I discovered eggplant pizza the other day as I was scrolling through Instagram and saw an amazing photo by a vegan food blogger. The recipe looked super easy, which was perfect because I was wanting to make pizza with a homemade sweet potato crust and that recipe was more involved than I had hoped for.

But eggplant pizza? Easy, simple ingredients, filling and oh so tasty ?

This recipe is vegan and naturally gluten free, with juicy eggplant, savory tomato sauce, melty vegan cheese shreds, mushrooms, olives, artichoke hearts and red onion. A much healthier version of pizza but just as delicious. Whoever came up with the idea for eggplant pizza is a genius ??

Ingredients You Will Need:

• 1 large eggplant
• Himalayan pink salt or sea salt
• extra virgin olive oil
• dried oregano
• tomato sauce
• garlic powder
• nutritional yeast (optional)
• vegan cheese shreds (or cashew cheese)
• toppings: mushrooms, olives, artichoke hearts, red onion, bell pepper, spinach, broccoli, etc.

6 Easy Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut your eggplant into approximately 1/4 inch slices. I got 5 slices from my eggplant. I left the skin on because it looks prettier, which made it a little chewy, but I didn’t mind. However, you can peel the skin off if you prefer.
3. Lay your slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle salt over the slices and let them sit for 20 minutes. This brings the extra moisture from the eggplant to the surface.
4. Wipe the salt off and dab the excess salt with a paper towel. Drizzle olive oil over the slices and sprinkle some dried oregano. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
5. Spoon tomato sauce onto the eggplant slices. I used a small can of plain organic tomato sauce and mixed garlic powder, salt, dried oregano and a little nutritional yeast to it for added flavor. Add your vegan cheese shreds (homemade cashew cheese would also be yummy and less processed) and whatever toppings you like.
6. Broil on low for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and your pizzas are starting to brown on top. Let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!

I’ve only made this recipe once, but we’re already in a committed relationship ? I know it will be my new go-to whenever I’m craving pizza. Regular vegan pizza doesn’t actually fill me up for very long, but eating this eggplant pizza for lunch left me so full that I didn’t eat dinner until 9 pm!

This is a great meal for getting in all those veggies your body needs while also being freaking delicious. Well done, eggplant pizza, well done.

Jillian ?