Homemade Deep Dish Pizza with “Sausage”, Peppers and Onions

Prep time: 75 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes

The base of this homemade vegan pizza is deep-dish pizza crust recipe that is buttery and delicious. I make it in a regular pizza pan so if you don’t have a deep-dish pan, no worries - it will be every bit as delicious and will make a thick, buttery, and light crust.

In this version I top this homemade vegan pizza crust with a protein-rich tempeh sausage, made from scratch for that perfect savory bite. Then I load it up with fresh red and green bell peppers and tasty onions. This vegan pizza combines taste and nutrition without compromising on indulgence, delivering everything you want in a classic dish so even your non-vegan friends will go back for seconds. Give this homemade vegan sausage pizza a try and enjoy the satisfaction of protein-rich pizza with zero cholesterol!

Ingredients & Instructions

Ingredients: For the Crust

• 1 cup warm tap water

• 1 package active dry yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons) 

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour (up to 3 ½ cups) 

• ½ cup coarse ground cornmeal 

• 1 teaspoon salt 

• ¼ cup vegetable oil 

Ingredients: Toppings

• 1 medium-sized yellow onion

• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced

• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced

• 12-ounce container pre-made pizza sauce

• 8-ounce bag vegan mozzarella cheese

Ingredients: For the “Sausage”

• 1 package tempeh

• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds

• ½ teaspoon red pepper 

• 1 ½ teaspoons sage 

• 1 teaspoon oregano 

• ½ teaspoon garlic 

• 1 ½ tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

• ½ teaspoon white pepper or black pepper

• 1 tablespoon avocado oil or canola oil

• ¼ cup water 

• juice of ½ lemon 

• 1 cup vegan chicken broth - see my recommendations under notes and adjustments

Step 1 - Make the Crust

• Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast with a fork.

• Add 1 cup of the flour, all of the cornmeal, salt and the oil. Mix to combine.

• Add the flour ½ cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl (I typically use 1 ½ cups at this stage, for a total of 2 ½ cups flour).

• Flour your hands and knead the ball of dough until it is no longer sticky (about 5 minutes).

• Let the dough rise in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel for 45 to 60 minutes in a warm place. 

• **While the dough is rising it is a good time to prepare the vegan tempeh sausage and other toppings.

• Once the dough has completed the first rise, pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees. 

• Punch the dough down, and turn it out onto a floured surface - you can kneed it a few times at this point.

• Place the dough in an oiled 15-inch deep-dish pizza pan (or regular pizza pan) and press it out from the center to the edges so it is even along the bottom of the pan and is slightly thicker around the edges.

• If you have a deep-dish pizza pan you can pull the crust up along the interior sides of the pan so it makes a “deep-dish” style crust.

• Let the dough rise in the pizza pan for 15 to 20 minutes.

Step 2 Make the Tempeh Sausage

• Crumble the block of tempeh into a frying pan and cover with vegan chicken broth.

• Steam the tempeh over medium-low heat until most of the broth is absorbed, about 10 minutes. (This step removes some of the naturally bitter flavor from the tempeh.)

• While the tempeh is steaming, mix up the marinade.

• In a bowl combine the fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, sage, oregano, garlic powder, tamari, white or black pepper, oil, water, and lemon juice.

• Mix the marinade ingredients until they are very well combined.

• Once your tempeh is done steaming, add the marinade to the tempeh and let it cook in the marinade until it is all absorbed (about 10 minutes); then transfer the tempeh to a separate container.

Step 3 Preparing the Veggies:

• Chop one medium yellow onion into long thin strips.

• Dice up 1/2 of a red pepper and 1/2 of a green pepper (you can substitute any color pepper!).

• Saute the peppers and onions in a small amount of vegetable oil for about 5 minutes, until they become fragrant and a bit softer. (Pro-tip I use the tempeh pan to save on dish washing!)

Step 3 – Put it all together!

• After the crust has completed the second rise, top it with a thin even layer of pizza sauce.

• Evenly spread one package of vegan mozzarella cheese (generally 7 or 8 ounces) over the crust and sauce.

• Evenly spread the tempeh sausage over the pizza.

• Evenly spread the peppers and onions over the pizza.

• Bake for 15 minutes at 500 degrees.

• Lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake for another 15 to 25 minutes, watching carefully to see when the crust turns to a golden brown color. You can lift the crust while cooking with a spatula to check if it is done. It is done when it is a beautiful golden brown.

Notes and Adjustments:

The quality of the vegan chicken broth you use will really make a difference in this recipe. My favorite broth is Better than Bouillon brand. This can be difficult to find, but I will put a link to where you can order it below – stock up! This stuff is truly the best.

Links: When available we use affiliate links and may earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Better than Bouillon Vegetarian No Chicken Base https://amzn.to/4crZBPu (Amazon)