February 18, 2021

by Alyssa

The BEST Quinoa Pizza Crust

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This is truly the best ever quinoa pizza crust recipe! This crust is naturally vegan, gluten-free, and uses just 5 ingredients.

If you love pizza, you're going to LOVE this gluten-free pizza crust – it's crispy, thin, easy to make, and holds up to any of your favorite toppings!

overhead of a plate with six slices of pizza made with quinoa crust and melted cheese with tomato sauce topped with fresh basil and red pepper flakes

I don't think I've ever met someone who doesn't love pizza. But as someone who's gluten-free, making your own pizza at home can be a little tricky. Gluten is essential to *traditional* stretchy, pliable pizza dough. So what do you do without gluten?

The BEST Quinoa Pizza Crust

You turn to quinoa. Quinoa can be used in so many different ways, and one of my favorite ways is pizza.

This quinoa pizza crust is:

  • gluten-free
  • 5-ingredients
  • vegan
  • yeast-free
  • freezer-friendly
  • kid-approved

And it's crazy simple to make!

Collage of four images to make quinoa pizza crust in a blender and in a cake pan

How to Make Quinoa Pizza

There are just a few simple steps to making this gluten-free pizza crust. First, we have to soak our quinoa. Soaking the quinoa will allow it to soften enough so that it's easy to blend and creates a smooth batter.

Next, we'll have to rinse the quinoa and add all our ingredients to our blender.

These are the ingredients you need for this recipe:

  • Quinoa: you'll want uncooked quinoa for this recipe – any variety will work, but white gives you the most “traditional” pizza color and taste.
  • Water: this is just used to help blend the quinoa. I've also used hummus to make it higher protein!
  • Baking powder: I add a little baking powder to add some air bubbles, but you can skip it if you want.
  • Sea salt: a touch of salt helps heighten all the flavors of the crust and pizza!
  • Olive Oil: and olive oil is used just to give the pizza a bit of fat (which I think helps the flavor). If you're oil-free, you can skip it!

Once you've got all your ingredients in the blender, blend it up until it's completely smooth. Then pour your patter onto your prepared pan and smooth it over with your spatula.

Bake the pizza crust for about 15 minutes, then flip it over and bake another 10 – 15 minutes.

Final step: top your pizza with your desired toppings, pop it back in the oven and let everything cook/melt. Slice it up and you're ready to eat!

overhead of a whole pizza made with quinoa crust topped with tomato sauce, cheese and fresh herbs

Can I Freeze Quinoa Pizza Crust?

Yes, you can definitely freeze quinoa pizza. It's actually the most common question you'll see in the comments as lots of people like to make this ahead.

To freeze your pizza crust:

  1. Just the crust: bake it through to step 5 (no toppings) and freeze it. When you're ready to cook it, simply add your toppings, pop it in the 425ºF oven and cook it for about 15 – 18 minutes.
  2. Whole pizza: you can also bake your whole pizza and freeze it. To reheat it, simply pop it in the microwave or toaster oven until it's heated through and the cheese is melty again.

p.s. want to make multiple pizzas or one large one? This recipe can easily be doubled or more!

45 degree shot of slices of quinoa pizza crust with melted cheese, tomato sauce and fresh basil on a white speckled dinner plate

Topping Suggestions:

Need some inspo in the toppings department? Here are some of my favorite combinations:

  • Tomato sauce, cheese + fresh basil
  • Tomato sauce, sliced peppers, vegan sausage, cheese
  • Vegan pesto, cheese, spinach, artichokes
  • Tomato sauce, sliced red onions, sauteed mushrooms, finely chopped kale + cheese

But again, this quinoa pizza crust holds up to ALL your fave toppings. Trust me, I've piled these pizzas HIGH and they've still been sturdy and crispy. I can't wait to hear how you top your pizzas – let us know in the comments!

close up overhead of a slice of pizza made with quinoa crust and vegan cheese with a bite taken out on a white speckled dinner plate

More Gluten-Free Quinoa Pizza Recipes:

