After publishing this easy pita pizza post last week, I received a lot of emails asking if I knew of a grain free version of a pita. Well, here it is! If you don’t eat grain free, these are a great alternative to get more veggies in your family’s (and your) diet.
I’ve been working for months on grain free recipes for the MOMables grain free meal plan. The meal plan is a 2 family sized meal + 3 single lunch meals per week. One of the things that I’ve learned about eating grain free is that sometimes you have rethink the classics so we can adapt them for the whole family.
This recipe is pretty simple. It was shared by way of a conversation with my previous intern and friend Monica of Bravo for Paleo. She’s been instrumental at helping me make the grain free switch over a year ago.
It’s no secret I’ve been busy both at home and on the road. The Best Homemade Kids’ Lunches on the Planet is available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble –I even found it at my local store! –and book number two is in the editing process as I type this today.
As usual, I’ve been traveling quite a bit for work and, like you, I’m also juggling all the typical responsibilities of motherhood. At the end of the day, this leaves me needing simple and speedy lunch and dinner solutions, of course.
Like many families, we each have our own special dietary needs. In my family, one kid is gluten free, another is dairy free and, as for me, I’m (mostly) grain free. My husband eats anything and my daughter calls herself a gluten-lover. Avoiding short order cooking is what I’m all about!
I make simple swaps that work for our whole family like the pita recipe I’m sharing today, or serving up cauliflower rice with my family’s favorite stir-fry recipe. See how to make cauliflower rice here. I’ll show you six different ways to make it that are so simple you can have “rice” every night!
What have I been lacking in the grain and gluten free department? Pitas! Finding supermarket available pitas that those of us who are grain and gluten free can all eat is particularly challenging. I buy my family’s favorite brand for those than can eat them and I’ve been making substitutions for Alex and I, until now.
Inspired by my love of putting things on a pita or on pizza, I decided to give this recipe a try. It can be used for whatever your pita fantasies may be. We use them in place of pizza crust, pitas, naan, and flatbreads. While they don’t “wrap” well, they make awesome tostadas and can be held like a taco.
Whether you need to stock your freezer with pitas to make quick and easy pita pizzas or you’d love nothing more than a fresh out of the oven wedge for your favorite hummus dip (yum!), these grain free pitas are perfect.
I happen to love this pita dough recipe in particular because it meets all of our food sensitivity needs and it adds a serving of veggies! I’ve also made this recipe with 2 1/2 cups cauliflower rice + 1/2 cup carrots for additional veggieness and they turn out great.
I can make them when we need them or bake a big batch to freeze some for later. When I prep ahead and make extra, my husband is happy because he knows he has some available on demand when I travel. Frozen pizzas are a thing of the past with these!
Grain Free Pitas – Cauliflower Pizza Crusts
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Basics
Scale
Ingredients
- 1 medium cauliflower, finely riced to 3 packed cups
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon creole seasoning (or your favorite seasoning mix)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and position oven racks in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Clean cauliflower and place flouters inside the food processor. Turn on food processor and chop it finely, finer than rice.
- Place riced cauliflower in a large microwavable dish. Cook for 3 minutes, stir, and cook for an additional 1 minute. Allow cauliflower to cool down to room temperature.
- Place cooled cauliflower inside a large cheesecloth or kitchen towel. Close and ring out excess water. Transfer cauliflower back into large dish or bowl.
- Add eggs and seasoning to cauliflower. Using a fork, whisk the eggs and seasoning into the cauliflower until it’s evenly distributed.
- Scoop out approximately 1/2 cup of mixture onto the parchment lined pan. Press down with your hands to create a circle shaped base. Repeat process and form 8 pita bases, 4 in each tray.
- Bake trays 10 minutes, remove from oven, carefully lift and flip each pita base, switch tray positions, and bake and additional 7 minutes.
- Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack.
To make pita pizzas:
- Spread sauce, toppings, and cheese over grain free base and bake for approximately 7 minutes, until cheese is melted.
To use as tostadas or hand held pitas:
- Once pitas are cooled, heat up a medium sized pan and place 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil on the pan. Once heated, place one pita base and heat up to crisp the outside, about 2 minutes, flip and brown the other side. Use as you would any pita. To make the browning process go faster, I often use a griddle, which allows me to brown 4 pitas at a time.
Notes
I realize this cauliflower pizza crust recipe has been done before by many other paleo and grain free bloggers. If I had to choose a place where I adapted this recipe from it would be from Slim Palate’s Cookbook. With his key step of draining out the excess water I was finally able to recreate a non-mushy pita!
To Freeze: after cooling, transfer back to the parchment lined baking sheets, freeze for an hour, and store inside a freezer zip bag.
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Need other ideas of what to make with these grain free pitas? Use them in these recipes:
Hummus & Fried Egg Tostadas
Guacamole Tostadas
I’ve been wanting to make thesev for a long time now. I don’t have a food processor so making the cauliflower rice takes some serious time. I love the idea of having them in the freezer ready to go. Do they pack well? I don’t want them to get soggy by the time lunch comes around.
Thanks !!!
Shante, using a fine grater will also give you fine “rice”. The key to packing these without getting soggy is to a) make sure you drained out all the water, b) toast them well to make them crunchy, c) not put a lot of sauce on them. I also let them cool down to room temperature prior to packing so they don’t get soggy with the steam.
Do you think it would work with an egg substitute like flax meal?
Robyn, I have not tried it with a flax egg. If you try it and it holds, will you let me know?
Hi Laura,
It is great, easy to make it, tastes real good, we served like a pita with topping and now making pizza.
Many thanks,
Alma and Refik
★★★★★
I’m thrilled this worked for you for a variety of recipes!
These look yummy – thanks for sharing! Question…. what if one overblends and ends up with a puree rather than a rice consistency? Would it still work?? Thanks so much! 🙂
Christie, I have never tried it that way. I’m crossing my fingers for you that they did hold together!
I don’t have a microwave, can you add a stovetop method? Perhaps I’ll try steaming after I “rice” the cauliflower?
Heather, you can steam your cauliflower any way you’d like. the key is to wait until it cools slightly and squeeze out the excess moisture.
These look great, and simple! When eating them from frozen, do they get soggy when thawed? Also, if making pizzas from frozen pitas, would you thaw them first, or could you just add toppings and the baking would thaw them?
Beth, they do have a “soggyness” to them when you thaw them. I toast them first, then bake them and make pizzas.
Not a good time to be cleansing! These look amazing. I have a huge head of cauliflower in the fridge begging for this recipe! I am going to make as many as my cauliflower head will allow and then freeze! When cleansing is done, I’m feasting on hummus and pittas, pizza, garlic bread…yes, I’m a bit hungry and a huge bit excited!
I can never stick to a cleanse. good for you! if you plan on freezing these, ring out as much as the water as possible (change the towel, ring a second time) for best results. Enjoy!