Vegan Pizza Bagels

Is it breakfast, lunch, or dinner? I’d argue that pizza is all-the-time food.

INGREDIENTS

Pizza Sauce

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup of fresh basil, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Pizza Bagels

• 3 bagels, sliced in half (I love to use everything or onion bagels)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1 cup of Pizza Sauce (see above)
• 1/2 cup of vegan mozzarella
• 1 chopped green bell pepper
• 1 chopped red bell pepper
• 1 chopped red onion
• 2 vegan sausages, sliced (I’d personally recommend Tofurky’s Spinach Pesto Sausages, they can be found here)
• 1/2 teaspoon of oregano

INSTRUCTIONS

For Pizza Sauce

1. Chop yellow onion and mince garlic. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until oil is shimmering. Sauté onion until softer and translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic, cook for 30 seconds before lowering heat to medium low. Add crushed tomatoes, chopped basil, and salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.

For Pizza Bagels

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice the 3 bagels and lay out each half on a large baking sheet so you have 6 bagel slices.
2. Brush olive oil onto each bagel slice and sprinkle garlic and onion powder over each slice. Bake in oven for 3-5 minutes, until slightly toasted.
3. Chop peppers and onions and slice vegan sausages. Set aside.
4. Once toasted, spread pizza sauce on each bagel, top with mozzarella, and vegan sausages, peppers, and onions. Once pizza bagels are well topped, bake them in the oven for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from oven after 15 minutes. Top with oregano and let cool for 5 minutes before eating. Enjoy!

*Unlike traditional marinara, you don’t want to fully cook pizza sauce so it can finish cooking in the oven. For a traditional marinara, just simmer this sauce for 45 minutes instead of 15 minutes.

*If you want to make this recipe gluten-free, just swap your traditional bagels with some gluten-free ones. There should be no difference in baking time, however, you may want to forego the 3-5 minute toasting step as to avoid them becoming too dry.

*There will definitely be leftover topping ingredients. The toppings can be used to make more pizza bagels (yes!) or sometimes I like to throw them all in a skillet with frozen hash browns to make a lovely vegan breakfast hash (also yes!). That, or you can sauté the peppers and onions, add a little pizza sauce and mozzarella, and create a mini sausage and pepper sub. The options are truly endless!

*I got the inspiration for this recipe from Tabitha Brown via her video recipe for Tasty. You can watch it here.