Dairy Free Reuben Pizza with Vegan Corn'd Beef and Saurkraut

Okay, people. I've finally done it! I have been thinking about making this pizza from the very first day that I tried the plant based Corn'd Beef from the Unreal Deli and maybe everyday since! This, my friends, is my Reuben Pizza and yes, it's as remarkable as it sounds!

Bonus: Scroll down for my Vegan Thousand Island Dressing Recipe!

I started with a sauce that was a homemade, vegan, "Thousand Island" kind of dressing, next was the corn'd beef, topped with sauerkraut from my friends at Cleveland Kitchen, and a sprinkle of vegan cheese.

Dairy Free Reuben Pizza with Vegan Corn'd Beef and Saurkraut

Author: Sarah | June 16 , 2022
Servings: 2

• prep time: 10 minutes + 1 hour (for dough)

• cook time: 10 minutes at 500°

• total time: 20 minutes + 1 hour (for dough)

Ingredients: What You need to buy!

Pizza Crust or Dough. I bought fresh dough from the local grocery store but feel free to make your own or use a pre-made crust.

1 tbsp Olive Oil

Plant Based Corn'd Beef slices from the Unreal Deli

1/2 cup Sauerkraut, drained very well

1/4 cup Baby Spinach and Baby Arugula, or your favorite greens.

1/4 cup Dairy Free Cheese Shreds

2-4 tbsp of Thousand Island Dressing (see below)

Ingredients: To make the dressing/sauce

1/2 c vegan mayo

1/2 c vegan sour cream

2 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp diced pickles, or relish

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp paprika

Pinch of salt

Instructions: What You need to do!

1. If you are using fresh dough like I did you are going to need to remove the dough from the fridge and let it rise for 60 minutes. For the recipe, I only used 1/2 of the dough to make a "medium" pizza. (about 12"-14" in diameter)

2. Drizzle the dough with olive oil and let sit, covered with a kitchen towel until risen.

3. Preheat your oven to 500° or higher, if you can! The trick to really great pizza crust at home is a ripping hot oven.

4. Stretch your dough to desired size/thickness

5. Top with the Thousand Island Dressing as a replacement for traditional pizza sauce! (Note: I know that most reubens use Russian dressing and not Thousand Island but I love the pickles in Thousand Island...use whatever you love!)

6. Add your pieces of Corn'd Beef. I like to shred it a bit and kind of mound it up so the tops get nice and crispy in the oven.

7. Add your sauerkraut. It's really important that your sauerkraut will well drained so that you don't end up with a soggy pizza.

8. Sprinkle with vegan cheese

9. Bake at 500° for 10 minutes, turning the baking sheet 180° halfway through baking.

10. Remove from oven and check crust. If your pizza crust need a bit more time, gently lay a piece on tin foil over the top of the pizza so the topping do not burn and continue to bake, checking every minute, until done.

11. Remove from oven and add greens. Let sit on hot sheet for 2-3 minutes before slicing. (Note: I choose to add the greens after the pie comes out of the oven so they don't burn up! The heat from the pizza will wilt the greens slightly as it sets)

12. Slice into 6 pieces and serve!

If you like Reuben Sandwiches, trust me...you're going to love this pizza! The best part? This entire pizza clocks in at just over 800 calories...depending on your ingredients! It’s also a great recipe to serve a crowd! Simply double the recipe for a “large” pizza! The packages of Corn’d Beef from the Unreal Deli actually contain enough servings to make 3 medium pizzas when you shred the meat up before topping!

I’d love to know if you give this recipe a try! Remember to tag me in your fabulous food posts online so I can see! - @plantbasedgingr

…and, as always, Love, Light, and Lentils, my friends!
Sarah

Bruschetta Inspired Mini Flatbread Pizzas

There are some flavors that are just a winning combination no matter how you use them. One of my favorite combinations is tomato and sweet basil…and one of the quick and easy ways that I like to use them are on these bruschetta inspired mini flatbread pizzas!

The perfect dish for a quick lunch or dinner, particularly if/when you are either too tired to cook a full meal, after a long day, or simply not that hungry. The use of both fresh and sun-dried tomatoes on these little pizzas makes for a complex, tangy yet sweet, tomato flavor that tastes way more fancy than it actually is. The other great thing about this recipe is that it is super customizable and by changing up the toppings these little flatbreads are a convenient way to use up “extra” odds and ends that you may have hanging around in the back of the fridge.

What you are going to need to buy:

Your favorite brand of tortilla or, if you prefer, and can find it, some roti from your local bakery.

Sweet yellow onion, small, sliced

Sun Dried Tomatoes - (We like California Sundry brand)

Vegan Cream Cheese - (We love the plain cream cheese from Kite Hill Foods)

Vegan Parmesan - (We love the Follow Your Heart shredded Parmesan)

Minced Garlic - (we like these jarred options from Spice World!)  

Vinegar (Apple Cider or Rice Wine)

Olive Oil

Cherry Tomatoes

Fresh Basil - (If your leaves are large, chop down to size)

Italian Seasonings

Fresh Basil

Salt and Black Pepper

Balsamic Vinegar

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a small skillet, over medium low heat sauté your sliced onions, minced garlic and salt & pepper with some of the oil that the sun-dried tomatoes come packed in until the onions have turned translucent, and even taken on just a slight carmel color

Mix 1/4 cup of Vegan Cream Cheese with 1/4 Cup of Vegan Parmesan, a splash of vinegar and one teaspoon of minced garlic. Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings, to taste.

