In this article
Can vegans eat pizza?
Yes. Vegans can eat pizza with the right toppings. In fact, almost every pizza dough is vegan. Typical pizza dough only contains flour, yeast, salt, water. Which means it is also dairy and egg-free.
Wondering if yeast is vegan? The short answer is yes, but if you wanna know more, check out our article about yeast.
But what about cheese? Obviously, mozzarella cheese is not suitable for any vegans or dairy-free eaters. So what are your options to make pizza just as tasty?
Pizza marinara
This is the oldest and most traditional of pizza toppings. It consists of tomatoes, garlic, oregano, and olive oil. Sometimes olives and anchovies are added.
Because there are almost no ingredients, it’s best to order this pizza if the pizza is cooked with a wood-fired oven. It really brings out the flavors of the wood fire, fresh tomatoes, and garlic. But it’s not the best pizza to order if the key ingredients aren’t top quality. But if the pizza is made with top-quality ingredients, it’s one of the best! And you don’t even need cheese.
Vegan cheese pizza
Another great option is to use vegan cheese. A lot of restaurants already offer vegan cheese as a replacement. The most important thing is to use vegan cheese that melts well. Having pizza with cheese that doesn’t melt well won’t have a great texture.
What makes pizza not suitable for vegans?
You guessed it right, mozzarella cheese. But as we said earlier, there are great alternatives to mozzarella cheese. And of course meat and any other dairy products.
Pizza toppings for a vegan pizza
Topping your pizza with different vegetables is delicious and healthy. Here is a list of some exciting toppings and bases.
Vegetable pizza bases
Pizza doesn’t have to be just tomato on the base. Try using beetroot, vegan pesto, hummus, or BBQ sauce as a base. These all have widely different tastes and can make some unique varieties.
Vegetable pizza toppings
Try to garnish your pizza with olives, artichokes, or spinach. Capers, mushrooms, garlic, peppers, zucchini, and of course, tomatoes also work great on pizza.
Frequently asked questions
Here are some more questions we always get asked:
Does pizza dough contain butter or eggs?
Short answer: no.
Let’s compare the recipes of bread and pizza against enriched bread such as brioche. You will see why eggs and butter are not included in a pizza recipe. Brioche is a french bread that crosses the line between cake and bread because it contains eggs and butter.
A typical pizza dough only counts 4 ingredients, flour, yeast, salt, water.
While a typical brioche dough contains flour, yeast, eggs, butter, sugar.
How is the crust of a vegan pizza made?
Unlike pasta and other Italian baked goods, traditional pizza dough recipes do not need eggs, butter, or any other dairy. So the dough of a pizza is almost always automatically vegan!
Eggs are used in bread baking as an essential binder. Still, there’s no need for binding agents when using the proper ratios of flour, yeast, salt, water, and olive oil.
What kind of cheese is on a vegan pizza?
As cheese is an essential part of most pizzas, vegans can’t consume pizza that is topped with cheese. But thanks to a wide range of available vegan cheeses, vegan pizzas are not only possible – they can be as delicious as their traditional counterparts.