Low Carb Cheese Crust Pizza
An easier, tastier homemade keto pizza option
For the most part, my journey to eating better over the past several years has led me down the path of eating more whole foods and fewer processed ones. I’ve come to enjoy foods I never even considered eating or knew how to prepare before, like salmon, “egg roll in a bowl”. I’m also eating more veggies and less sugar. But, occasionally, on a Friday (or Monday, no judgement) night, you just have a craving for pizza.
Low Carb Pizza Options
I don’t do great with grains and I also don’t enjoy most gluten-free flours so pizza is a challenge at times. As a result I’ve discovered some work-arounds for those days when I just really want some pizza:
Cauliflower Crust Pizza
I’ve honestly never found a cauliflower crust pizza recipe I liked. Your mileage may vary! Please let me know if you find a recipe that is equal parts delicious and easy because I do love the idea of getting some veggies in with my pizza!
Meatza by NomNomPaleo
Decent, actually delicious (the crust is italian sausage, so how could it not be?!) but kind of a lot of work. Also, to be expected, incredibly filling since each piece of pizza is like eating a hamburger as well.
Chicken Crust Pizza by Keto Connect
I guess this is technically a variation of a “meatza” but it’s a lot easier in my opinion (this crust uses canned chicken for the crust, which is easy, packs a great flavor punch, and is still filling because it’s meat, but less overwhelming/heavy than a crust made of Italian sausage). Also, I’ve literally never had it turn out badly…which is true of most Keto Connect recipes now that I think about it!
Fat Head Pizza
This pizza crust is made with almond flour and cheese, so be aware of that for any with nut allergies or dairy intolerances. Personally, much like I don’t love GF flours, I’m not a huge fan of almond or coconut flour either (same reason why I don’t tend to do many low carb baked goods), so this isn’t my favorite option, but I’ll make it in a pinch! It also has some of the best consistency of any low carb pizza I’ve ever made and holds up really well.
RealGoodFoods Frozen Pizza (AKA Lazy Option)
If a craving strikes that is so strong you can’t even bear to do the research to find a recipe and make your own ( in my opinion it would really need to be a severe craving, because if I’m going to eat pizza, I want it to be 1,000% worth it), you could try to find and buy one of these frozen pizzas! Realgoodfoos has individual sized (5") pizzas or slightly larger (7") pizzas in most local grocery store frozen sections (or at least my Kroger has it and I’ve heard most Targets do too). Or, with enough forethought, you can also order them online — and they have cauliflower crust pizza options, poppers, and even low carb enchiladas that are actually pretty tasty, too! Realgoodfoods uses chicken as their crust / wrapper of choice unless, of course, it’s a cauliflower option.
Other store bought options:
I haven’t tried many of these but found a great blog post by who else but keto connect about different store-bought frozen pizza options, some of which are considered keto, others not so much. tl; dr: do your research (cauliflower doesn’t [necessarily] make it keto).
My Low Carb Cheese Crust Pizza Alternative
In spite of having many low carb pizza options above, I find myself returning more often to an odd little variety I’ve come up with from trial and error: Cheese Crust Pizza.
*Disclaimer*: This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a “try this and adjust as needed!” set of potential steps to follow. Every time I have made cheese crust pizza, it varies a bit based on what kind of cheese I use, the oven I’m working with, and whatever toppings I want to use or have on hand. So, I’d suggest using these steps as a loose guide but also would encourage you to get creative and make this recipe your own!
- Preheat oven to 375 *(I started at 350, on convection heat, upped it to 400 and then found somewhere right in the middle seemed best for my oven — oven cook times vary so you may need to adjust. You’r looking for your cheese crust to melt and brown without burning, so keep an eye on it!)*
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper — I really like these parchment popups from Kroger (or here’s my affiliate link to an Amazon alternative if you want to use it. I also personally love these silicone baking tray mats but hubby doesn’t. To each their own. 🤷♀️ ):
3. FOR ONE PIZZA*: Sprinkle 2+ cups of cheese (mozzarella + other cheeses) evenly on the parchment paper. I have used all different cheeses but I always keep mozzarella as my main cheese and then add a few others. (seems to work better for crust consistency than just 1–2 cheeses — parmesan is always a must, but this time I also used some sharp cheddar and some pepper jack. Also — I started with 2 cups, but when I checked the baking sheet 5 min. into cooking I saw it was melting but there were some gaps, so I filled those in with some more handfuls — just eyeball it but make sure that you have full coverage a you have an actual crust). *or, if you’re like me, do this twice on two different baking sheets to make two pizzas at the same time — just make sure you have enough cheese, sauce, and toppings on hand!
