a pan with parchment paper (the directions also recommend spraying the pan with cooking spray but I did not follow that step) and pour your batter onto the pan and smooth it out.
5. Bake the crust at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
6. Remove the crust from the over and flip it. Then place it back in the oven for an addition 5-10 minutes (I only put mine back in for 5).
7. Remove your crust from the oven and add your toppings. Return it to the oven to melt your cheese. When your cheese is melted, you’re golden! Enjoy.

For anyone who may be having trouble identifying all of the different things that I used on my pizza here is a list:
• brown rice
• chicken
• sautéed onions
• sautéed mushrooms
• alfalfa sprouts
• garlic
• tomato sauce
• sliced cherry tomatoes
• fresh basil

I relate the taste of the crust that I made to a hard taco shell. So if you enjoy tacos–kinda like a pizza and taco all in one, right?! 😉

In the end, this is much lower calorie wise (maybe around 200-ish for the crust) than pizza so I hope you enjoy it. Let me know how your crust turns out and please share any tips that you may have so we can all better our recipe!

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