The BEST Quinoa Pizza Crust

The best ever quinoa pizza crust is vegan, gluten-free, and just five ingredients for a crisp, savory crust for your favorite toppings.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Soaking time: 6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 55 minutes
Servings 2 Servings
Calories 297kcal
Print Pin
overhead of a plate with six slices of pizza made with quinoa crust and melted cheese with tomato sauce topped with fresh basil and red pepper flakes
4.44 from 260 votes

Ingredients

for the quinoa pizza crust:

optional pizza toppings:

Instructions

  • Start by soaking the quinoa. Cover the quinoa with at least 1" of water. Ideally, soak for 6 - 8 hours. If you're in a hurry, use very hot water and soak for at least 30 minutes.
  • Once you're ready to make the crust, preheat the oven to 425ºF. Line a baking pan with parchment paper (either rectangle or square). Spray the entire surface with cooking spray.
  • Thoroughly rinse the soaked quinoa, then add to a blender. Add the 1/4 cup of water, baking powder, salt, and olive oil. Blend on high until smooth and creamy. The batter should resemble a thick pancake batter.
  • Pour batter onto the prepared pan. Spread it out into an even layer, about 1/8" thick (again, either in a circular pan like 9" cake pan OR into a rectangle on a traditional cookie sheet).
  • Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the quinoa pizza crust, flip it directly onto the baking pan (flip and remove the parchment paper from the top side). Return the pizza to the oven baking for another 10 - 15 minutes until it's starting to brown and the edges are crispy.
  • Remove and top with sauce, cheese and any other toppings you'd like. Bake for another 12 - 15 minutes until cheese has melted.
  • Remove and let cool for a few minutes in the pan, transfer cutting board, and slice. Garnish with herbs, pepper flakes, grated cheese, etc., and serve immediately!

Nutrition

Serving: 0.5of a pizza (no toppings) | Calories: 297kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 587mg | Potassium: 460mg | Fiber: 4g | Vitamin A: 9IU | Calcium: 75mg | Iron: 3mg

 

 

5-Ingredient Quinoa Pizza Crust -- the only gluten-free pizza you will ever need! The pizza crust is dairy-free - use your favorite dairy-free toppings (skip the goat cheese!)

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About Alyssa

Hey there, I’m Alyssa Rimmer, a certified Holistic Nutritionist, yoga-lover, dog mom, and founder of Simply Quinoa. It’s nice to meet you! I created SQ as a way to provide solutions for women just like me, who were struggling to find helpful information about how to live a healthy and fulfilled life. My hope is that you will find inspiration here on SQ – in my story, in my recipes, in the hundreds of wellness articles, and in our amazing community. Welcome!

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  1. Wow this is a great recipe! I did not add oil, used a couple Tbl of chickpea flour and used cooked quinoa once and soaked for another try. Both ways turned out great. AMade personal size crusts and put them in freezer. Used some as bread replacement. It photographs great

  2. This recipe is an amazing find! I have made so many pizza crusts in my life, and this might be my favorite ever, including real “traditional” crusts. I have a deep dish 12″ pan I have used a couple times for this recipe to make a nice thin crust. If you have the crust sticking on the parchment paper, give it another 5 minutes and check it again, that’s worked for me and loosened straight up. I’ve played (and will continue to play) with the thickness we want, so timing and quantities have been adjusted, but all have been great tasting. I’ve added hatch chili flakes, onion powder, and garlic powder. So good! I have always done at least an overnight soak after rinsing, but this time I’m trying hot water for an hour, and we’ll see how this one works in comparison. I may even try going thinner on our 16″ pan some day, after all we’re in the St. Louis area and sometimes a cracker thin crust hits the spot. Thank you so much for this recipe!

  3. Quite a disaster. The batter looked wonderful till it baked 10+ minutes and was so stuck to the parchment. Paper that we just managed to salvage most of the height and flip. Luckily we tasted all the parts stuck – BITTER:( I baked the base but didn’t bother investing more time or ingredients in going all the way. That base was more inedible thsn enjoyable … I am sad because I was so excited to find a recipe that looked perfect!

