Red sauce based pizza topped with vegan mozzarella, plant-based chicken(chopped soy curls could substitute nicely) sautéed then tossed in premade vegan pesto from Trader Joe's(vegan pesto recipe included below if preferred) and vegan parmesan, red onions and marinated cherry tomatoes makes for a lovely pizza to enjoy on the patio. I baked it to perfection in a cast iron skillet, but a roasting pan or pizza pan or can be used too.
INGREDIENTS
Premade pizza dough or homemade pizza dough
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
4 oz plant-based chicken, chopped
1/3 cup vegan pesto(Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup vegan parmesan cheese, shredded
2/3 cup pizza sauce(Dei Fratelli's)
7 oz vegan mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 Red onion slices
DIRECTIONS
1. Add 1 to 2 Tbsp oil to a 12" cast iron skillet. Form a ball with the pizza dough then place into skillet and turn over to coat evenly with oil. Press dough flattening it slightly. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let dough sit at room temperature for 2+ hours to rise. I heat my oven to 170°F then turn it off before placing skillet with dough in oven to rise.
2. Place cherry tomatoes in a bowl. Stir in 1 tsp olive oil, Italian seasonings and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tsp oil, cook plant-based chicken until lightly browned, approximately 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat then stir in pesto and vegan parmesan cheese. Set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 500°F. Press dough around skillet until it fills in every corner, popping any large bubbles that appear. Lift edge of the dough to let any air bubbles underneath escape, then repeat until there are no air bubbles left and dough is evenly spread around the pan.
5. Spread sauce over dough all the way to the edge, no need to leave any untopped dough, followed by vegan mozzerella cheese. Sprinkle pesto chicken over cheese then top with red onion slices and seasoned tomatoes. Sprinkle with sea salt.
6. Bake 15-16 minutes. Let stand in skillet for a few minutes before slicing. Serve with additional vegan parmesan cheese if desired.
(Vegan Pesto)
1 cup packed cups fresh basil leaves
3 Tbsp pine nuts
1 large clove garlic, peeled
1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese, shredded
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Prepare pesto by placing basil leaves and pine nuts into a mini food processor and pulse several times. Add garlic and vegan parmesan and pulse several times more scraping down the sides with a spatula. Add the olive oil and process until emulsified. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper then pulse until combined.