Skip the Windy City, and Make Your Own Vegan Deep-Dish Pizza at Home

According a Pizza Hut survey, the average American eats around eight slices of pizza every month—that’s nearly 100 slices every year. 

Another 2022 survey by YouGov found that while 47 percent of Americans prefer a thin-crusted pizza, more than 30 percent would rather sink their teeth into a deep-dish pizza, a special pizza pie first made in Chicago.

Connoiseurus Veg

With a thick, buttery pie crust, and inverted layers of cheese, fillings, and tomato, deep-dish pizza is hearty, filling, comforting, and delicious. It’s traditionally made with dairy cheese and meat, but it’s just as tasty when it’s plant-based. For further proof, check out some of our favorite vegan deep-dish pizza recipes below.

What makes a pizza deep-dish?

A deep-dish pizza is different from a traditional thin-crust pizza because of its layering.

While Italian pizzas feature dough topped with tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings, a deep dish pizza coats a thick base with cheese first, before adding the toppings, and then the tomato sauce goes on top. This gives the pizza more of a pie-like appearance and changes the texture significantly.

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In fact, deep-dish pizza has even been described as a casserole on more than one occasion (most famously by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show in 2013), and in 2014, Chicago-based chef Graham Elliot told Eater that it was like “a lasagna with a crust.”

Deep-dish pizza certainly has its haters (Elliot called it “an abomination), but it has plenty of fans, too. Minneapolis chef Andrew Zimmern, for example, admitted to Eater he would call the dish more of a pie, but added that it’s “fantastic food—it’s unbelievably delicious.”

How to make vegan deep-dish pizza: 7 recipes

Whether you call it lasagna with a crust, a pie, a savory cake, a casserole, or a pizza, there’s no denying that deep-dish pizza is popular not just in Chicago, but all over the world. If you can’t find anywhere near you that makes an authentic plant-based version, or you just feel like cooking from scratch, keep reading to find out how to make delicious vegan deep-dish pizza at home.

Seitan Beats Your Meat

1Chicago Deep Dish Pizza With Italian Sausage

This deliciously indulgent deep-dish pizza recipe from Seitan Beats Your Meat combines vegan Italian-style sausage (which you can buy from the store or make from scratch, using ingredients like tofu or seitan) with thick marinara sauce, vegan mozzarella, green peppers, onions, garlic, and dairy-free parmesan. It’s hearty, filling, and guaranteed to please the whole family.
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The Whole Food Plant-Based Cooking Show

2Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza With Homemade Pepperoni

The Whole Food Plant-Based Cooking Show’s version of deep-dish pizza is made entirely with whole foods, including cashew-based cheese and pepperoni made from buckwheat and quinoa. The result is a dish that is hearty and comforting, but packed with nutrition, too. “Picture the thick, chewy crust cradling a creamy, gooey cheese sauce, homemade pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, and spinach, all topped with a scrumptious deep red pizza sauce,” writes recipe developer Jill Dalton. “It just doesn’t get any better than this.”
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Vegan Richa

3 Deep Dish Cheese Pizza With Pretzel Crust

If you love cheesy pizza and you love pretzels, you are going to adore this recipe from Vegan Richa. It combines a cheese deep-dish pizza recipe with a tasty, crispy pretzel crust, with “unreal” results, says recipe developer Richa Hingle. “Saucy, melty, gooey, and easy to make—this vegan pretzel crust pizza is utterly delicious,” she says.
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Carrots and Flowers

4Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza With Spicy Sauce

This tasty rendition of Chicago-style deep dish pizza has quite the kick thanks to the chunky, spicy, red pepper sauce topping. Of course, it’s also complete with gooey vegan cheese, which is homemade with a blend of plant-based ingredients like cashews, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice. “It is everything a pizza should be, you won’t even be able to tell it’s vegan,” notes Carrots and Flowers founder Megan. “Use this pizza to convince all your friends to give up cheese.”
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Vegan Yack Attack

5 Mozzarella Mac Deep Dish Pizza

Vegan Yack Attack’s deep dish pizza combines two hearty American favorites, pizza and macaroni and cheese for a match made in food heaven. “When I was thinking about the execution, look, and recipe of this dish I knew that it’d be crazy, and probably pretty tasty. But I had no idea how much I was going to love it,” says recipe developer Jackie Sobon.
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Connoisseurus Veg

6 Loaded Deep Dish Pizza

Deep-dish pizza is all about indulgence, so why skimp on the toppings? This delicious recipe from Connoisseurus Veg packs plenty of tasty plant-based ingredients into the mix, including homemade vegan mozzarella cheese, white button mushrooms, onions, and green peppers, but you can add whatever you like. Go big or go home.
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Elavegan

7 Gluten-Free Deep Dish Pizza

According to Elavegan, this dish “is the perfect comfort food on the weekends.” It’s packed with spinach, mushrooms, onions, and corn for extra flavor and nutrition, alongside vegan cheese and marinara sauce. But one of the best things about this recipe is that it’s gluten-free, so everyone can enjoy it.
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