This Easy Zucchini Pizza Crust Recipe is a great way to sneak some nutrition into homemade pizza night! It's a fluffy, delicious homemade pizza dough that your whole family will love, and no one can even tell that there's zucchini inside!
This post is sponsored by my friends at Vitamix. As always, all opinions, photos, videos and the recipe are completely my own!
In our house, Sunday night is homemade pizza night! All the kids gather in the kitchen and we make dinner together. It's a really fun tradition, and my husband has learned how to make homemade pizza himself so it even gives me a night off from cooking every now and then! Which is 100% awesome!
Since we eat pizza every week, I wanted to try to find a way to sneak a little nutrition into our family's time in the kitchen, so I created this zucchini pizza crust recipe! I use my Vitamix blender to add zucchini to the pizza dough in a way that makes it completely undetectable to my kids (and husband LOL)!
I've tried getting on board with making pizza crusts out of only vegetables (mainly cauliflower), but I just can't. I don't like it, my family definitely doesn't like it, and it isn't as satisfying as a real pizza crust. So this zucchini pizza crust is the best of both worlds, a fluffy delicious homemade pizza dough that tastes amazing, is easy to make and contains added nutrition because of the of zucchini! Win win win!
How do you make Zucchini Pizza Crust?
Much like my famous homemade pizza dough recipe and our whole wheat pizza dough, this zucchini pizza crust is easy to make! You don't even have to let it rise if you are short on time (although it is the best when it rises once)! I'll walk through this recipe with you step-by-step to ensure your zucchini pizza making success! Let's get started!
Proof the yeast
The first step in making this zucchini pizza crust recipe is proofing the yeast. Please note, only combine ½ cup of water with the yeast and sugar. The other ½ cup water needs to be blended with the zucchini! Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes to proof while you prepare the rest of the ingredients!
Blend the wet ingredients
While the yeast is proofing, blend the zucchini, remaining ½ cup water and olive oil in the container of a Vitamix blender! I like to blend it until it's completely smooth for the best results, but if you would like some pretty flecks of green zucchini in your pizza dough, then blend for a shorter time!
Use a Vitamix blender!
By now you know that I exclusively blend with a Vitamix (and have for a decade)! So it’s not surprising that I will tell you that the best way to make this zucchini pizza crust recipe is to use a Vitamix blender!
If you have kids who could be hired as the veggie police, then being able to inconspicuously add zucchini to this pizza dough is pretty great! Thankfully, a Vitamix blender will make the zucchini mixture so smooth the only way an observant child will be able to tell it's in there is the crust will have a slightly green tint.
I do want to pause and say that I never lie to my kids about the food they eat. I might delay telling them ingredients in a dish until they have tried it once, but usually they know what's in it before they eat it. Often times, they actually help me add vegetables to our meals!
They toss spinach into a green smoothie or zucchini into muffins. That way, they start understanding that they do enjoy eating vegetables! I actually wrote this article all about cooking with kids that speaks into this very philosophy!
If you don’t have a Vitamix yet I highly recommend getting one ASAP! Check out my Vitamix Buying Guide where I give my exhaustive reasons for choosing a Vitamix blender a decade ago, and my top recommendations about which model to buy!
Combine wet ingredients
Next, combine the blended zucchini mixture with the proofed yeast mixture and stir gently to combine until the mixture is homogenous (uniform throughout).
Add dry ingredients & knead.
Next add about 2 ¼ cups of flour and sea salt to the wet mixture and stir until the mixture is loose but becoming firm. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and knead until a smooth, but slightly tacky dough ball forms. You may need to add up to ½ cup more flour as you knead, just be careful not to add too much.
Let it rise!
Place the zucchini pizza dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp towel and let it rise. I recommend letting it rise for at least 10 minutes, and for the best results wait until it has doubled in size (about 1 hour).
The rise is actually optional, and you'll get a delicious zucchini pizza crust if you don't. However, I enjoy how light and fluffy the crust is after it has risen!
Roll it out!
Next, it's time to roll out the zucchini pizza crust! If you are going to be transferring it to a pre-heated pizza stone, I recommend rolling it on a piece of parchment paper.
If you'll be baking it on a baking sheet then roll it on a well-floured surface and transfer it to the baking pan before adding the sauce and toppings.
Add toppings
This is where it gets fun! We usually double the recipe and make two pizzas! That way the kids can enjoy their favorite toppings (cheese and pepperoni) and mommy & daddy can enjoy some more grown-up flavors, like the classic margarita pizza!
