This vegetarian barbecue chickpea pizza with crispy kale and cilantro lime aioli is the ideal summer pizza. Sweet potato pizza crust topped with smoky, spicy barbecue sauce, pan-fried chickpeas, onion, cheese, and marinated kale are baked to perfection and served with creamy cilantro lime aioli.

You deserve a great Monday meal! I’ve got you covered with this barbecue chickpea pizza. It’s the May long weekend here in Canada, and I can’t think of a better meal to enjoy tonight (okay, aside from a good burger or sandwich) than this pizza. Slice of barbecue chickpea pizza in one hand, glass of ice cold beer in the other. Life is good.

barbecue chickpea pizza details

I had been meaning to create a barbecue chickpea pizza for awhile, so I finally got down to work on it. I started with a sweet potato pizza crust base, since sweet potatoes, barbecue sauce, and chickpeas go together perfectly. It’s also gluten-free and less heavy than flour pizza crust, yet very flavourful.

The pizza crust is definitely the most time consuming element of this recipe, but it’s leavened with baking powder, meaning that you don’t have to wait for your dough to rise. Instead, you simply mix up the dough, divide it between two baking sheets, and pre-bake it while you get your toppings together.

ingredients you’ll need

For the sweet potato pizza crust, you’ll need sweet potatoes, oat flour, ground flax, garlic, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, extra virgin olive oil, dried oregano, dried basil, sea salt, baking powder, and water.

For the pan-fried crispy chickpeas, you’ll need extra virgin olive oil, chickpeas, cumin, smoked paprika, sea salt, and pepper.

For the crispy marinated kale, you’ll need kale, extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt.

For everything else, you’ll need cheese of your choice (I used organic marble cheddar, but any flavourful cheese will do- you could even use vegan cheese to make this into a vegan pizza), barbecue sauce, red onion, and pickled jalapeños.

For the cilantro lime aioli, you’ll need mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice and zest, and garlic.

the method

Start by preparing the sweet potato pizza crusts.

Note: I often prepare the pizza crusts several hours in advance- this really cuts down on the active prep around dinner time! I just leave them on a wire rack and loosely cover them with parchment paper until I’m ready to make my pizzas.

Next, make the pan-fried chickpeas. Warm the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chickpeas and cook until lightly browned, stirring occasionally, for five minutes. Stir in the spices and salt and continue to cook for five more minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Make the marinated kale: Place the finely chopped kale in a bowl and drizzle with the olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and massage the oil into the kale so that it becomes tender and bright green.

You’re now ready to make your pizzas!

Spread ¼ cup of barbecue sauce onto each crust. Top each with ½ cup of the chickpeas, a handful of diced red onion, and ½ cup of grated cheese. Bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven, sprinkle the marinated kale over top, and return to the oven for 5 more minutes, or until the kale becomes crispy.

While the pizzas are in the oven, whip up the cilantro lime aioli. Simply whisk together the mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice and zest, and garlic in a small bowl.

Remove the pizzas from the oven and wait five minutes before slicing and enjoying with some pickled jalapeños and the cilantro lime aioli.

frequently asked questions

Love the looks of this recipe, but I don’t have time to make the sweet potato crust.
Not to worry- a store-bought crust will work just as well. But do try it with the sweet potato crust at least once- it’s irresistible. 🙂

What should I serve with this pizza? I think simple raw veggies and and dip would be great. This pizza is quite satisfying on its own, so you won’t need much else to complete the meal. In the colder months of the year, try serving it alongside a bowl of soup for a hearty dinner.

One final hint: I love to double this recipe (so that I end up with 4 pizzas instead of 2) so that we can enjoy leftovers for lunch for a couple of days. As written, the recipe serves 4, so doubling it makes 8 servings.

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I hope that you love this barbecue chickpea pizza with cilantro lime aioli! If you make it, let me know how you enjoyed it by leaving a comment and rating below the post. And if you share a photo to Instagram, tag it @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen. I love seeing what you’ve made.

Have a great start to your week, and enjoy! I’ll be back on Wednesday with a broccoli white bean veggie burger.