As if you ever need a reason to eat more pizza, October is National Pizza Month. Regardless, it’s a fine excuse to celebrate your local pie shops, heat up your pizza stone, or indulge in your favorite freezer varieties.
There are many reasons to consider pizzas made with non-traditional crusts: allergies, dietary restrictions, lifestyle, etc. While these reasons all focus on health and wellness, there’s another reason that one or more of these pizzas should be on your radar: tastiness.
The alternative-crust market in 2020 is a multi-billion dollar industry, and products in this category have come a long way since first hitting shelves in the last decade or so. Beyond cauliflower, other raw ingredients coaxed into pizza crusts are made from a variety of vegetable, grain, and even nut sources. (Read on for one surprise selection that’s especially apropos for 2020…) For your convenience, and in honor of National Pizza Month, we’ve rounded up a selection of nine alternative crust pizzas you can buy online.
Cauliflower: Cali’flour Foods Traditional Plain Crust, Stack of 10 for $60 at Cali’flour Foods
Cali’flour Foods
Cauliflower has been making alternative pizza crust headlines since about 2009, and it’s still the champ where sheer volume is concerned. Numerous brands produce cauliflower crusts including Caulipower, Outer Aisle Gourmet, and even the verdant vegetable king himself, Green Giant. Cali’flour Foods produces crusts only, so you can build your pizza of choice, and their selection of different crust flavors are also bound with a little extra cheese—hardly a bad thing for National Pizza Month.Buy Now
Chickpeas: Banza Chickpea Crust Four Cheese Pizza, $7.99 at Target
Banza
Banza has been in the alternative pasta game for some time, climbing quickly to the top of the list of preferred brands for its neutral flavor, familiar texture, and frankly, its bright orange box. Now Banza is in the pizza market and poised to do as well, with an almost “doughy” crust that ought to easily pass muster with even the biggest skeptics.Buy Now
Almonds: Cappello’s Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese Pizza, $12 at Cappello’s
Cappello’s
Cappello’s swaps out the wheat flour for almond flour, producing a crust with a satisfying crunch that also kind of makes you feel like you’re eating a cookie. (Pizza cookies…2021 trend? I’m into it.) In addition to pizzas, the brand also produces pasta, including lasagna sheets, and…wait a sec…cookie dough!Buy Now
Sourdough: Alex’s Awesome Sourdough Thoughtfully Sourced Mozzarella Pizza, Find in Stores here
Alex’s Awesome Sourdough
2020 called…to order pizza. Sourdough became a pandemic darling earlier this year, so it rightfully deserves a place in a frozen pizza lineup. “Naturally fermented,” rather than relying on commercial yeast, the increase in bioavailable nutrients in the crust itself allows this pizza to declare itself gut healthy. (Even the cauliflower crusts can’t be that bold.)Buy Now
Broccoli: Spinato’s Margherita Broccoli Crust Pizza, $13.89 at Spinato’s
Spinato’s
Just because cauliflower is a blank slate color-wise doesn’t mean it’s the only entry in the cruciferous crusts category. The product of a pizzeria family, Spinato’s broccoli crusts pizzas come in several varieties, and the brand even produces sauces: Marinara, Vodka Cream, and Tomato Basil. (No broccoli was harmed in the making of the sauce.)Buy Now
Chicken: Realgood Foods Chicken Crust Pepperoni Pizza, $8.99 at Realgood Foods
Realgood Pizza Co.
When KFC came out with the Double Down, where chicken was swapped for a sandwich bun, that move was bombastic. But chicken as a pizza crust? Inspired. (And keto-friendly!) It’s basically a way to eat chicken parm while still celebrating pizza.Buy Now
Corn, Carrot, and Chia: Sweet Earth Natural Veggie Lover’s Pizza, $6.49 at Target
Sweet Earth
Sweet Earth’s selections also contain regular flour, so these pizzas aren’t gluten-free, but with cornmeal, carrot, and chia seeds in the mix they are health-forward or—to use the brand’s verbiage—”enlightened.” The Veggie Lover’s also happens to be vegan, but additional flavors like Pepperoni Lover’s, 5 Cheese Lover’s, and Truffle Lover’s are decidedly not.Buy Now
Sweet Potato: Udi’s Sweet Potato Crust 4-Cheese Pizza, $6.99 at Target
Udi’s
Second only to cauliflower, sweet potato also got a glow up in the last decade for being championed by the Paleo and Whole30 movements. The 4-cheese pizza also includes smoked provolone—a nice touch along with the sweet potato for adding a little flavor intrigue to a cheese pizza.Buy Now
Sprouted Whole Grains: Angelic Bakehouse Flatzza Sprouted Whole Grain Crust, Pack of 3 for $17.49 on Amazon
Angelic Bakehouse
Here’s a side of science with your pizza: Sprouted grains are grains that have begun to germinate, making their nutrients more readily available and their byproducts easier to digest. With all that’s happened in 2020, “easy to digest” is at the top of my wish list for 2021.Buy Now
Header image courtesy of Cali'flour Foods.
