Salad Pizza

Whenever anyone asks me about my favorite restaurant, I almost always come back with a sweet little spot in my hometown of Pennsylvania. It’s called Pizza Grille and it’s honestly not some fancy or over-the-top place, but I’ve been ordered the salad pizza for as long as I can remember. For awhile, it wasn’t even a menu item, then they added it to the menu and then each time I would go in, I would order it, except have them modify it to put the chopped salad on top. I’m disappointed to say it’s been ages since I’ve gotten to go there, but it still ranks as my favorite. Old habits die hard, eh? Thankfully, my parents are exceptional in the pizza making department, so every time I go home, I enjoy the fruits of their outdoor pizza oven. They always come up with the best recipes (you can read about their 5 favorites here, plus see photos of their supremely awesome outdoor set-up), but salad pizza remains a favorite to me. If you’re new to this trend, it’s basically a pizza crust with salad on top, but honestly – the real magic is in the balsamic glaze and garlicky, crispy crust. I wanted to recreate this recipe in my own kitchen and it took a bunch of fails before I actually got it right (no pizza oven here in Hawaii is a real buzzkill). In any case, I think I’ve finally got it, so without further ado…dairy free, gluten free salad pizza!

Salad Pizza

First things first – it’s important to note that you can absolutely top this pizza with whatever type of salad you prefer. I think doing a Caesar salad would be delicious, as would a Cobb salad with all the fixings (egg, bacon, ranch, etc), but as stated above – I’m incredibly partial to how I grew up eating it, so here I sit with the chopped lettuce/cabbage combo and balsamic glaze. 

For this recipe, you will need:

For The Crust

1 cup gluten free flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup plain dairy free yogurt (I like Silk)

1 tsp. garlic powder

To note: If you want to create this recipe and don’t have a gluten issue, feel free to use 1 cup self-rising flour and 1 cup regular Greek yogurt. Gluten free self-rising flour is really hard to come by (does it even exist? I can’t find it!), so I modified that concept by adding the baking powder and salt!

For The Topping

2 large handfuls romaine, chopped (I use these to get the pieces really small!)

1 cup cabbage, chopped (again, I use the chopper to get the piece really small)

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

3 tbsp. Gazebo Room

balasamic glaze, drizzled

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Blend yogurt into flour mixture with a fork. The mixture will become “raggy”. At this point, use your hands to finish mixing into a dough ball.

4. Spread dough onto pizza stone/pan (this is the one I use – perfect for the oven or the grill!).

5. Sprinkle garlic powder evenly and bake for 20-25 minutes.

6. You want the edges to be browned and crispy, but not burned, so use your judgement on timing!

7. While pizza is cooking, combine lettuce, cabbage and onion in a large bowl. Chop a little bit extra once the mixture is altogether – in my opinion, getting the pieces as small as possible is key! Don’t ask me why, but I swear it tastes better.

8. Once chopped, toss salad in Gazebo Room.

9. When crust is finished, remove from oven and top with lettuce immediately.

10. Drizzle with balsamic glaze and serve!

To me, salad pizza is the perfect summer treat and it’s so full of flavor and textures that it’s completely satisfying all on its own. In fact, I made and ate this pizza all by myself, because it’s THAT good. I will tell you ahead of time, that this is not one of those recipes that is good the next day. If you have leftovers, I recommend scraping the salad off the top and storing the lettuce mix and crust separately and then putting it together for any leftovers you might want to eat the next day. But trust me when I tell you, I’ll be shocked if there are leftovers.

Have you ever attempted Salad Pizza? Is this a recipe you would try? If you enjoyed this summer treat, you might also like 3 Ways To Dress Up Your Avocado Toast or 25 Spiralizer Recipe Ideas.