Vodka sauce just may be the most decadent sauces out there, and our plant-based version lives up to that claim. For a truly indulgent meal, we rolled out mini deep dish pizza crusts (100 percent vegan, of course!), added a layer of our favorite vegan mozzarella, and topped it all off with a hearty dollop of our mouthwatering vodka sauce! These mini deep dish pizzas taste incredible, and their charming appearance is sure to elicit impressed gasps.
To make our mini deep dish pizzas with vegan vodka sauce, you will need…
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium cloves garlic
- 1 shallot
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 14-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
- 1/3 cup vegan milk
- 3 tablespoons vegan butter
- 3 tablespoons vodka
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- All-purpose flour
- 1/2 pound homemade or store-bought pizza dough
- Sea salt and ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup shredded vegan mozzarella (we used Chao coconut herb)
- 6-8 large basil leaves
How to Make Our Vegan Vodka Sauce
Many vegan vodka sauce recipes out there suggest replacing heavy cream used in with cashew cream, but we find that mixing together vegan butter and vegan milk of your choosing not only saves time, but also results in a cream that’s just as rich and less likely to be overly sweet.
- Begin by finely mincing the shallots and garlic.
- Place a medium sauce pan over medium heat, and when you can feel heat radiating off the bottom of the pan, add the olive oil.
- Add the shallots to the pan and cook until translucent, which should take about three minutes.
- While the shallots cook, drain the tomatoes into a colander and crush by hand.
- Add the garlic, oregano, and pepper to the saucepan with the shallots and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant (about one minute).
- Add the tomatoes to the sauce pan and increase the heat to bring to a boil, then reduce to a slight simmer.
- Continue to simmer, stirring from time to time, for 20 minutes.
- While the sauce reduces, melt the vegan butter and mix it into the vegan milk to create vegan cream! We find a vegan butter made with virgin coconut oil (like Melt) and a blended nut milk (like almond cashew) work best, but feel free to experiment and see what you prefer!
- Add the vegan cream you’ve just created into the tomato sauce, then once again increase the heat to boil, reduce to a simmer, and continue to simmer for 20 minutes.
- If you feel too much liquid has evaporated before the 20 minutes have elapsed, add 1/3 cup water.
- Add the vodka and simmer for an additional 7 minutes.
- Remove the pan from heat and season with sea salt and ground black pepper.
- Once the sauce has cooled slightly, pour it into the bowl of a food processor and process, starting on the lowest speed and gradually increasing to high, for about two minutes. At this point, the sauce should be completely smooth.
How to Make Mini Deep Dish Pizzas
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.- Lightly coat the inside of 6 muffin tin cups with olive oil.
- Dust your work surface of choice with flour and divide your dough into six piece (we find it can be helpful to use the rim of a cup for this, much like the way you would when making biscuits). Roll out each dough piece into a 6-inch round. Don’t worry too much about getting the circles to be even shapes, we’re going for a rustic look!
- Gently press each dough round into a muffin tin cup.
- Fill each cup halfway with vegan mozzarella (about 2 tablespoons per cup) then dollop the vegan vodka sauce on top to fill the cups (again, about 2 tablespoons).
- Place the muffin tin in the oven and bake for six minutes.
- While the mini deep dosh pizza bake, finely chop the fresh basil leaves.
- Remove the tin from the oven and sprinkle the top of each cup with the finely chopped basil.
- Place the tin back in the oven and cook for an additional six minutes, or until the dough is golden brown and crisp.
- Let the mini deep dish pizzas cool for at least two minutes before removing from the cups.
Enjoy!