A note about cheese: The above mixtute is a version of a soft, spreadable cheese that I use a lot for a lot of different recipes. If you are not interested in making these little pizzas vegan, then feel free to use a low moisture mozzarella or even a feta blend.

Slice 3 or 4 cherry tomatoes, per pizza, into little round medallions lightly sprinkle with salt.

On a large cookie sheet lay out your tortillas or roti trying not to overlap the edges and lightly brush the tops with olive oil.

Begin with a light layer of cooked onions and then, in 1/2 teaspoon size dollops, spoon your cheese mixture on top, being careful to evenly distribute onto the entire tortilla.

Add sun-dried tomatoes, as well as fresh tomatoes, across the top of the flatbread.

Now, at this point I like to sprinkle some fresh basil onto the flatbreads. This basil is going to dehydrate and crisp up in the oven, so you don’t want to use it all but the crunchy and almost roasted flavor that is brought out by cooking some of the basil under the broiler is really nice. Again, don’t use all of your basil at this point because you will still want to add some fresh leaves to the top of the pizzas once they have come out of the oven.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 5 or 6 minutes and then turn on your broil setting and let the pizzas go another 2 or 3 minutes. Make sure to check about every 30 to 45 seconds once you have them under the broiler because if you are not careful they can burn…and quickly. The goal here is to crisp up the edges of the tortilla and melt all of the cheese.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with reserved basil leaves and just about 1/2 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar before serving. Enjoy!

Saag Paneer Mini Pizzas with Veggies and Toasted Pine Nut Chonk

Okay people! Let's talk Indian food...specifically saag! I just recently discovered a dish called saag paneer, which is quickly becoming a favorite! As much as I love it served over herbed white rice, today we are going to use it as a base for some mini pizzas!

This is the perfect dish for when you are trying to eat somewhat healthy but you are also just craving PIZZA! Made with a base of saag, a type of spiced spinach gravy with cheese, our version uses a vegan feta. With the crispy crusts, briny, salty, cheese and creamy spinach saag, combined with the fresh burst of veggies on top they really hit the spot on the nights when you are just kind of craving junk food. Plus…with almost two cups of spinach per pizza…hello, can we say leafy greens? Popeye would be so proud!

What you are going to need to buy:

Large Bag of Spinach

Fresh Basil

One white or yellow onion, small, diced

Minced Garlic - (we like these jarred options from Spice World!)  

Powdered Ginger

Powdered Cumin

Paprika

Chili Spice

Medium Tortillas or Roti

VioLife Vegan Feta Cheese - (Or your favorite block feta for just a vegetarian version)

Pine Nuts

Olive Oil

Fresh Veggies - (We used onion and tomato but feel free to use what you love on pizza, olives, artichoke, peppers…)
 

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat  over to 400.

This recipe comes together in just a couple of steps.  To begin, in a medium saucepan, add 3 tablespoon of olive oil, minced garlic, diced onion, and garlic powder, (Reserving just a few diced onions to sprinkle on top at the end) and sauté on medium heat until the onions become translucent but not brown.

Note: This amount of saag will make two or maybe three mini pizzas depending on how large your tortillas are and how thick you spread it.

Add a total of 5 cups fresh spinach and 7-8 fresh basil leaves to the pan in batches and begin to wilt down the greens, stirring and turning so that all of the greens become coated in the oil. After all of the greens have been wilted down (Think the consistency of what you would use to make creamed spinach) remove from heat and transfer to a blender. A stick blender also works well for this dish.

On a flat cookie sheet lay out your tortillas and prick with a fork so they won’t rise and dome in the oven. Place in oven to crisp up, but watch them so that they do not burn. Remove when edges are golden.

Blend the greens until they become somewhat smooth, but not so much that the consistency becomes runny. We are looking for a nice spreadable gravy consistency, like a thick pizza sauce. Stir greens to let some of the heat/steam escape. We want the gravy mixture to be warm, but not hot enough to melt the cheese when added.

Cut small half inch slice of feta from the VioLife Feta block. I recommend cutting one slice from the block for each pizza you are making. Cut that slice again across the long side and then slice into half inch cubes. You should get 14-16 mini cubes from each original slice off the block.  

Reserve 5-6 cubes, per pizza, and add the rest into the spinach gravy, giving a light stir, just to incorporate. Remember, we don’t really want the cheese to melt, or break apart.       

Making the chonk.

Chonk is basically just toasted spices in oil and it get’s drizzled over the top of our finished pizzas. In the same saucepan that you wilted the greens in, add another 3 tablespoons of olive oil, along with a handful of pine nuts, ginger powder, cumin powder, chili powder and paprika. Sauté over medium heat until the pine nuts turn a nice golden brown. Be careful, once they turn brown, they can burn easily. Remove from heat.

Assembling the pizzas.

Divide the spinach saag and spread think layer onto each crisp tortilla, making sure that cheese is distributed evenly. Top with remaining feta, diced tomatoes, reserved fresh onion and put back into hot oven for about 90 seconds.

When ready to serve, cut into quarters and drizzle with the pine nut chonk.