  4. Hi,

    Can’t wait to try this!

    Can the base be cooked quicker if done in an ooni pizza oven, or any oven at high temperature, or does it need the slow heat?

  5. OMG SO THIS BLEW MY MIND. Amazing taste, super easy, definitely my new go-to pizza recipe! Just perfect, thank you soooooo much for it!

  6. The best for sure. Just made this tonight. Used a 10 inch cast iron skillet because that is what I had. Added mozzarella circles, sauteed mushrooms, onions, peppers and grape tomatoes with some marinara sauces. It was crunchy, held up very well, and was tasty. It’s a keeper.

  7. Excellent! I love making pizza but have moved away from it in recent years because it’s a lot of flour. I was skeptical of this recipe but have made it several times now. It’s nutritious, quick, and delicious!

  8. I have never tried quinoa and love pizza but wanted a healthier way to enjoy pizza. I am wondering if I could mill quinoa into flour rather than soak them, or is rinsing required? Thank you.

    • I don’t personally rinse my quinoa because most have been at least triple rinsed. I would suggest following this recipe as written as I haven’t personally tested it any other way 🙂

  9. Great recipe!! Delicious and nutritious!
    I made it into a fuccacia – lots of cooked vegetables on top of the crust.
    Thank u so much for the great recipe!!

  10. I thank Pinterest for leading me to your site (for pizza bites)! Then I jumped right here. I love pizza and quinoa. I am signing up for more recipes. I don’t have any allergies but I need an alternative to grains occasionally. What is the purpose of soaking? I never saw that on Ali’s site.

    • Soaking grains helps to remove some of the naturally occurring phytic acid in the grain, which helps improve digestibility and speed cook time. I’m so glad you loved the pizza!!

      • soaking is needful in nuts, legumes and grains to remove anti-nutrients; not just the phytic acid but also lectins & saponins 🙂 in the case of quinoa it’s mostly phytic acid saponins.

        Dr Weil advises rinsing very well, maybe 3 times with cool water before soaking as soaking first can allow the saponins to leech into the seed. Not everyone is as sensitive to the destructive nature of saponins but always wise to be vigilant.

        Also adding vit C rich foods when ingesting high phytic acid foods help balance it’s effects.

  11. Yum! So glad I came across this recipe. As a pizza lover, I love the idea of a guilt-free crust so I can eat as much pizza as I want 🙂 Plus this is way more filling than regular pizza! My boyfriend who HATES quinoa even liked it. Thank you!

  12. I’m going to try this in a cast iron pan cooked on the stove top as you would cook a tortilla because I don’t have a toaster oven and I don’t want to waste energy by using my oven. It should make the crust crispy.

  13. Amazing!!! New favorite in my house. It came out so crispy and not mushy like other crusts. I added hummus as a sauce, nutritional yeast, spinach, mushrooms, some garlic, salt, vegan Parmesan, Italian seasoning, and basil, and a drizzle of oil. Amazing!

  14. This looks great! Think it could be done with cooked quinoa instead? (I have some pre-made in the fridge right now that I’m looking to use up.) Thanks!

  15. This is such an easy recipe and it’s the best homemade pizza crust I’ve had since going gluten free 10 years ago. I stir in Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder after blending. This is a sturdy crust that can really stand up to toppings.

  16. Hi Alyssa, this is a fantastic recipe! My hubby is addicted to pizza and I was looking for a more favorable option for his waistline. He used to make me bake him cauliflower crust which was OK, but full of cheese and eggs, so a no no for me. But, I wanted to capture the mouthfeel of the real pizza dough and luckily your quinoa pizza delivered just that! OMG, it is so good, even approved by him hahaha! It will be on rotation very often for sure, Thank you!

  17. A fabulous recipe for a low FODMAP eater like me – just had to substitute mozzarella for the goat cheese. Followed the crust recipe exactly, pizza was delicious. My husband who has no health issues so can eat any pizza said he would be very willing to eat this whenever I make it.

