AIP Mediterranean Flatbread Pizza (Paleo, Vegan Option)
There are so many reasons to love this AIP flatbread pizza. It's gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, and really tasty. The crust is simple to make, it's vegan, the texture is awesome, and you can freeze it! Secondly, the sauce is very easy, nightshade-free, and can also be frozen and used later. I like to make large batches of the dough and sauce in advance and then freeze them for fast dinner prep on busy nights.
How to Make an AIP Pizza Crust
This beautiful crust is plantain-based and also contains cassava and coconut flours. If you happen to want a vegan crust, you’re in luck, because there’s no gelatin in this crust. The plantains give it all the texture it needs. Apple cider vinegar, baking soda, and salt give it a little bit of rise.
A note about the plantains- you want to go for yellow plantains, not browning, soft, ripe ones. For the sake of a pizza crust, you don’t want ripe plantains because they’ll be too sweet. The texture still turns out beautiful but it’ll taste more like a dessert pizza.
To make the dough, I first blend the plantains, melted coconut butter, and, apple cider vinegar in a blender. Then I add the dry ingredients and blend again till smooth.
If you don’t have a blender, a food processor works as well. I did notice that when I tried to triple this recipe, my blender struggled a little bit so I had to pull the dough out and knead it by hand. This works fine as long as you blend the plantains, coconut butter, and apple cider vinegar first so you’re starting with a nice smooth base.
Make-Ahead and Save for Later; How to Store
The dough for this crust will keep fresh in the fridge for 2-3 days in an airtight container or zip-lock bag. Note that it will brown slightly on the outside of the dough but once you knead it, the light brown on the outside of the dough mixes with the white inner dough and the color normalizes.
When you go to cook the dough, take it out of the fridge and let it warm up on the counter for 10-15 minutes before kneading it. If the dough is too cold, it’s a little crumbly and harder to work with. Roll it out between 2 sheets of parchment paper and continue with the rest of the instructions as the recipe says.
You can freeze this dough for up to 3 months. Just thaw it overnight in the fridge and prep as instructed above and in the recipe.
Substitutions
The recipe calls for coconut butter and arrowroot starch but I also tested the crust using coconut oil in place of coconut butter and tapioca starch in place of arrowroot starch. This works fine but the dough is a bit stickier this way.
You’ll roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper either way so it should be fine but if you have any issues with it being too sticky, just put the dough in the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes and then roll it out.
If you don't want to wait for the dough to cool in the fridge, you can also add a little bit of cassava flour to it and then roll it out.
The Sauce
I really wanted to make the sauce as easy as it could possibly be because you’re already prepping the pizza crust from scratch. Usually making a sort of "nomato" type sauce involves cooking a bunch of veggies, then blending them into a sauce.
While I realize this is just how it has to be for some sauces, I wanted to try to avoid that here for sake of ease. The sauce is based on pumpkin puree with various spices added in and that’s it!
The Toppings
The crust and sauce are very versatile so you can get as creative as you want with the toppings. I went with a sort of Mediterranean flare on this one with the olives, artichokes, and red onions. I then added prosciutto and topped it off with fresh arugula, then drizzled it with avocado oil and balsamic vinegar. If you want to add a different type of meat to this, chicken sausage, bacon, or ground chicken would be very good too.
Conversely, if you want a vegetarian or vegan AIP pizza, simply leave the meat off. Note- the pictures of this pizza show mushrooms. I happened to include mushrooms when I did the pictures but decided I prefer this pizza without them. That's why you don't see them listed in the recipe.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this recipe. If you made it, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought. I'd love to hear from you!
This recipe is shared on the Paleo AIP Recipe Roundtable.
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Equipment
- Food Processor or high-speed blender
- rolling pin
- parchment paper
- baking sheet
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup yellow plantains (200 g)
- 2.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp coconut butter (or coconut oil)
- 1/2 cup cassava flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1 tbsp +1 tsp arrowroot starch (or tapioca starch)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sea salt
Sauce
- 1/4 cup pureed canned pumpkin
- 1 tbsp grapefruit juice or lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp coconut aminos
- 1/8 tsp onion powder
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
Toppings
- 1/4 cup sliced black olives
- 1/4 cup artichoke hearts
- 1/4 cup red onions
- 1 cup arugula
- avocado oil or olive oil (drizzle)
- balsamic vinegar (drizzle)
- 3-4 slices prosciutto (omit for vegan option)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Combine plantain, apple cider vinegar, and melted coconut butter in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
- Scrape down the sides and add remaining dough ingredients to the mixture. Blend again until smooth.
- Scrape the dough out of the blender/food processor and knead with your hands for about a minute, then form a ball.
- Place the dough ball between two sheets of parchment paper, press it down with your hand to flatten it slightly, then roll it out into a circle or rectangle with a rolling pin to about 1/8th inch thickness.
- Remove the top piece of parchment paper and carefully transfer the dough (while leaving it on the lower sheet of parchment paper) over to a baking sheet.
- Make the sauce- mix ingredients together and spread the sauce thinly over the pizza.
- Add olives, artichoke hearts, and onions, and proscuitto to the pizza. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool for about 5 minutes. Top with arugula and drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar if desired. Slice and serve.
In the blog post, you mention the sauce is a pumpkin puree with some spices, but in the recipe you note a pineapple bacon sauce. They both sound good. How do you make a pineapple bacon sauce, or do you buy it somewhere? And for the pumpkin puree version, which spices did you end up using for more savory flavor.
Thank you
Thanks for pointing that out! I had a couple of versions for this recipe and it looks like the other recipe card was added when I re-did my site. I’ve updated the post with the correct recipe card. If you do want to try the pineapple bacon sauce, you can find that here.