This vegan caprese pizza is a dream come true. Crisp and bubbly pizza crust is topped with zesty garlic, tomatoes, homemade cashew mozzarella, balsamic reduction, and lots of fresh basil. This pizza comes together in a little over 30 minutes and makes for a satisfyingly quick vegan weeknight meal. I love how the freshness of the tomatoes, basil, and garlic pop off the savoriness of the cashew mozzarella and the sweetness of the balsamic reduction.
This post is sponsored by Alessi. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Crisp, bubbly pizza crust.
Zesty scatterings of minced garlic.
Mounds of gooey cashew mozzarella.
Thinly sliced vine-ripened tomatoes.
Drizzles of tangy balsamic reduction.
Threads of fresh and lively basil.
Put it all together, and you’ve got yourself one fine vegan caprese pizza.
This vegan caprese pizza comes together in a little over 30 minutes and requires just a small handful of ingredients.
To make it, you’ll start by rolling one pound of pizza dough (homemade or store-bought works great) into a thin, 15-inch circle. Slide it onto a lined pizza pan and bake for about 7 minutes, or until the bottom of the crust just begins to set.
While the crust bakes, you’ll get to work on the homemade cashew mozzarella.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Homemade cheese?!
But before you go running the other direction, hear me out. This vegan cashew mozzarella requires just six ingredients (and that’s including water and sea salt). You may have seen it before (either in my cookbook, here, or here).
To make it, you’ll simply blend together filtered water, raw cashews, nutritional yeast, arrowroot starch/powder/flour (all the same), apple cider vinegar, and sea salt. Then, pour the mixture into a saucepan and whisk over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it begins to thicken.
That’s it. It takes all of 10 minutes to make and serves as a tasty, approachable homemade stand-in for dairy-based mozzarella.
Next, remove the par-baked pizza crust from the oven and slather it with a bit of olive oil. Then, sprinkle with minced garlic, dot with the cashew mozzarella, and top with sliced Roma tomatoes.
Pop the topped pizza back in the oven for another 12 minutes or so.
Once the crust is baked to desired doneness, remove the pizza and allow it to cool for a few minutes.
Then, drizzle to taste with Alessi Balsamic Reduction and top with lots of fresh basil.
For the photos, I used Alessi’s traditional balsamic reduction, but their white balsamic reduction also works great on this pizza.
Both lend a subtle tang and caramelized sweetness to the pizza, enhancing its depth of flavor and complementing the acidity of the tomatoes and zippiness of the garlic.
Once you’ve finished topping, drizzling, etc., slice the pizza however you please and serve.
I love how the freshness of the tomatoes, basil, and garlic pop off the savoriness of the cashew mozzarella and the sweetness of the balsamic reduction. Add to that the fact that this pizza comes together in about 35 minutes flat, and you’ve got yourself the makings of an approachable, flavor-packed weeknight meal.
VEGAN CAPRESE PIZZA
Ingredients
- 1 pound multigrain pizza dough (allow it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling)
- ⅔ cup filtered water
- ½ cup raw cashews*
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, plus more for seasoning
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced (to taste)
- 2 to 3 ripe Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
- Alessi Balsamic Reduction or Alessi White Balsamic Reduction
- Handful fresh basil leaves, very thinly sliced
- Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Line a round, vented pizza pan with parchment paper.
- Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour, and roll the pizza dough out into a 15-inch circle. Transfer to the lined pizza pan and bake for 7 minutes, or until the bottom is just beginning to set.
- While the pizza bakes, prepare the cashew mozzarella by adding the filtered water, cashews, nutritional yeast, arrowroot powder, apple cider vinegar, and sea salt to a high-speed blender. Blend on high for 2 minutes, or until completely smooth. Pour the mixture into a saucepan. Turn the heat on medium and whisk constantly for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it just begins to thicken. Do not overheat. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Brush the top of the par-baked pizza dough with the olive oil and sprinkle with the garlic. Use a tablespoon to drop spoonfuls of the cashew mozzarella across the surface of the pizza. Top with the sliced tomatoes.
- Return the pizza to the oven and bake for another 8 to 14 minutes, or until desired doneness is reached.
- Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Generously drizzle with the Alessi Balsamic Reduction and sprinkle with the fresh basil. If desired, season with sea salt and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
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I am so excited for this recipe! I made a pizza dough last night and was not sure what kind of pizza I was going to make tonight – well now I know and I can’t wait :) Thank you!!
Ohh this cheese sounds AMAZING! I’m all about homemade pizza, so this is right up my alley :)
Oh my gosh, this pizza looks so insanely delicious, Ashley!! I would probably eat the whole thing in one sitting ;)
This pizza look delicious! I wasn’t aware that the Allessi brand had a balsamic reduction. I will put that on my grocery list for sure. Love the flavor of balsamic! Thank you for sharing!
Seriously obsessed with balsamic reduction- can’t think of a better way to enjoy it than on that cashew mozz! ommggg yum!
