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Vegan Spinach Artichoke Pizza

5 from 8 reader reviews
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 37 minutes
Servings 4
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Ingredients

Artichoke White Sauce (makes extra)

  • 1 cup canned and drained artichoke hearts (6-7 hearts)
  • ½ cup cooked and rinsed chickpeas
  • ½ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours and drained
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 2 teaspoons capers
  • 1 teaspoon light miso
  • ⅛ teaspoon chili flakes
  • sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
  • 6 tablespoons water

Pizza

  • 1 lb prepared pizza dough at room temperature
  • 3 cups baby spinach, lightly packed
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil, plus extra
  • ½ teaspoon lemon juice
  • sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 small shallot, peeled and sliced thin
  • 1 cup canned and drained artichoke hearts (6-7 hearts), cut into quarters
  • vegan “parmesan”
  • chili flakes/chili oil

Instructions

  • Lay a pizza stone on the bottom rack of a cold oven, ensuring that there’s enough clearance above to transfer the pizza. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Let it preheat for 30 minutes.
  • Make the artichoke white sauce. In an upright blender, combine the artichoke hearts, chickpeas, cashews, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, capers, miso, chili flakes, salt, pepper, and water. Run the blender on high until you have a smooth and creamy thick sauce. Scrape down the sides of the blender midway or add a bit more water if you need to. Check the sauce for seasoning, adjust if necessary, and set aside.
  • Dust your working surface and a pizza peel with flour OR line the peel with a piece of parchment paper. Start stretching out the dough until you have a 12-inch circle of even thickness. Carefully transfer the dough circle to the floured/papered peel. If you use the paper method, trim the paper so that you have a ½ inch border around the circle of dough.
  • Jiggle the pizza peel to ensure that the pizza will come loose. If it’s sticking, carefully lift up the edges and toss in a bit more flour until it seems to loosen from the peel.
  • In a large bowl, toss the baby spinach with the teaspoon of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to coat. Top the circle of dough with half of the artichoke white sauce, spreading it out evenly. Place the dressed spinach on top in an even layer and press it into the artichoke white sauce. Drizzle a few spoonfuls of the artichoke white sauce across the top of the spinach. Then, top that layer with the sliced shallots and quartered artichokes. Give the pizza a little drizzle of olive oil and season the top again with salt and pepper.
  • Open the oven and with equal measures of care and efficiency, slide the pizza off of the peel and onto the hot stone with a few flicks of your wrist (or just pull a tab of the parchment paper). Close the oven immediately.
  • Let the pizza cook for 7 minutes. Open the oven and, using the peel, rotate the pizza. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until the top crust is browning in spots, the spinach is fully wilted, and the shallots have shrunk up a bit.
  • Remove the pizza from the oven. Top the pizza with chili flakes and vegan “parmesan” if using. Slice the pizza and serve hot.

Equipment

Recipe Notes

  • You could use thawed frozen artichoke hearts or canned ones.
  • If you don’t have a pizza stone/pizza peel, I would recommend preheating the oven to 450 instead and heating a half sheet pan in there for about 5 minutes. Carefully remove the sheet pan from the oven and pour a drizzle of olive oil into it. Move the oil around with a pastry brush or spatula, then quickly and carefully transfer the stretched out dough to the sheet pan. You should hear a sizzle. Top the pizza and proceed with baking, checking the pizza after 15 minutes and cooking it longer if necessary.
  • You could also use a pizza stone on the grill if you don’t want to heat up your kitchen. The method is basically the same: just place the stone on the cold grill grates, close the lid, and heat the grill to 500 for 30 minutes.
  • If you like a certain type of vegan cheese, feel free to use it here! Just sprinkle it on top of the spinach layer before adding the shallots and quartered artichokes.
  • I have you making extra artichoke white sauce because unfortunately you just need a certain amount of volume to get a blender going. But! Extra sauce is amazing with pasta, used as a dip, or even as a creamy dressing for a slaw/kale salad.
  • You could use soaked sunflower seeds or pine nuts instead of cashews!
This vegan spinach artichoke pizza is just as creamy and satisfying as the classic dip, but served in a convenient pizza format :)