Homemade Quinoa Pizza Crust Recipe- Gluten Free, Vegan, No Flour Needed

My family is doing a bit of a pantry challenge right now, since I realized that my stockpile was really full of some stuff that I just wasn't getting around to using, so now I'm trying to use those up.
I had a bunch of quinoa that I bought at a terrific price on sale, but, to be honest, my kids aren't exactly fans of quinoa- they'll eat it grudgingly smothered in lots of ketchup...
So I'd heard of making a vegan quinoa pizza crust, using whole quinoa (not quinoa flour) and decided to give it a try, since I might as well see if the kids like that method of quinoa preparation better than the others, and it was a huge hit.
My older son, Lee, who loves gluten pizza but hasn't been the hugest fan of gluten free pizzas, absolutely adored this quinoa pizza crust, said that it was the best gluten free pizza crust I ever made (6 year old Ike agreed), and Lee even said that the quinoa pizza crust was almost as good as gluten pizza.
I'll take this as a winner.
As for myself, I'm still trying to figure out if this pizza crust agrees with my body, but if the kids love it, that's what matters most.

While this isn't the most frugal recipe, since quinoa isn't super cheap, I bet it would work just as well with green buckwheat, millet, or other gluten free grains as well as gluten grains. I'll be experimenting with this recipe and let you know which other grains it works with. Additionally, since it doesn't use any gluten free flours, which gets expensive if you don't have a grinder like I do, and since it doesn't use any xanthan gum, compared to other gluten free pizza crusts, it actually is relatively cheap.

This recipe makes one pizza crust the size of a large baking sheet. My family devours that in no time and is still hungry, so I prefer to double this recipe.

This crust is so tasty that I want to try it out as the basis for other dishes, such as my vegan mini "meat pizzas", and to try making it as the base for pissaladieres- French anchovy and onion tarts. I can see so many ideas in my head forming- just need to make them all!

(P.S. I usually give credit to any author who inspired me to make a certain recipe, but there are just soooo many versions of this quinoa crust recipe out there that I can't find who specifically was the originator of the idea, so instead I'll thank my friend Jenni who clued me in to the idea that this was even possible.)

Homemade Quinoa Pizza Crust Recipe- Vegan, No Flour Needed

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1/2 cup water (added a little at a time) plus more for soaking
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Oil for oiling parchment paper

Instructions:
1. Soak your quinoa in water, at least 3 hours, ideally 8 or more.

2. Strain and rinse your quinoa very well, to wash off any saponins that may cause stomach trouble, in addition to being bitter.

3. Blend up your quinoa in a food processor. Start off without using any water, just blending as much as you can, pushing it down from the sides, then add 1/4 cup of water, and blend for about 5 minutes or more, until it is as smooth as you can get it.

4. Add baking powder, salt, and another 1/4 cup of water to the food processor and blend one more minute.

5. Oil a sheet of parchment paper- not too much that there is a puddle of oil, but enough that it is entirely covered. I put a little coconut oil on my hands and rubbed it all over the parchment paper until the entire thing is slippery.

6. Spoon your batter onto your parchment paper, either into one very large pizza or 5-6 personal pizzas. Don't make it too thin, but don't make it too thick either.

7. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, then flip over and cook for 5 more minutes. Don't skip this step or your crust will be soggy instead of crispy and delicious.

8. Once both sides are cooked, spread with tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings, and bake again.

I made my kids' with homemade tomato sauce, mushrooms, and yellow cheese. I made mine with tomato pieces, mushrooms, and a dairy free cashew based cheese.

Enjoy!



How much does quinoa cost where you live? Is it cheap or expensive? Are you and your family fans of quinoa?
Ever hear of a quinoa based pizza crust? Ever made one? Does this look like a recipe you'd try out?