  18. I would like to try this pizza crust, but I’m not sure how to flip the crust after baking for 10 to 15 minutes. Does the parchment paper come out with it, do you turn it over with your hand? Flip it onto a plate and put it back in the pan? Sorry, just don’t understand this part, thanks.

  19. Oh my word!!!! So so good! I double the recipe & baked it on a nonstick cooking sheet. I didn’t use parchment paper but I did spray the cookie sheet. Perfect!!

    • I think you might have needed to cook it for longer! That’s never happened to me, so I’m guessing it just wasn’t quite ready to release from the paper. Next time, leave ie in the oven a bit longer before flipping! It should easily release from the paper 🙂

  20. I tried the recipe but it completely got stuck to my baking paper.. does the thickness of the batter matter i think i did too thin.. idk..

    • did you spray the baking paper as I recommended? I think it wasn’t quite cooked enough when you tried to flip it! I’ve honestly never had that happen and have made it dozens of times, so I’m guessing it just needed a bit longer in the oven 🙂

  21. I’ve made this several times. It’s such a hit we make it almost weekly. One thing I do that’s not listed is rise my
    Quinoa really well. Both before and after soaking it. I’ve read before that will remove any bitter flavour. I use a Reusable coffee filter As the sieve.

    I do have a question. Could you make the batter in advance. For example. If I soaked the quinoa overnight could I mix up the batter and store it in my fridge to be used 8-12 hours later?

    For those who’s batter stuck. Definitely use the parchment paper. Also don’t cut back on the oil in the recipe not on the parchment paper. I made that mistake only once.

    • So glad you’ve been enjoying it! And yes, I do think it would be fine if you made it ahead. If it thickens up too much, maybe just give it a splash of water to loosen it, but otherwise, it should be totally fine!

  22. Made this exactly as written. Only tweak was to use a nonstick cake pan. (We tried parchment paper, but it stuck to the parchment paper.)awesome recipe!

  23. So I decided to make a double recipe so I could freeze some, and I don’t have cake pans so I gressed up flat pans with vegan margerine. I put them in for only 10 minutes bc they were really thin and when I went to flip they were stuck to the pan and I had to scrape them off. Ended up being garbage which I’m sad about. Any tips for what went wrong?

    • Make sure to use a nine inch pan. If you do not have one and use something with a bigger size the batter gets thinner and will break.

      • I’ve never had that problem before! I’ve used a 13″ pan and been totally fine, as well as a large baking sheet that I spread it into a rectangle. Maybe your oven is running a little hot and it’s getting overbaked?

    • Next time use parchment or make sure that your pans are really greased! Others have had that issue before and I think it’s a pan thing. I’ll update the instructions to include the parchment tip!

  24. Since I found your recipe, it has been a favorite of my husband and two grown children who all have Celiac disease. I was soaking my quinoa and couldn’t make the pizza that night, and by the next day there was a foam in the bowl. I searched the Internet and found recommendations that it be soaked 24 hours to remove the outer shell that has that sharp taste that a previous commentator said they didn’t like. I went ahead and used it and it was by far the best tasting crust yet! Try soaking the quinoa 24 hours to see what s difference it makes.

    • please make sure to rinse the quinoa very very well, multiple times with cool water before soaking. The bitter saponins can actually leak inside if it isn’t removed well first. Dr Weil has done the research. We want all the nasty anti-nutrients gone for sure. But You are right about soaking a long time… makes the stored starches turned to bioavailable proteins as the seed is doing it’s thing to make baby plants 🙂 Very smart to figure that out in soaking! YOU ROCK!

  25. Hello! I’m excited to try this out! I have quinoa flour already do you know how much I could use in place of the soaked quinoa?

  26. I love this recipe! Never had any luck with cauliflower crust so this is a lifesaver 🙂 What do you think about making the crust, topping the pizza and then freezing? I’d like to have a bunch of these as “frozen pizzas” ready to go

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