Vegan Pizza Carbonara

 

Vegan Pizza Carbonara

This vegan pizza with white sauce is rich, creamy, and easy to make!  Everyone who has tried it has fallen in love...'nuff said!

Total time: 30 minutes (excluding making pizza dough)

Serves: makes 3 pizzas (enough for five, I'd say)

Ingredients

Pizza dough for three pizzas (I recommend using a light brown flour dough, for added nutty flavour)

Sauce:

1 cup (120g) cashews, boiled for 20 minutes

1 cup (240ml) almond milk (more if needed to blend smoothly)

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

7 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/8 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Toppings:

2 blocks of smoked tofu, cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) pieces

1 red onion, sliced

2 bell peppers, sliced

2 large handfuls fresh spinach, diced

Olive oil for frying 

Cashew parmesan or similar - to top the pizza with (I use this recipe from the Minimalist Baker)

First, fry the tofu until crispy and browned on all sides.  Next, fry the onion until it begins to caramelise - add the bell peppers and cook for another minute or two, just until the peppers soften and lose some moisture.  Set aside.

Drain and rinse the cashews, and blend all the sauce ingredients together until smooth.  You should end up with a spreadable, thick, and creamy sauce.  Taste it for seasoning and add more salt/pepper/garlic as needed.

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F.  Pre-bake your pizza dough if you like it really crunchy (for about 10 minutes).  

Roll out the pizza dough into three pizzas, and spread 1/3 of the sauce mixture on each.  Top with the tofu and veggies, and dust the whole thing with cashew parmesan.  If you have an oil spritzer, spritz the top with olive oil (this step is optional, don't worry).

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the dough is firm and browned and the top of the pizza is lightly brown and sizzling.