Ultimate vegetarian pizza party recipes

Vegie delight

The first step to every great pizza party is making your own dough, we promise it’s worth the effort! Try out our foolproof dough recipe.

For a lunch selection the whole family will enjoy, we’ve created two flavourful vegetarian pizza combinations, a wholesome salad and a tasty mocktail to top it all off.

Pizza dough

(Makes 2 thin bases or 1 thick)

Ingredients:

2 cups bread and pizza flour, plus extra for dusting (see Tip, below)
7g sachet dry yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
½ tsp salt
¾-1 cup warm water
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing

Tip: Bread and pizza flour is available from supermarkets. Substitute with gluten-free plain or bread flour if necessary.

Method:

1.  Mix ingredients
Sift flour into a large bowl, then stir in yeast, sugar and salt. Add ¾ cup warm water and oil and mix to a soft dough. Add some extra water if too dry. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.

2. Put dough into a lightly oiled bowl
Cover and rest in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour).

3. Prepare and preheat pizza oven
Follow the manufacturer’s instructions or place a pizza stone in a fan-forced oven while it is preheating to 220°C.

4. Shape and cut the dough
Dust 2 large oven slides with flour. Punch down dough and turn out on a floured surface. Shape into a ball without overworking. Cut dough in half for 2 thin bases or leave whole for a thick base. (Make double quantity of dough to make 2 thick-base pizzas.)

5. Prepare the dough
Roll out 2 pieces of dough on a lightly floured surface to 25cm rounds for thin crust or whole dough to 32cm for thick crust. Place each on a prepared tray.

6. Assemble with toppings and cook
Slide pizzas onto hot floor in pizza oven and cook for about 4 minutes or until crisp on the base, golden and bubbling; or in oven on trays for 6 minutes to firm up base, then loosen and slide pizza onto hot pizza stone in oven for a further 12 minutes to finish baking, for a crisp crust.

Vegan margherita

(Makes 2)

Ingredients:

¾ cup pizza sauce
Pizza dough (see first recipe)
2 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
200g heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
¼ cup torn basil leaves, plus extra leaves to garnish
200g dairy-free grated mozzarella cheese (see Tip, below)

Tip: Dairy-free (vegan) mozzarella is available from supermarkets and specialty food stores.

Method:

1. Add toppings to the base
Spread sauce evenly over 2 pizza bases leaving a 1cm border. Spread tomatoes and cherry tomatoes over the top. Top with basil and sprinkle with cheese.

2. Cook pizzas following Step 6 in the pizza dough recipe
Garnish with extra basil leaves to serve.

Three cheese and spinach pizza

(Makes 2)

Ingredients:

⅓ cup semi-dried cherry tomatoes in oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Pizza dough (see first recipe)
2½ cups grated pizza cheese
250g frozen spinach, thawed
200g Danish feta, crumbled
200g tub bocconcini, drained
½ cup pitted kalamata olives

Method

1.  Prepare semi-dried tomatoes
Drain ¼ cup of the oil from tomato jar and reserve. Finely chop tomatoes. Combine reserved oil, tomatoes and garlic and spread over 2 pizza bases. Sprinkle half of the cheese evenly on top.

2. Sprinkle the rest of the toppings over the dough
Squeeze water from spinach. Tear spinach and feta over the top of each pizza. Top with torn pieces of bocconcini and olives.

3. Cook and serve
Cook pizzas following Step 6 in first recipe. Serve.

Baby cos, walnut and apple salad with creamy dressing

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

2 baby cos lettuce, trimmed, rinsed
2 sticks celery, trimmed, thinly sliced
½ cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 red apple, shredded (see Tip, below)
¼ cup chopped chives

Dressing
½ cup buttermilk
2 tsp Dijon mustard
⅓ cup mayonnaise
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Assemble salad ingredients
Cut cos into quarters lengthways and arrange on a serving platter. Sprinkle with celery, walnuts, apple and chives.

2. Make the dressing
Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle dressing over salad to serve.

Tip: To shred apple, you can use a mandolin or hand-held vegetable shredding tool, both available in kitchenware stores. Or cut apple quarters into thin slices and chop into matchsticks (julienne).

Ginger beer sangria mocktail

(Serves 8)

Ingredients:

Ice cubes
1.2L ginger beer
¼ cup raspberry cordial (see Tip, below)
Mint sprigs and leaves
500ml freshly squeezed and strained orange juice
6 strawberries, hulled, cut into wedges
1 small green apple, quartered, cored, thinly sliced
4 passionfruit, halved

Method:

1. Pour the drinks
Put a handful of ice cubes in 8 large glasses. Pour ginger beer evenly into each glass. Top with a dash of cordial. Place a few mint leaves into each glass. Top with orange juice, without stirring, so different coloured layers are visible.

2. Add decorative toppings
Place strawberries and some of the apple slices into each drink. Spoon pulp from half a passionfruit on the top of each one. Decorate with extra apple slices and mint leaves. Serve with a swizzle stick to stir.

Tip: If raspberry cordial is too sweet for your taste, try using pink grapefruit cordial. If making in a large jug or drinks dispenser, pour ginger beer into vessel. Throw in handfuls of ice. Pour in cordial and stir. Add some mint sprigs. Top up with orange juice, without stirring. Depending on size of jug, top with desired amount of strawberry wedges and apple slices. Scoop the pulp from 2 passionfruit on top and decorate with mint leaves.

 Tip: If making a jug of mocktail, pre-chill glasses by filling with ice, stirring and discarding before pouring the drinks.

Want to add a couple of meaty pizzas to the table?

We’ve created 3 more mouth-watering pizza oven recipes and another side salad to match. Check out our chicken parmigiana, Middle Eastern lamb, and Spanish potato and chorizo pizzas.

Photo Credit: Sue Stubbs