Easy Crustless Pizza Bowls
Crustless pizza bowls have all the delicious flavors of pizza but require far less work than making traditional pizza. There’s no pizza dough, or turning on the oven, and they’re ready in under 30 minutes. This easy recipe is dairy free and gluten free.
Looking for more easy pizza recipes? Try my 10 minute pizza wraps, Vietnamese pizza, or spaghetti squash pizza casserole.
What You’ll Love About This Recipe
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this crustless pizza bowl recipe:
- Olive oil
- Italian sausage
- Cremini mushrooms
- Yellow onion
- Red and green bell peppers
- Tomato paste pizza sauce – tomato paste, olive oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, kosher salt, black pepper.
- Cashew cheese sauce – raw cashews, nutritional yeast, red wine vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, and kosher salt.
- Fresh basil leaves – for garnish.
- Freshly ground black pepper – to taste.
How to Make Pizza Bowls: Step By Step
Here are some quick visual instructions. The full instructions and ingredient list will be in the printable recipe card below!
- Soak the cashews in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse. Add to a blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook the Italian sausage until no pink remains then remove it from the skillet with a slotted spoon.
- Add the mushrooms, onion, and red and green peppers. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the cooked Italian sausage back into the pan and pour in the pizza sauce. Stir to combine and cook for 1-2 minutes to heat through.
- Serve in bowls with a dollop of the cashew cheese sauce, torn fresh basil leaves, and freshly cracked black pepper. Serve with a side of toast if desired.
Helpful Tips
- Use pizza sauce, not tomato sauce. You want the extra flavor that pizza sauce has. If you don’t have the ingredients for tomato paste pizza sauce, storebought is fine.
- Serve with a side of toast for added texture, or on top of rice to bulk it up.
Quick Tip: If you’re substituting another type of ground meat for the Italian sausage, you’ll need to season it since the Italian sausage contributes a lot of flavor to the pizza bowl.
Storage
Store leftover pizza bowls in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Make It Your Way: Substitutions & Variations
Please remember that recipes are just a starting point.
How can you make this easy pizza bowl recipe using what you already have? Here are some ideas…
- No Italian sausage? – use another type of ground meat such as ground beef, ground chicken, or ground turkey, but season it with extra spices.
- No cashews? – use shredded cheese of choice.
- Add-ins – sliced black olives, red pepper flakes, pepperoni slices, dairy free mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, banana peppers, bacon bits, or any of your favorite toppings.
More Pizza Recipes
I hope you love this Pizza Bowl recipe! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment & a star rating below. Thank you!
Easy Crustless Pizza Bowls
Ingredients
Cashew Cheese Sauce (Optional, See Notes)
- ½ cup raw cashews
- 3 tablespoons filtered water plus more if needed
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt, to taste start with ¼ teaspoon if using any other kind
Pizza Bowls
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
- 1 medium yellow onion thinly sliced
- 1 medium red bell pepper cut into bite size strips
- 1 medium green bell pepper cut into bite size strips
- tomato paste pizza sauce or 1 ½ cups of storebought
- fresh basil leaves torn
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse. Add to a blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Blend until smooth.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook the Italian sausage until no pink remains then remove it from the skillet with a slotted spoon.
- Add the mushrooms, onion, and red and green peppers. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the cooked Italian sausage back into the pan and pour in the pizza sauce. Stir to combine and cook for 1-2 minutes to heat through.
- Serve in bowls with a dollop of the cashew cheese sauce, fresh basil leaves, and freshly ground black pepper. Serve with a side of toast if desired