With the cold weather here I have been craving comfort food and one of my favourite comfort food dishes is the pepperoni pizza casserole. Although I will never cease to enjoy digging into a plate of this casserole it is a little high on the calories and the carbs so I thought that I would make a new, lighter, version using cauliflower as the base rather than pasta. This casserole is super easy to make, you simply cook the cauliflower, and I like to roast it since it add that caramelized flavour, mix it with some pizza sauce and your favourite pizza toppings, top it with cheese and more of your favourite toppings and bake it until it is golden brown and bubbling. With all of the different toppings to choose from this cauliflower pizza casserole will never get boring and you can’t go wrong with the classic pepperoni topping!
All of the flavours of pizza in a lighter cauliflower casserole!
Puree the cauliflower and serve as a lighter alternative to pizza dip while watching the game!
Cauliflower Pepperoni Pizza Casserole
All of the flavours of a pepperoni pizza in a low carb cauliflower casserole!
ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 cups pizza sauce
- 2 ounces pepperoni
- 1/4 cup black olives, sliced
- 1 cup mozzarella, shredded
- 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano (optional)
directions
- Toss the cauliflower in the oil, place on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast in a preheated 400F/200C oven until it starts to caramelize, about 20-30 minutes, mixing half way through.
- Mix the cauliflower, pizza sauce, pepperoni and olives, reserving some pepperoni and olives, place in a baking dish, sprinkle on the cheese followed by the reserved toppings and the oregano.
- Bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until the cheese has melted and the sides are bubbling, about 20 minutes.
Option: Steam the cauliflower instead of roasting it.
Option: Puree the cauliflower and turn it into a side or a dip!
Pepperoni Pizza Casserole
BBQ Chicken Cauliflower Crust Pizza
Eggplant Pizzas
Chipotle BBQ Bacon and Grilled Corn Zucchini Crust Pizza
Pizza Quesadillas (aka Pizzadillas)
Pizza Dip
Cauliflower Enchilada Casserole
Cheesy Margherita Pizza Hummus with Pesto Pita Chips
Stuffed Crust Pizza Dip
Pizza Stuffed Chicken
Taylor @ Food Faith Fitness says
February 3, 2014 at 12:32 pmLove that you took pizza and made it about 82 billion times healthier! This look delish Kevin!
Meagan Wied says
February 3, 2014 at 2:02 pmOh man this cauliflower casserole that involves pizza flavorings is right up my alley. We love love love cauliflower and I like this addition to it.
Jenny says
February 3, 2014 at 2:05 pmYah, I could go for this pizza tonight! Looks great Kevin!!
Maria says
February 3, 2014 at 2:15 pmGreat twist on pizza!
Jeanette says
February 3, 2014 at 2:26 pmWhat a great idea low-carbing it with cauliflower Kevin! We've been eating lots of cauliflower lately so I love this idea!
marla {Family Fresh Cooking} says
February 3, 2014 at 3:51 pmThis is very creative Kevin & I love it has no pizza dough in the recipe 🙂
Heather Christo says
February 3, 2014 at 3:58 pmWhat awesome flavors Kevin! I bet it is so tasty that no one notices that they are essentially just eating a ton of vegetable!
Rogelio Valencia says
February 3, 2014 at 4:00 pmGotta make this tonight.
But where does all the sodium come from? or is it a typo?
kevin says
February 3, 2014 at 4:14 pmRogelio Valencia: Actually most of the sodium comes from the fact that the tool that I use to calculate Nutritional Facts used a generic store bought pizza sauce. If you use the recipe that I link to or make your own, there will be a lot less sodium!
Helen @ Scrummy Lane says
February 3, 2014 at 5:50 pmGreat idea! Like the idea of dipping into it as a snack, like you would with nachos!
Chrissy Barua says
February 3, 2014 at 8:09 pmI love using cauliflower for substitutes for everything! It's a blank slate, and this looks great!
Ally says
February 4, 2014 at 1:16 amGood stuff, Kevin! Love this! ~~ally 🙂
A SPICY PERSPECTIVE says
February 4, 2014 at 2:36 amI think I would be going back for seconds with this great twist on pizza dish!
Tieghan says
February 4, 2014 at 5:11 amThis is such a great meal my whole family would eat. love it, kevin!
We are not Martha says
February 4, 2014 at 2:05 pmWhoa! What a crazy and awesome idea!!
Sues
Anonymous says
February 4, 2014 at 5:46 pmWe made it! Simply awesome!!! 😀 Timi from Hungary
Nicole Boyd says
February 4, 2014 at 6:00 pmWhat size baking dish would you recommend? I have a 9×9 & 9×13 glass pan, or a ceramic pie plate.
