If you want something closer to a pizza than a meatza, this is THE recipe for you. It’s a great way to serve pizza to everyone. I’ve served it to many people not familiar with Paleo or gluten-free and they all loved it! The crust, unlike other Paleo pizza crust is crunchy on the edges and perfectly mimics any thin crust pizza. 😉

First, you’ll need to find  a yuca or cassava root. This is a tuber that is fairly commonly used in South America and will make the crust for your Paleo grain-free and gluten-free pizza.  It is actually the only ingredient used to make the crust. Pretty cool, isn’t it? I personally can find yuca root at my local grocery store. If you can’t find it there, try different health food store or a latino shop.

*** Make sure you read the note below if you have a thyroid problem.

Then just be creative with the toppings.

Bon appétit! 😀

Paleo Yuca Pizza

Servings or Yield: 4-6 servings
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients:

1                      large yucca / cassava root (or 2 medium)
1-2 tbsp        bacon fat, coconut oil, butter or ghee
1-2                  onion, sliced
½ – 1 cup     mushrooms, sliced
1 lb                 bacon cooked and crumbled
To taste        salt and pepper
½ – 1 cup     tomato sauce
1-2 cups        mozzarella, grated (optional)
Optional      cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, avocado slices, kale, spinach

Process:

1. Preheat the oven at 350°
2. Peel your yucca root and grate it.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper greased with coconut oil or ghee (make sure you grease it because it will stick!).
4. Press the grated yucca root on the parchment paper as thinly as you can to cover the whole surface.
5. Bake your pizza crust in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until it appears dry, the edges are slightly golden and it holds nicely together.
6. Meanwhile, prepare your pizza toppings and sauté the onions and mushrooms (optional step) in your chosen fat for 5 minutes or until cooked.
7. Once the pizza crust is cooked, cover with the tomato sauce and top with sliced onion, sliced mushrooms and bacon. Season to taste.
8. Cover the pizza with grated cheese. If desired, add cherry tomatoes at this point.
9. Bake in the oven for an additional 15 minutes until everything is warm and the cheese melted. Put 2-3 minutes under broil if you want your cheese to be more golden.
10. Decorate with fresh herbs and slices of avocado.
11. Enjoy warm right away or eat the leftovers (if any!) cold the next day.

Make it AIP-friendly (autoimmune protocol):

•  If you’re sensitive to nightshade, use pesto instead of tomato sauce.

Important note: yuca is a goitrogen (impairs thyroid function)

• Yuca is a goitrogen, which means that it interferes with thyroid function. Boiling the yuca and getting rid of the water can help decrease the amount of goitrogens it contains but this wouldn’t work with this recipe. Just keep it in mind. If you have a thyroid issue, this might not be a good recipe for you. And even if you don’t, you might not want to eat this every day either. It’s all about balance! 🙂