Today is the day that MOD Pizza has brought us Plant-Based Italian Sausage! We, at VeggL, have always been a fan of MOD Pizza, mainly for their casual over-the-counter style of ordering which allows you to choose from so many toppings to create your own pizza.
Ryan and I are very different with our topping preferences and this allows us to be as simple or creative as we want and we can choose the size of pizza (a Mini 6″, MOD 11″ or Mega Dough 11″ thick crust) we want.
With the option of having vegan dairy-free cheese, vegan doughs (the original or gluten-free), 5 different sauces and over 25 different toppings, the only thing missing was a vegan meat. And now we have it!
The NEW Plant-Based Italian Sausage is made with:
filtered water, non-gmo pea protein, expeller-pressed canola oil, tomato paste, sherry vinegar. contains 2% or less of: yeast extract, salt, onion powder, sugar, natural flavors, mushroom extract, celery seed powder, ginger powder, white pepper, tomato powder, sunflower oil, spices
…and is made by the company, Plantly Plant-Based Provisions.
With this release, you may have heard about a pizza called, The Willow… can it be made vegan?
Yes! But make sure you order the vegan version of the The Willow, as the non-vegan version consists of white sauce, asiago, ricotta, plant-based sausage, mushrooms, arugula and romesco sauce to finish. The white sauce, asiago and ricotta all contain dairy.
The vegan version of The Willow has olive oil as its base sauce with chopped garlic, the NEW plant-based Italian sausage, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, dairy-free cheese, arugula and the romesco sauce as a finisher.
Salads
Another great option, I think often gets overlooked, is their Salads! Order a salad on it’s own or as a side to your Vegan Pizza (a Mini side salad, MOD entrée salad or Mega family-sized salad). You can choose from arugula, spinach, romaine and/or mixed greens and have all of these toppings to choose from along with 7 different vegan salad dressings.
And why not add a little plant-based sausage to your salad?
Dressing options include, balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, lemon vinaigrette, greek & herb tahini, red wine vinegar, sherry dijon vinaigrette and zesty roma dressing. Options may vary by location.
If you follow a whole food plant based way of eating, I have listed your options in the Mod Pizza Vegan FAQ section of their VeggL Vegan Guide.
FREE PIZZA!
With this NEW Plant-Based Italian Sausage release, MOD is celebrating by offering you a free additional pizza when you order one with the Plant-Based Italian Sausage, in store. This celebration ONLY takes place today, August 31, 2021.
…and we took advantage!
I ordered us two pizzas with the plant-based Italian sausage; the vegan version of The Willow for me and a pizza with spicy red sauce, dairy-free cheese, roasted red bell pepper, pineapple, jalapenos and red onion with a bbq swirl finisher for Ryan.
In Conclusion
My thoughts on The Willow is that it’s really good! Do not be afraid of the arugula as it gives a little kick of spice which is really nice on a pizza. Could I specifically taste the Plant Based Italian Sausage? I’m not too sure to be honest. I wish I could give you a definite answer. Overall though, I would order this combination on a pizza again at MOD.
I did run into a couple issues, at my specific location, when ordering. They were unaware that The Willow has a vegan version. When I asked for it, they started asking me about the dairy items on it and the white sauce… which left me in a flurry to look it up on my phone (on the MOD Pizza website) as I did not have the specifics of what was on it in my head.
Now granted, this is the first day but they did not seem fully up to date with what was happening today even with the free pizza. Be aware of this.
My suggestion is when ordering in the store, order your pizza without calling it The Willow–ask for whichever crust you prefer and size with olive oil and garlic as the base with vegan dairy-free cheese, the new plant based sausage, roasted red bell peppers, mushrooms, arugula and the romesco sauce as a finisher.
Also be aware that they use their hands with gloves to pick up the toppings to create your pizza. If you prefer to be as non-cross-contaminated as possible or if you have allergies, ask them to use a fresh pair of gloves.
We hope you enjoy your next pizza day at MOD!
