Popeye was right about spinach: dark green, leafy vegetables are the healthiest food on the planet. As whole foods go, they offer the most nutrition per calorie.
Michael Greger
The last time I had spinach artichoke dip, was about a dozen years ago. I made it to take to a friend’s holiday party. I wanted it to be really special. I researched recipes and bought the ingredients, excited to share this dish with friend. It was the hit of the party. People gathered around with blue corn chips and slices of toasted French bread, ready to dip in.
I’ve seen recipes for vegan spinach artichoke dip and pizzas and thought a marriage of the two would be a yummy dish. Wow. This is heaven on a plate. Rich, creamy, flavorful, and also healthy, with fresh and frozen spinach, artichokes, garlic and onions, and spices. I thought of making it a deep dish pizza, but reconsidered and made it a flat crust.
For the dough, I used this recipe for cornmeal olive oil dough. I made it two days in advance and let the dough rest in the fridge. It’s a wet dough, perfect for deep dish decadence. With a little flour to coat it, it worked well for this pizza. The dough is pillowy and flavorful, a bit like focaccia.
This is a very adaptable recipe. You can use fresh or frozen spinach. I had some frozen spinach in the fridge, so I thawed it in a bowl of warm water, picked out the stems, and squeezed the life out of it! You want your spinach to be dry. Wet spinach, especially frozen and thawed, is slimy. No one likes slimy spinach, especially Popeye!
I used 1/3 frozen spinach and 2/3 fresh. I like fresh better so I doubt I will buy frozen again, as it’s failed in every recipe so far. I used both fresh garlic and garlic powder. I sprinkled in some nutritional yeast and also used miso. Both noosh and miso add umami flavor, which gives food an earthy taste. If you have either or both of these ingredients, use them. If you don’t you can use other spices to pepper your dip (pun intended!).
Final dishes are a reflection of the ingredients you use. Find a vegan cream cheese, mayo, and cheese that you like and use those. I love Violife and Kite Hill cream cheeses, Follow Your Heart Vegenaise, and Violife or Miyoko’s vegan cheeses, especially the hard Violife parmesan, which I used in this recipe. It’s a matter of personal taste, so find what works for your palate and budget. If you are up for it, you can make your own.
Ingredients
- 3 cups spinach, fresh or frozen
- 1 small jar artichoke hearts, cut into bite size pieces
- 1/2 cup vegan mayo
- 4 ounces vegan cream cheese
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1/4 medium onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon miso paste
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- olive oil
- vegan parmesan (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 450° for 45 minutes before baking your pizza.
- Add miso paste and garlic powder to the vegan mayo. Set aside.
- Heat a glug of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add artichoke hearts and spinach. Stir to combine.
- Add salt and pepper and red pepper flakes.
- Scoop vegan mayo mix into the pan. Stir to combine.
- Add vegan cream cheese. I tore off bits and placed them in the pan, as you can see in the photo.
- Remove from heat.
- Roll out your dough. Bake dough for 3 minutes. Open and close oven door quickly so you don’t lose more heat than you need to.
- After a 3 minute “blind bake,” remove crust from oven and spread mixture over the top, leaving a 1 inch rim all around the pizza.
- Bake for an additional 10-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the crust and your oven. When you smell it, it’s done.
- If you are using a brick of hard vegan parmesan, slice about 15 small strips off the block and place them on top of the pizza immediately after it comes out of the oven. It will melt right in!
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing.
- Enjoy! This is a filling pizza. It would be great with beer!
52 Vegan Pizzas 