Vegan Roast Vegetable, Pesto and Cream Cheese Pizza Recipe

The most amazing dairy-free pizza, generously topped with roasted vegetables, dairy free cream cheese, pesto and fresh basil.

Pizza Dough from Scratch

I usually make my own pizza dough when I'm making a pizza from scratch, but I noticed my local supermarket have a fresh ready rolled pizza dough in their chilled section beside the pastry and decided to give it a go. 

Now I'm not saying I only ever make pizza from scratch, do any of us? 

Maybe if I was a stay at home mum. Nope, probably not even then. Each time I make pizza dough I think I should always make it fresh, but then reality kicks in.

I mostly buy chilled or frozen pizza for quick midweek meals and just pile them high with extra vegetables before cooking them and actually they are pretty good. Sometimes I make pizzas with puff pastry too. Not quite as good as this freshly roasted vegetable, pesto and cream cheese pizza, but pretty good for a quick meal. 

I was inspired to make pizza this week (on my day off I may add), as it was Italian week on The Great British Bake Off this week. 

That tempted me and reminded me of how long it has been since I made homemade pizza. 

Luckily I didn't have to muck about with a paddle and pizza stone, which was the downfall of a few of the bakers. 

Think toppings falling of the end and pizza dough crinkling up as you try to move the dough from the paddle onto the pizza stone. It wasn't pretty. I find a floured or polenta-covered baking tray or pizza tray does the job just fine.

I took the dough out of the fridge to come to room temperature while I roasted the vegetables. Let's face it roast vegetables taste better! It's an extra step, but fairly quick and well worth it.

TREX for baking and roasting

I used Trex to roast my vegetables instead of olive oil. You may have seen me use it last week in my magic chocolate pudding, which is a self-saucing chocolate pudding. It's true it's great for baking and gives a light finish and a good rise. I've also been told by several people it makes the lightest pastry ever. 

On this occasion I decided to use it to roast vegetables for my pizza as it is much lower in saturated fat than both butter and oil, which can only be a good thing. I added a few dabs across the vegetables, popped them in the oven and after a wee while gave them a shoogle about.

They came out great. Perfect for topping my pizza. I'm definitely going to keep a box of Trex in my fridge, especially as I am trying to watch my weight and each little change makes a difference.

While the vegetables were cooking and the dough was coming to room temperature I made some whizz bang pizza sauce in my blender. It's my go-to sauce and is made in minutes.  It's super tasty as well as fast.

I love lots of sauce so I was generous when I spread it across the dough. I topped the sauce laden dough with all the roasted vegetables, the tomatoes, a sprinkling of oregano and black pepper, some pesto, a few fresh basil leaves and dollops of dairy free cream cheese.

Cream cheese on pizza?

Yes, I've actually done this before and it works really well. It may not be the first thing you think of when making pizza but it gives you soft melted cheese a bit like mozzarella but without the stretch. 

I tried this originally when I was on the 5:2 Diet and looking for a low calorie version of pizza and was impressed how well it worked and how nice it was.

Graham and I loved this roast vegetable-packed pizza  (that's him grabbing a slice) and I'm sure you will too. 

Do give it a try and let me know what you think. Pesto and cream cheese will soon feature on most of your pizzas, once you've tried adding them. 

Let me know what you think once you've tried it.

Oh and also try my easy vegan pepperoni. You will love it!

Yield: 2Author: Jacqueline Meldrum

Vegan Roast Vegetable, Pesto and Cream Cheese Pizza

The most amazing dairy free pizza, generously topped with roasted vegetables, dairy free cream cheese, pesto and fresh basil.

prep time: 10 MINScook time: 35 MINStotal time: 45 mins

ingredients

• • 1 ready rolled pizza dough or fresh pizza dough
• • a generous amount of pizza sauce (fresh or jarred)
• • 1 tbsp Trex or olive oil
• • 1 aubergine (eggplant) sliced
• • 1 courgette (zucchini), sliced
• • 1 red pepper cut into chunks
• • 1 red onion, cut onto wedges
• • 5 cherry tomatoes, halved
• • 4 tbsp cream cheese (dairy free or regular)
• • 2 tbsp pesto (dairy free or regular)
• • 1 tsp dried oregano
• • a good grinding of black pepper
• • a few leaves of fresh basil

instructions

1. Heat oven to 240C/fan 220C /gas 8.
2. If you are using chilled pizza dough, pop it out of the box and onto a plate to come to room temperature.
3. Place your vegetables (all except the tomatoes) in a roasting tin and scatter over a few small blobs of Trex. If you are using oil, toss the vegetables in it.
4. While the vegetables are roasting whizz up some sauce. If you are using jarred sauce, you can skip this step. 
5. Turn the veg, being careful not to burn yourself.
6. Roll out the dough on a baking tray, top with sauce, the roasted vegetables, then the tomatoes.
7. Add a few dollops of cream cheese and dot some pesto across the pizza. Sprinkle some oregano across the pizza and a good grinding of black pepper. Finish with a few leaves of basil, then bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the crust is crisp and golden.
8. Tuck in and enjoy!

calories
484

fat (grams)
21

sat. fat (grams)
6.1

carbs (grams)
63

protein (grams)
11

sugar (grams)
20

Created using The Recipes Generator

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Disclosure: I created this recipe for Trex. I was not required to write a positive review and any of the opinions expressed are my own.