We always use this homemade pizza sauce recipe on our zucchini pizza! It only takes 5 minutes to make and is worlds better than anything you can purchase in the store!
Bake!
There are two ways to bake this zucchini pizza crust! On a pizza stone (preferred method) or on a baking sheet!
If baking on a pizza stone:
- Set dough on parchment paper. Add pizza sauce and toppings.
- Use a pizza paddle to transfer pizza onto the stove in the preheated oven.
- Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until crust is browned on the bottom and cheese is melted and slightly browned.
If baking on a baking pan:
- Place rolled dough onto the baking pan.
- Pre-bake dough for 5 minutes in the preheated oven until it slightly sets. If any bubbles form, pop them with a fork.
- Remove from oven and add pizza sauce and toppings.
- Bake an additional 15-20 minutes until crust is browned on the bottom and cheese is melted and slightly browned.
Cool & Enjoy!
Remove the zucchini pizza from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. It's best not to cut pizza straight from the oven. If you let it cool slightly it will be easier to cut!
Zucchini Pizza Crust: Ingredients & Substitutions
Let's chat about the ingredients as well as possible substitutions in this recipe!
- Sugar. The sugar in this zucchini pizza crust recipe is used to help the yeast proof. Feel free to use honey, maple syrup, or your favorite granulated sugar. I do not recommend using sugar substitutes!
- All-purpose flour. Bread flour and pastry flour also work well in this recipe. You can substitute ½-1 cup of the flour with whole wheat or white whole wheat flour, just be aware you will likely need to use less flour overall if you make this substitution.
- Zucchini. There isn't a substitution for zucchini in this recipe, except for maybe yellow squash since it's so similar. You do not have to shred or finely chop the zucchini, since the Vitamix is powerful enough to blend it well. However I do recommend at least cutting it into large chunks for ease of blending and for measuring!
- Olive Oil. Any neutral oil works well in this recipe! I have used canola oil and avocado oil with great success! You can also used a flavor-infused olive oil (like garlic, herb, etc.) to add a special flare!
- Sea Salt. If you are using iodized table salt then you will likely need to decrease the amount of salt to ¾ tsp. I always cook and bake with pure sea salt!
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Zucchini Pizza Crust
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine ½ cup water, sugar, and yeast. Stir to combine. Let sit for 10 minutes until foamy (proofed).
- Place remaining ½ cup water, zucchini and olive oil into the container of a Vitamix blender.
- Blend, starting on low speed & increasing to high until the mixture is smooth and uniform throughout.
- Pour zucchini mixture into the proofed yeast mixture and stir to combine.
- Add 2 ¼ cups flour and 1 tsp sea salt and stir to combine.
- Dump dough mixture onto a floured surface and knead by hand for 2 minutes, form dough into a ball, adding more flour as needed to form a slightly tacky dough ball.
- Put dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a warm, damp towel and let rise for 60 minutes (or until doubled in size). NOTE: This is optional, you can simply bake the dough without letting it rise and still get great results!
- After dough has risen, preheat oven to 450 degrees (If using a pizza stone, put stone in oven while it preheats).
- Place zucchini pizza dough on a well-floured surface and roll into your desired shape and size. (I recommend a 14” round pizza).
If baking on a pizza stone:
- Set dough on parchment paper. Add pizza sauce and toppings.
- Use a pizza paddle to transfer pizza onto the stove in the preheated oven.
- Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until crust is browned on the bottom and cheese is melted and slightly browned.
If baking on a baking pan:
- Place rolled dough onto the baking pan.
- Pre-bake dough for 5 minutes in the preheated oven until it slightly sets. If any bubbles form, pop them with a fork.
- Remove from oven and add pizza sauce and toppings.
- Bake an additional 15-20 minutes until crust is browned on the bottom and cheese is melted and slightly browned.
- Remove pizza from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
- Cut and eat!
Video
More Zucchini Recipes
Here are a few more of our favorite zucchini recipes!
- We love muffins around here. Some of our favorites featuring zucchini are: paleo zucchini muffins, carrot zucchini muffins, healthy double chocolate zucchini muffins, and these pumpkin zucchini muffins.
- This chocolate zucchini cake with a fudgy chocolate ganache is seriously the best.
- Who doesn't love healthy zucchini cookies?
- We love making these corn and zucchini fritters in the summer.
- Want to add nutrition to pizza night? Try this zucchini pizza crust!
- The simplest way to use zucchini is in this zucchini smoothie - it's delicious!
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PT
And don't forget about Vitamix!!