Beautiful! Vegan mozz is so delicious and I love have quick and easy it is to make. Just ordered your cookbook, btw =)
This looks beautiful! I’m currently au pairing for two very picky (non-vegan) kids and I’ve been trying to find a meal I can cook for all of us to enjoy! Will have to give this a go!
I can’t wait to make this!
This was really easy to make and was such a great dinner for a Friday night! The vegan mozz was delicious and definitely filled the void of cheese. Mine wasn’t as white though and pretty much blended in with the crust color- did I do something wrong?! The consistency was also a little closer to ricotta than mozzarella… Nonetheless, I’ll be making tho again!
So glad you enjoyed it, Christina! It’s possible that either you didn’t blend the mozzarella mixture long enough or you overcooked it/overheated it in the pan (or both). Next time, try blending longer (or with greater force) and lean towards under-thickening when you’re heating it in the saucepan. Enjoy!
I tried this last night. It wasn’t bad, but the cashew cheese was a little weird for me. More like ricotta, and it was yellow because of the yeast. I think I would’ve preferred it more spread out instead of dropped on to the crust. I did use flour instead of arrowroot, so maybe that’s why.
Hi, Meghan! I’m so sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy the cheese. Unfortunately, flour doesn’t work as a substitute for arrowroot in this recipe and will yield a “cheese” with a curdled, ricotta-like texture as you described. Just fyi, if you decide to give it another try in the future, cornstarch works as a substitute for arrowroot (slightly different texture but thickens in a similar fashion).
Thanks so much for this awesome idea. Please advise whether I could use almonds instead of cashews for this ‘cheese’. Thanks so much.
Hi, Sylvia! You can use almonds for the cheese, just be sure to soak them overnight and know that this swap will affect the texture (not as smooth as cashews). Enjoy!
Awesome Ashley! Thank-you so very much!
You’re welcome! :)
I make this during the summer using fresh basil and tomatoes from my garden. It’s one of our favorite Vegan pizzas!
Oh this is so nice to hear, Patricia! Thank you for taking the time to share. So glad you’re enjoying the recipe. :)
This sounds really good! Would using tapioca starch instead of arrowroot change the cashew mozz drastically?
Hi, Sara! So glad you enjoyed it. Tapioca starch should work just fine, but will yield a slightly tackier/gummier texture than arrowroot.
Our daughter has decided to “go vegan”, and I was excited to find this recipe of her favorite pizza! Yum!
How exciting! Please send my best wishes to your daughter. Happy to hear you all enjoyed the recipe, and thanks for taking the time to let me know. :)
Made this last night – absolutely delicious, thank you!
My only question is: I feel like pizza gets a lot of its flavour, texture and looks from baking it very quickly at super high temp. I followed your instructions for baking this one, and was missing some of that slightly charred and intense pizza flavour. Is there a reason for baking it this way? Does the vegan cheese maybe not work well with high temperatures?
Btw, I did not have arrowroot at home and used tapioca instead, which worked fine. Definitely a great addition to the recipe collection, thanks so much!
Happy to hear you enjoyed it, Konstantin! Yes, the reason for baking at a lower temperature is to protect the arrowroot in the cheese. Arrowroot can lose its thickening power when over-heated. Having said this, it’s possible that tapioca would fare better. The other option would be to bake the crust at a higher temperature, add toppings except for cheese, continue to bake at high temp and then add the cheese and continue to bake for just another couple of minutes to thicken.
I should say it also depends on the type of crust you make/use as not all are designed for super high heat. Hope this helps clarify!
Sounds delicious, thanks for getting back to me!
My pleasure, Konstantin! :)
Hi Ashley,
looks really nice and I just so happen to have a yeast dough in the fridge ;) I’d like to try this but I’m confused about the yield.. is 1 pizza equal to 1 serving? Or does one pizza mean 3 servings?
Hi, Daniel! My apologies for the delay in getting back to you. One pizza is enough to serve about 3 people, give or take a person depending on appetite. I’ll clarify in the recipe as, agree, it’s a bit confusing! Thanks for pointing this out.
I would love to try this recipe. But I would need to make the cheese beforehand. Is that possible? Would there be something I need to change in in the preparation?
Hi, Robyn! The cheese is best made fresh, but if you need to prepare it partially beforehand, you can blend everything but hold off on thickening it until just before you add it to the pizza. I hope this helps! Enjoy.
Hi, Ashley, I just came across this recipe and I can’t wait to make it! I’m especially curious about the vegan mozzarella. I was wondering whether it’s possible to use sunflower seeds instead of cashews? I’ve heard of people making cheese substitutes out of them. I was wondering whether you know anything about it.
Hi, Maja! Great question. I haven’t made this particular cheese using sunflower seeds, but I think it would work. I know for certain that it works using shelled hemp seeds (hemp hearts). The only thing to be mindful of with sunflower seeds is that they’ll impart a slightly earthier flavor to the cheese. Hope this helps. Would love to know how it goes if you give it a try!