Easy, Delicious Vegan Dinner Idea : Vegan Pizza Toppings

Whether you're a vegan for health reasons, moral reasons, or for no reason at all, you might eventually get a hankering for some delicious pizza. If your closest grocery store is anything like mine, picking up a frozen vegan pizza is definitely not an option. Still, you want something other than red pizza sauce and a bunch of grilled veggies, don't ya? Satisfy your pizza craving with this delicious vegan dinner idea: BBQ Tofu & Mashed Potato Pizza. Wait! Don't close your browser yet! Just because you've never had mashed potato pizza doesn't mean you won't love it. My boyfriend totally turned his nose up at this pizza, especially when I told him I was making vegan cheese sauce for it, but he ended up eating two big slices. So just try it and see what you think!

You'll need:

For the crust:

Make your own, if desired, or purchase a pre-made crust from your grocery store. Look in the refrigerated section, near the deli or prepared foods. Check out the ingredients to make sure that your pizza crust is vegan. Note: Boboli crusts are not vegan. You might also find pizza dough. Follow the instructions on your pizza crust or dough to prepare the crust.

Pizza Toppings:

2 - 4 slices BBQ tofu, preferably leftover from dinner a night or two ago, sliced into long, thin pieces.*
Red onion, sliced very thin (you'll just need a little, so save the rest for another purpose)
1 Yukon Gold potato, scrubbed clean, cut in half, and sliced very thin (no wider than 1/4 inch), the thinner the better

(* Vegan With A Vengeance has a great recipe for Pomegranate BBQ Baked Tofu.)

For the Potato "Sauce":

1 cup leftover mashed potatoes
BBQ sauce, about 2 Tablespoons
Vegan Mayonaisse, about 1/4 cup

For the "Cheese" Sauce:

1/4 cup nutritional yeast (bulk foods aisle at your local health food store or Whole Foods)
1/8 cup cornstarch
1 T. flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh minced garlic, or 3 crushed cloves, or 1/4 t. garlic powder
1 cup water
1/2 t. mustard (any kind will do, I used the brown dijon kind)
1/4 vegetable oil (I used olive oil, use whatever you have on hand)

The Method:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, or follow directions on your pizza crust.

Mix Potato "Sauce" ingredients until well blended.

In a small saucepan, combine nooch [i.e. nutritional yeast], cornstarch, flour, salt, and garlic. Whisk in water and continue to whisk the mixture constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens and bubbles. Remove from heat. Whisk in oil and mustard. Return to burner, stir constantly until the mixture is thick and bubbling. Takes only a few minutes from start to finish. It is the texture of nacho cheese when it's finished.

To prepare the pizza, spritz olive oil over the pizza crust. You can also pour a little oil and use a folded paper towel to smear the oil all over the pizza crust -- don't forget the edges. Now, evenly spread the potato mixture over the entire pizza. You want a nice even layer. Leave about an inch all around for the crust. Spread about half the "Cheese" sauce mixture on top of the potato mixture. Sprinkle the potato slices around the pizza. You can place them nice and neat or just random, that's up to you, but I think the potato cooks better if it's neat. Sprinkle onions slices on top, then add the BBQ tofu. Now, use the rest of the "cheese" mixture to add blobs of cheese, kinda like you'd see if you had ricotta on your pizza. You don't have to be neat, and you might have extra sauce. Don't overload it -- save the sauce for something else.

Turn the oven heat down to 425 degrees. Place pizza in the oven. I cooked mine directly on the rack, but use a pizza stone if you have one. Cook for 8 - 12 minutes. My pizza took the full 12 minutes until the potato looked good to me, but your oven may vary. Your potato might not cook completely, and that's fine. It's perfectly delicious to eat as is, or broil the pizza for a few extra minutes once the crust is done. Either way is fine. Enjoy your vegan pizza!