I’ll start this post with a disclaimer: I’ve only been to one Super Bowl party in my life, and it was 25 years ago. (I’m much more of a baseball fan.) Because of my limited experience, I did some research on Super Bowl fare. As I had guessed, traditional Super Bowl celebrations are pretty meat-centric. Think chicken wings and pigs-in-a-blanket for starters.
So what do vegan football fans do? As with many potlucks, vegans need to bring something substantial that they can eat. Otherwise, it’s likely your dinner will be chips, guacamole and dessert.
In my research, I noticed that pizza is a popular Super Bowl item, which totally makes sense, so I decided to look for a vegan, gluten-free alternative to traditional pizza. This gives vegetarians a substantial choice, but it will also appeal to omnivores.
I found these little polenta pizzas in The Forest Feast Gatherings by Erin Gleeson. The book’s focus is on creating vegetarian-based gatherings for friends. It’s organized into chapters that include seasonal gatherings (spring, summer, fall and winter), brunch, a cocktail party, a salad buffet, and vegan and gluten-free gatherings. The recipes are simple and the book is beautifully put together with photos and watercolor illustrations.
These little pizzas are very simple to make. Even though I rarely use packaged polenta, I felt that the time savings would be worth it. Also, packaged polenta is already shaped so that you can easily slice it into rounds. To save time, I also used Organicville’s pizza sauce, although any marinara will do. With these two shortcuts, these little pizzas are very quick and easy and they taste great.
Vegan Super Bowl: Polenta Pizzas
- 2 red onions, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 package of prepared polenta (You may need a second package, depending on how thinly you slice it.)
- pizza sauce
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Put It Together:
- Sauté the onions in the olive oil on low heat for 25 minutes or so, until very soft. Then add the sun-dried tomato pieces and stir.
- Slice the polenta into 1/4-inch rounds.
- Layer each round with a teaspoon or so of sauce, a tablespoon of the onion/sun-dried tomato mix and 1 teaspoon of the chopped walnuts.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until hot.
These are tasty when warm, but they’re also good at room temperature, which makes them a great potluck contribution. Have a great vegan Super Bowl celebration!