Ah, pizza… one of the great loves of my life! My parents separated when I was nine years old, and for the rest of my childhood (and beyond) I took full advantage of the situation. On Friday nights my mum would give me my dinner (or ‘tea’, as we call our evening meal here in Stoke), then my dad would take me to his house. Of course, I would invariably tell him I’d had no tea (dinner) and he would put a pizza in the oven. Dad always kept his freezer stocked with at least three or four frozen pizzas from Aldi. My appetite for pizza was legendary.
Now, on to the recipe… ok, I’ll be honest: the jackfruit ‘chicken’ in this recipe doesn’t taste like chicken. It is, however, coated in chicken seasoning and brings added texture and depth of flavour to the pizza.
This pizza is super simple to make, but having the right ingredients will take it to the next level. I definitely recommend making your own pizza base if you can. I like to make a big batch and save some in the freezer. For this pizza, I used a batch of pizza dough I’d saved from making this recipe a couple of weeks ago. With regards to the toppings, I’ve included the brands I used as they worked so well together. The Vivera mince, in particular, is perfect for this recipe as the mince is crumbly and not too mushy or moist, resembling the type of mince you’d get on an actual meat feast pizza.
Here’s a series of photos showing the pizza as each topping is added:
This pizza was a hit with the whole family, including my 15-year-old son who, unlike me, is NOT a pizza person. My husband, who is usually sceptical about jackfruit, thought it made a great addition to this dish. Unfortunately, my six-year-old did not agree because “jackfruit is blergh!”
Vegan Meat Feast Pizza with Jackfruit ‘Chicken’ (makes two pizzas*)
Ingredients:
- Two pizza bases, or pizza dough rolled out
- 400g tin jackfruit, drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp chicken seasoning
- 250ml passata
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- Olive oil spray
- 4 Quorn smoky ham-style slices, cut into pieces
- About 150g Vivera veggie mince
- 100g vegan cheese (optional – I used Vitalite Dairy-Free cheese)
*To make one pizza, simply halve all the ingredients
PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 200 DEGREES CELSIUS
Method:
- Use your fingers to pull apart the jackfruit. Remove and seeds or firm parts that don’t ‘shred’. You can either discard them or chuck them in your next curry, stew, etc. Place the jackfruit in a bowl, add the chicken seasoning and mix well. Leave to stand for 10-15 minutes.
- Grate the garlic clove into the passata and mix well. You can season with a little salt and black pepper if you like; I didn’t and the pizza tasted great nonetheless.
- Spray a baking tray or pizza tray with olive oil and place a pizza base on the tray. Spread on half the passata. Top with half the Quorn slices. Add half the jackfruit and sprinkle on half the Vivera mince. Bake in the oven for ten minutes (if not using cheese, bake for 15-18 minutes and skip step 4).
- Remove from the oven, sprinkle on half the cheese and spray olive oil spray over the pizza crusts. Return to the oven for 8-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 to make the second pizza.
