This fennel and ricotta pizza features caramelized fennel, onion, garlic, vegan sausage, and two vegan cheeses on a fennel seed-infused crust. With dairy-free ricotta and mozzarella plus briny olives, you won't miss the dairy on this flavorful pizza!
A few months ago I was brainstorming ways to use vegan ricotta, and I came across a Cooking Light recipe for sausage, fennel and ricotta pizza.
Though their recipe isn't vegan, the idea of a caramelized fennel pizza has been on my mind ever since.
The last pizza recipe I shared, Pesto Stuffed Crust Pizza, was a celebration of summer's abundance of fresh basil.
Now that fennel season is here, I figured it's a great time to share this vegan interpretation of fennel and ricotta pizza!
Ingredient Notes
- pizza dough - use a store-bought pizza dough to save time or make my favorite pizza dough. See the Notes section of the recipe for details.
- fennel and onion - you'll need one large fennel bulb and one large onion. I used a sweet onion but any variety you have on hand is fine.
- vegan Italian sausage - such as Tofurky
- vegan cheeses - I used almond ricotta and cashew mozzarella; more on this below.
Homemade Ricotta
I love the idea of pairing a mild-tasting, creamy ricotta with the sweetness of caramelized onion and fennel. And since I already have a tried and true almond ricotta recipe on the blog, that was an easy decision!
There's also this tofu-based vegan ricotta if you prefer something lighter and with more protein.
For a flavor boost, I added a few cloves of sautéed garlic to the food processor while blending up the ricotta. I highly, highly recommend this step!
The tofu ricotta comes together in a bowl, no food processor needed.
Homemade Cashew Mozzarella
I also included a bit of cashew mozzarella on the pizza. This is another easy, quick, go-to cheese recipe that we enjoy frequently. It melts beautifully and is lower in fat than store-bought cheeses.
Store-Bought Vegan Cheese
Another option is to use your favorite store-bought vegan cheese. You can opt for pre-shredded, or buy a block and shred it yourself.
You can even use pre-sliced cheeses like Violife's smoked provolone or Chao creamy original, and shred those with a box grater.
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TIP! Shredding cheese yourself leads to a more attractive melt since the pre-shredded cheeses are coated with anti-caking agents.
How to Make Fennel-Infused Pizza Dough
If you plan to make your own dough, this little trick adds really nice fennel flavor throughout the crust...plus, it's so simple!
Using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, roughly grind one teaspoon of fennel seeds. They don't need to be broken down into powder, just broken up a bit.
Whisk the crushed seeds into the flour along with the salt, before adding the yeast/water mixture. You can do this with any pizza dough recipe. I used my herb pizza dough recipe, and omitted the oregano and basil.
The pizza dough recipe I linked to above makes enough for one 12-inch stuffed crust pizza (which you don't need for this recipe, although you could certainly do that if you want to!) OR two thin crust pizzas.
So you can either divide the dough ingredients in half to make one fennel pizza, or make the full batch of dough, and save half of it for another day. Wrapped well, pizza dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Now that you have a plan in place for the dough and cheese(s), you're ready to caramelize the fennel and onion.
Thinly slice both of them, about ¼ to ⅓-inch wide. After pre-heating the pan, add a tablespoon of oil. Fennel takes a little longer to cook than the onion, so add the fennel to the pan first, giving it about a 5 minute head start.
It should take about 30 minutes for both the fennel and onion to get nicely tender (though a bit of crunch is completely fine) and lightly browned. They'll have a chance to cook more in the oven!
I think you're going to love the flavors of this pizza! And if you're concerned the fennel will be too overpowering, don't worry! It's actually fairly mellow and blends beautifully with the onion, sausage, cheese, and briny olives.
In fact, this is pizza is SO good, my husband and I ate it twice last weekend and both decided it's quite possibly our new favorite!
I hope you enjoy this vegan pizza with ricotta and fennal! If you try the recipe I would love to hear from you. Comment below and tag me in a photo on facebook or instagram with @myquietkitchen!
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Recipe
Vegan Fennel, Sausage & Ricotta Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 12-inch pre-made pizza crust OR see the Notes section for instructions on making your own fennel-infused dough
- ½ batch Almond Ricotta - or tofu ricotta linked in Notes
- ½ batch Meltable Cashew Mozzarella, optional - Or use store-bought vegan cheese; refer to post for suggested brands.
- 2 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- 1 extra large fennel bulb, thinly sliced - about 2 cups
- 1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 link vegan Italian sausage, cut into half moons
- salt
- pepper
- crushed red pepper
- 1 handful good quality olives, such as Nicoise, kalamata, picholine, halved
Instructions
- Prep tips: The homemade cheeses can be made in advance OR while the dough is rising, if making your own dough. If making the ricotta the same time as the pizza, leave it in the food processor. When the sautéed garlic is done, use the food processor to blend it into the ricotta (step 4 below).
- Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees F.
- Preheat a large saute pan over medium-low heat. Add the oil and fennel to the pan and stir to coat. Cook the fennel undisturbed for about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the onion to the pan. Stirring only every few minutes, cook the fennel and onion until soft and caramelized, about 30 minutes. Adjust heat as necessary. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- In the pan used for the fennel and onion, cook the garlic over low heat for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Spoon the sauteed garlic into the almond ricotta and stir to incorporate or use the food processor to pulse/blend it in.
- On a lightly floured surface, stretch dough into 12-inch diameter. If using a pizza peel, prep as you normally would. Otherwise, remove hot stone from oven. Gently fold prepared dough in half (like a taco shell) to make it easier to transfer to the stone. Carefully place dough on stone and unfold. Brush with olive oil, and top with sausage, caramelized fennel and onion, and mozzarella, if using.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then remove pizza from oven and place dollops of ricotta on top. Return pizza to oven and bake 5 to 7 minutes longer, or until the crust is golden brown (total bake time for thin crust is usually 15 to 17 minutes). Allow the pizza to cool for a few minutes. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper and olives.
Notes
- The recipe makes enough dough for two, 12-inch thin crust pizzas (or one stuffed, thick crust). For this fennel pizza recipe you only need one thin crust. So you can either make the full amount of pizza dough, and save half for another day, or cut all ingredient amounts in half.
- Omit the oregano and basil, and add about ¾ teaspoon crushed fennel seeds. Crush the fennel sees using a mortar and pestle or by pulsing in a spice grinder.
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used.
Grace says
Hi Lori. Your pizza recipe sounds devine. Do you by chance have a gluten-free pizza dough recipe?
Lori says
Hi Grace, thank you. Unfortunately I don’t have a GF pizza crust recipe... or one to recommend. I should get to work on that!