Ellis_Wood says
February 4, 2014 at 7:05 pmwoooow! i love it!!!
vanillasugarblog says
February 4, 2014 at 11:40 pmand I remember the first time you did this with cauliflower, I was so impressed!
I bet cast iron would fire up a nice crispy crust.
Jennie Phaneuf says
February 5, 2014 at 12:20 amSay what… This looks amazing. Pinned.
KirbyTails says
February 6, 2014 at 12:38 amCauliflower is such a cool vegetable. So many things you can do with it.
Poame says
February 6, 2014 at 9:16 amMmmm..it looks soo good!
angela says
February 7, 2014 at 4:11 amwow. when i saw the title i thought…. well, never mind, lol! but i can see the flavors together, and it actually looks pretty good. great job kevin!
Pam says
February 7, 2014 at 5:13 pmOh man. This looks incredible Kevin!
Nadira @ Best Juice Extractor Reviews says
February 8, 2014 at 8:17 amThat looks SO good…I'd be happy to get this in cauliflower…I'm getting so hungry looking at this! Using Tequila is quite creative and smart! 😀
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
February 8, 2014 at 8:31 amAt 12:30AM, there's nothing I'd rather do that stuff my face with this amazingness here!
Paula Jones says
February 8, 2014 at 10:35 pmThis sounds right up my alley! Pinning!
Tina says
February 9, 2014 at 1:38 pmSuper creative! I too crave comfort foods when it's cold and this delicious and satisfying. 🙂
Tina at http://www.tinaschic.com
maria at inredningsvis says
February 9, 2014 at 8:09 pmAHHHH this recipy is TO Delish to handle 🙂 love your blog and im following now.
Check out my blog today…my all time fav. lasagna recipy 🙂
Have a fab week dear
LOVE Maria at inredningsvis – inredning it's, Swedish for decor 🙂
kevin says
February 9, 2014 at 8:56 pmNicole Boyd: I like the bigger baking dish for this as you can get more cheese on it 🙂 The smaller one will work as well though.
Poame says
February 10, 2014 at 10:11 amDelicious!
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
February 14, 2014 at 12:13 amCatching up on your posts and I've pinned so many, Kevin! Everything looks great and I bet this would be a partytime favorite! pinned
Maggie Unzueta @ Mama Maggie's Kitchen says
March 6, 2014 at 4:40 pmI will be making this tonight. I'm hoping my son will not complain. He's a picky eater just like his mama. 😉 Thanks for the recipe.
MsAstor says
March 19, 2014 at 6:15 pmI loved this! Most important – hubby loved it too! Made it last night with a few tweaks – I used ground meat instead of pepperoni. Added onions and bell pepper and threw in a few dried mushrooms…
MsAstor says
March 19, 2014 at 6:17 pmI made this last night with a few minor tweaks – used ground meat instead of pepperoni…added onions and bell pepper to the meat. I loved it!! more importantly, hubby loved it too! Thanks, Kevin!!!
kevin says
March 19, 2014 at 6:45 pmMsAstor: I am glad that you enjoyed it!
Jessica says
March 31, 2014 at 12:29 pmMade this for last night's dinner. It was fantastic. The only problem was that DH and I devoured the whole thing, and didn't leave anything for lunch today! Next time I am going to try to roast some mushrooms along with the cauliflower.
kevin says
March 31, 2014 at 12:31 pmJessica: Roasted mushrooms would be a great addition!
Me says
May 23, 2014 at 8:26 pmAny estimate on how many cups of cauliflower florets you need? My grocery store has small cauliflower heads and not sure ifi need 1.5 or 2
Me says
May 23, 2014 at 8:26 pmAny estimate on how many cups of cauliflower florets you need? My grocery store has small cauliflower heads and not sure ifi need 1.5 or 2
kevin says
June 1, 2014 at 1:42 pmMe: 2 small heads will be perfect!
Anonymous says
August 7, 2014 at 2:29 pmThis looks so good!!
hmjones says
November 1, 2014 at 10:02 amHas anyone tried this recipe with frozen cauliflower?
Angie D. says
February 8, 2015 at 11:19 pmMade this as my lunch for the week. Added 2 zucchinis, mushrooms, onion and garlic and it was sooo good! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Meadows08 says
February 16, 2015 at 10:17 pmI made this on the weekend and it was delicious. It tasted like I was eating something really naughty!
kevin says
February 16, 2015 at 10:18 pmMeadows08: I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Madelyn @ hcgdropsreviews.net says
August 27, 2017 at 6:31 pmThis is by far my favorite low carb recipe. BY FAR. I like to add extra cream and butter to the cauliflower and annihilate it with my VitaMix and then portion it out in ramekins. The rest of the fam isn’t low carb, but they will eat this with pleasure so sometimes I have to make it as a whole casserole. 🙂
thelady8home says
March 22, 2018 at 2:10 amAnother gem….yummm