I love making pizza from scratch. It might take a little time with all the kneading, leaving the dough to rise ( maybe twice), preparing the toppings, etc. but I enjoy the process and definitely enjoy the eating too!
My pizzas are rarely traditional tomato sauce/cheesy numbers. I’ve made Spanish Romesco & Pesto Topped Pizzas, a “Southwestern” style BBQ Pizza and Socca Pizza, amongst others.
Today’s is even more different- a Vegan Turkish Pizza, also known as Lahmacun.
Lahmacun is a traditional recipe in the Middle East- a thin, oval-shaped flatbread topped with spicy lamb or beef mince, baked until crisp and then topped with salad and herbs.
Of course I don’t use lamb or beef for mine and instead made my own “meat” from ground mushrooms and walnuts. I was really pleased with how well it turned out and along with all the herbs and spices it was a wonderful topping with lots of texture and flavour.
I tried to keep it as simple as possible but all the ingredients really add to the overall experience so I didn’t streamline it too much. That is to say, don’t be overwhelmed by the long ingredients list and you likely have most things on hand already.
You could speed up the prep by using store-bought pizza dough too. I used my old faithful pizza crust recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance 
(using half whole wheat flour) and made sure to roll it out thinly.
I’m not sure how traditional the tahini drizzle is, but I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to use the stuff…The lemon wedges, red onion and extra herbs are definitely typical though.
Ingredients
- 1 Ball of pizza dough
- 1/2 C Walnuts
- 1 C Sliced Mushrooms (50g)
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- 1/2 Onion, diced fine
- 1 Clove of garlic, minced
- 1 Medium tomato, de-seeded and chopped fine
- 1 Tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Cumin
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Allspice
- Pinch of chili flakes
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- Handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Hanful of fresh mint, finely chopped
- To serve- any number of the following:
- Lemon wedges
- Red Onion, sliced
- Fresh parsley, mint & shredded romaine lettuce
- Sumac
- Tahini Sauce (tahini mixed with lemon & water)
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse the mushrooms and walnuts until coarsely chopped and well combined. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 225C/450F.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the onion and sauté until translucent (5-7 minutes).
- Add the garlic, tomato, tomato paste, spices and salt and cook for a further couple of minutes. Add the mushroom walnut mixture and stir to coat in the spice mixture. It might look dry at this stage but the mushrooms will release some moisture as they cook. Cook for approx 10 minutes, stirring every now and again, until the tomato is cooked down and you have a thick, slightly saucy mixture. Stir through the chopped herbs and set aside.
- Roll out your pizza dough to a thin oval shape, top with the spiced "meat", spreading it evenly but not too thick or your dough will get soggy. You might not need it all.
- Transfer to a lined baking sheet and cook for 10-15 minutes until the dough is cooked through and crisp.
- Serve topped with any number of the following: fresh herbs, red onion, tahini sauce, a sprinkle of sumac and with a squeeze of lemon juice.
A Turkish Shepherd’s Salad is a lovely fresh accompaniment as well and can be thrown together in the few minutes that the pizza is baking.
What are your favourite pizza toppings?
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Can’t believe it’s taken me so long to discover this site. Going to make this as a Friday night treat, excited already!
I’m happy you found me Alice! Better late than never.
Hope the recipe’s a hit with you
I wish I could come over to dinner at yours! My flatmate had a pizza (non vegan) earlier and the smell of it alone made me salivate.
Well…if ever you move back to London we’ll have to make pizza together!
I can see why you did a Twitter teaser before posting this, it looks AMAZING. Definitely not scared by that ingredient list, I have everything besides the sumac (And I’ve been meaning to try sumac for a while now anyway so this is a good excuse to go get it:) The mushroom/walnut topping sounds yummy already, and then combine it with tahini and all that wonderful nonsense and it just seems to elevate to levels of insane deliciousness. Giving this recipe a try soon for certain!
You don’t even need the sumac if you don’t have it. A squeeze of lemon is almost as good.
Thanks for your enthusiasm about the recipe 😀
i love this idea, emma! walnuts and mushrooms create such an awesome texture together and all of the ingredients just sound amazing.
Thanks Caitin. I was pretty excited about the walnut/mushroom topping. Worked really well
Drooling Emma!! Such an incredible looking pizza, absolutely gorgeous and colorful. I love it. I love all the spices and the addition of mint on top. I’m also a huge lover of thin crust pizza, never liked the overdone fluffy, thick pizza crust. I want to eat pizza, not crust!!
You and me are food soul mates! I’m not into thick pizza either. Thin and crispy is what it’s all about!
I love the topping
Thanks Elaine. I loved it too!
My fav pizza topping is the one with the most vegetables on.
Except aubergine / eggplant. NEVER put aubergine on my pizza. (I’m looking at you Morrisons dear)
I’m with you on pizza with all the vegetables on! Though I think I’d rather like grilled aubergine on pizza….;)
This looks brilliant - we have lots of middle eastern bakeries near us that do this sort of pizza and all I can have is the cheese or zaatar pizza but I would much prefer your vegan version of the meaty one - it would probably work quite well with home made or bought pita bread too.
