Vegan Spicy Mushroom Pizza
If you’re craving a spicy, cheesy pizza with all of the veggies and none of the animal products, this recipe is for you! My favorite of the vegan cheeses, Violife parmesan and Follow Your Heart mozzarella, come together with Frank’s spiced marinara and many veggies to make for a delicious indulgent dinner inspired by one of my favorite, non-vegan restaurant pizzas I’ve ever had!
Can love of pizza overpower loss of love?
I love pizza, I love to cook, and I love to write. I love this blog SO much, in fact, that I managed to convince myself in the span of a half hour to reach out to my estranged ex, who I have not been in touch with in almost a year and a half. What brought me to such an insane measure for something I haven’t even made a dime from, you ask? Well, let me tell you.
As I have mentioned in previous articles, I am a carbaholic — always have been, probably always will be. Naturally, pizza has been one of my favorite foods since day one — even before day one, in the womb. Obviously, then, pizza has always held a special place in my heart. A more special place, even, than my first love who broke my heart.
Okay, no.
Still though, I found it worth it to reach out to him because I knew he had photos of a specific memory we had together, tied to the inspiration for this recipe.
I loved my local pizza shop, Pizza Casbah, before Mikey came into the picture. But after several of our drunken nights playing poker at the pool hall around the corner, we would make a stop for a classic huge pizza slice at Pizza Casbah. Against Mikey’s recommendation, I would often top off the meal with yet another beer.
One night, I was flying high, likely from a particularly riveting poker match and one or three too many beers. Mikey and another friend of ours deemed it worthwhile to stop for pizza to help soak up some of the excess alcohol and energy.
As we sat down to enjoy the meal, I began sipping some water from a paper cup, directed I’m sure by the guys who were understandably concerned for my well-being. The focus, however, soon shifted to my lipstick that was rubbing off onto the cup. Encouraged, I proceeded to press the cup to my lips and rotate it a full 360 degrees.
We left the restaurant just before my smack-talking against the employees reached an unforgivable threshold. As I was in an excellent mood, I have no idea why I was dishing insults in the first place — especially to someone who just served me pizza — but that’s alcohol!
It was a somewhat regular trend to start the poker night looking glamorous with my chosen lipstick, and to end it as a drunken clown, but this was the only night it was actually documented. So, I had to risk the resurrection of difficult feelings for the mems. Fortunately, it paid off — my ex sent the pics and my heart remained intact. (OR has it been irreparably severed this whole time? Ha ha… ha).
Circling back to the main point — the recipe. As you may have guessed somewhere through this winding story, the spicy mushroom pizza was my go-to at Pizza Casbah. I never tried any other pizza other than pepperoni and cheese, and now I never will since I’m vegan!
I was very pleased in creating this recipe that it immediately smelled just like the spicy mushroom pizza I know and love, and unsurprisingly, the taste was even better. I used the cauliflower crust from Trader Joe’s that I am a big fan of, and unlike my experience with the first pizza I created, I got this one perfect on the first try! The vegan cheese even melted beautifully.
As a diehard pizza fan, I approve of this recipe. I am excited to make it again, and I assure you there is no need to get wasted to enjoy it (though who am I to judge). Should you give it a try, please give me a rating and review to let me know what you think — your feedback is so helpful to me as a new blogger!
Vegan Spicy Mushroom Pizza
Equipment
- Small or medium bowl
- Large sheet pan
Ingredients
- ½ cup marinara sauce
- ¼ cup Franks red hot sauce
- ½ cup Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella shredded from block
- ½ cup Violife vegan parmesan shredded from block
- 1 Trader Joe's cauliflower pizza crust*
- ½ cup sliced crimini mushrooms
- ⅛ cup grape tomatoes sliced thin
- 2 tbsp diced red onion
- 10 pieces Yves vegan pepperoni omit to make gluten free
- 1-2 garlic cloves minced
- Dried oregano to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F with oven rack placed in the top third of the oven. Mix marinara and hot sauce together, then shred and measure cheese until each yield ½ cup.
- Bake the pizza crust on a large sheet pan for 10 minutes on one side, then 10 minutes on the other, as instructed on package. As it is cooking, slice mushrooms, tomatoes, and red onion.
- Once crust has cooked for 10 minutes per side, set oven to broil and cook 4 minutes more. Remove pizza from oven and spread sauce evenly across the surface with a spoon or rubber spatula. You will likely have a little bit of sauce leftover.
- Spread cheese evenly on top of sauce. Evenly distribute the mushrooms, tomatoes, red onion, and vegan pepperoni. Place back in oven to broil for 4 more minutes.
- As pizza broils, mince the garlic cloves. Remove pizza once done, topping with minced garlic and dried oregano to taste. Enjoy!