4. Bake your cheese crust for 5–15 minutes *(check every 5 or so minutes)* or until it starts to crisp up / brown on the edges and get some brown spots in the middle, but not so long that it burns. It should look something like this:
5. **Weird / somewhat tricky step** — The KEY to making this pizza work is this step — and it’s kinda weird but trust me, it works! You need to remove the parchment paper / cheese crust from the baking sheet and put it on your counter and let it sit for a couple of minutes. It will crisp up as you do this.
6. Top your Pizzas! Once the cheese crust is bit cooler and starting to crisp up, you can start to add sauce (Rao’s is a super tasty low-carb option available on amazon — that’s my affiliate link if you want to use it — but it’s cheaper at Costco and most other grocery stores including Kroger!) and whatever toppings you like — I used onion, banana peppers, and pepperoni on one and sausage and onion on another! I also topped with another couple of handfuls of cheese — though, remember, the CRUST is cheese already so you don’t need a ton of cheese on top.
7. Return the pizzas with their toppings to the baking sheets, and return the baking sheets with their pizzas to the oven.
8. Set oven to a high broil and watch it closely! Remove pizzas once they reach the level of melting/browning desired — probably within 2 minutes.
9. Once again remove the pizzas from the baking sheets onto the counter and let sit a few minutes (they will re-soften in the oven and this will allow them to re-crisp up).
10. Optional: Add some fresh basil to the top of your cooked pizza!
11. Use a pizza cutter or kitchen scissors to cut up your pizza and enjoy! (Pro-tip: cut as you go — as your pizza sits between servings the crust will continue to crisp up.)
Alternative — crispier option (best for a single serving):
Instead of using the oven, use a nonstick skillet on your stovetop. Sprinkle (less, maybe 1 cup?) of cheese into the bottom and allow it to melt over medium heat. Once melted, use a spatula to start to remove it as a circular cheese bottom to a plate — allow to sit a couple minutes to get crispy — then top with sauce, toppings, etc. and return to the skillet to get melty again (note: this option doest get as pretty on top without the broiling, but if you have an oven-safe skilled you could put it under a hot broiler to finish it off and have the best of both worlds!)
Alternative — snacks / appetizers / kid friendly version:
Instead of doing a full pizza crust (personal size in a skillet or family size on a baking sheet), you could do little handfuls of cheese on a baking sheet or in the microwave to make mini cheese crisps. Then top these with pizza toppings and re-microwave or re-broil to melt/finish off and enjoy!
Biggest tips:
- Play literally everything by ear: how much cheese you need to form your crust (too much = too floppy; too little = it will burn/be too brittle), what oven temperature to use, how long to let it sit up and crisp before adding toppings, how long to broil for, how many toppings your crust can handle (I wouldn’t go more than 3–4 personally)
- Remember when you go to eat this that it is probably 1+ cup of cheese going into your body. You may very well hit a wall at 2-4 pieces when you can ordinarily eat 4-6, and even then have regret the next hour to next day and realize you should have stopped at 1-2. Bodies don’t love digesting cups of cheese at a time. 🤷♀️ You have been warned.
- Related to the tip above: don’t fool yourself that this is a health food. It may technically be “keto” or “low carb” but it is full of processed ingredients (or at least mine was since I used pre-grated cheese to make this easier and I love pepperoni and sausage). I am very aware it was not a nutritionally dense meal, but, at the same time, food is more than fuel sometimes, and it hit the spot on a Friday night in the summer along with watching the finale to Stranger Things! Sometimes you gotta go for memories over macros.
Good luck and have fun! Let me know if you come up with any tips that help your at-home low-carb pizza attempts consistently turn out great. 😊 🍕 😋