Pita would be a good speedy alternative to pizza crust for sure. Lucky you to have Middle Eastern bakeries near you. I suppose there are lots in London but Bath where I’m currently living is very “English” and there’s sadly not a big international scene
Thanks for introducing me to this stunning new take on the classic slice! I love the sound of your mushroom/walnut “meat” topping, and may just make that component to mix up with pasta for a quick-fix meal.
I was thinking about using the leftovers with pasta but in the end just bunged it on top of a salad. Loved it like that though! Happy to introduce you to something new Hannah
Yum! Pizza is one of my favorite meals to make. We usually stick with a traditional Neapolitan style but this sounds fabulous.
There’s definitely a place for a good classic Neapolitan pizza. I’m tempted to get a pizza stone for a really crisp crust. Do you have one?
This recipe sounds wonderful! Since I am not vegan, I would go back to putting meat on it (I hope you can forgive that…).
My favorite pizza toppings start with using béchamel sauce instead of tomato. I like Greek flavors, and one that our favorite brewpub makes, which has asparagus, chicken and bacon. Goat cheese or feta are way up there on my list of favorites.
I’d forgotten about white pizza! I make one with a roasted garlic vegan bechamel which I love 😀
I’m not sure I’ve gone Greek in style though. Thanks for the inspo!
At first I thought this was tempeh. Mushrooms and walnuts sound like an amazing idea!
I had originally thought of using tempeh but some of my readers have told me they can’t get hold of it so I thought I’d try something different. I bet tempeh would be great too though
Yum!! I confess to only making pizza dough a handful of times - in Australia we had a pizza base brand we liked and would just add the toppings and could from scratch. I think I’d enjoy it if I made time for it though.
Also, thanks for your arrival welcome
London is gloriously sunny! It’s certainly been wonderful to arrive to and it’s really fun setting things up (even if there is SO much to set up!).
You’re here! So glad it’s stayed gorgeous for you
I’m not sure I’ve ever used a store-bought base! We have a lovey brand over here called Biona Organic who do pizza bases (spelt and whole wheat) but I’ve never gotten round to trying them for some reason.
http://www.biona.co.uk/product-191-4.html
Oh my goodness! I am so glad I found this recipe: THANK YOU for creating it! I spent all winter in Turkey, and I am so excited to be able to create a vegan version of this dish now. It’s on my shopping list for the week!
Sooooooo exciting! Thank you again!
Oh yay! That’s great to hear Julie! Hope it’s a hit with you. Do let me know how you like it.
I made it today: I doubled it and made two huge pizzas: ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! My partner and I both loved it, and having both lived in Turkey, we agree that you got the Turkish spices right on!!! I will make this recipe again and again! Oh my goodness, thank you for creating this! Having focused on some potato pide that I found in Istanbul that was vegan, I would have never thought to veganize lahmacun, but I am so glad you did!!!!! Thanks!
It was so nice to wake up to your kind comment this morning Julie! Thank you so much for trying the recipe, and I’m ecstatic that it was such a hit 😀
I only stopped over in Istanbul for a couple of days but I would have loved to have stayed longer, and especially have explored Turkish cuisine more!
Thank you again for the recipe, I’m glad it made your morning.
Next time you’re in Turkey, try vegan potato Pide “patatesli pide” or something like that, and you have to make sure “paneer siz” no cheese. Also the potato goz leme an mushroom goz leme are awesome!
For a future culinary adventure!
Thanks for the tips! I’ll definitely be heading back to Turkey in the future. It was such a shame we were only there a couple of days (at the tail end of a trip around the Greek islands).
Thanks for the recipe! I have not heard of turkish pizza before, but am excited to give it a try.
Oh my god this was soooooo good!! My boyfriend and I made this pizza for dinner last night, and it was the first pizza I’ve eaten since going vegan. It was amazing. My boyfriend said that he was craving it this morning. His father made a stone pizza oven in his backyard, so he is used to really good quality (non-vegan) pizza but he still thinks that this is one of the best that he’s had! The lemon tahini sauce was a really good addition too.
good job.
Wow, thank you so much for your lovely comment. Definitely made my day! I’m with you on the tahini sauce - that creamy element means you really don’t miss the cheese. Thanks for trying the recipe and I hope you give a few more of mine a go 😉
this is SUCH a perfect recipe! i’m turkish and i found myself craving lahmacun, the traditional one, and i found that THE TOPPING was absolutely spot on and tasted just like how i remember it in my non-vegan days.
however, i do recommend anyone who tries this recipe to make yufka (turkish flatbread) as the base for this, it’s really easy and not only is it how we eat lahmacun in turkey, it’s the best tasting way to eat it too 😉
thanks so much!
I love your site but this is not lahmacun. The dough should have been much thinner.