It’s naturally crisp and crunchy, it holds together like a regular slice of pizza, and it actually tastes like the real deal. So, if you’ve never had the chance to try it yet, definitely take this opportunity to do it for dinner! It’s really fast to make, too – which makes it a perfect medium for someone with a busy life. And you might be thinking about the leftovers? Yep, it does fantastic in the fridge and I’d even argue that it tastes better cold.
You know, I’ve tried many, many pizza recipes over the last few years. From cauliflower to spinach to cream cheese and egg. I’ve tried most of the recipes out there and while some are definitely better than others, none come close to this one. This is by far the best, most realistic, and most sturdy crust I’ve found while on a ketogenic diet.
I decided to go the classic pepperoni and cheese route for this recipe, but feel free to top it with anything you’d like! Tell us, what’s your favorite pizza toppings – chicken and bacon, BBQ chicken, chicken alfredo, mushrooms and olives? Let us know in the comments below!
Yields 6 Slices of Pepperoni Pizza
The Preparation
Pizza Base:
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
- 1 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder
- 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Toppings:
- 1/2 cup low-carb tomato sauce, such as Rao's
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 ounce pepperoni
- dried oregano, to taste
The Execution
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Measure out 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and put into a microwave safe bowl. This is about 8 oz. of cheese.
2. Microwave the cheese until fully melted and pliable. Try not to have any more browning than the picture indicates (browned cheese will go hard). This took me ~90 seconds. Add 3 tbsp. cream cheese and 1 egg to the cheese and mix it in well.
3. Add 3/4 cup almond flour, 1 tbsp. psyllium husk powder, 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp. salt and pepper to the cheese mixture and mix together.
4. As you mix the dough, it should become cool enough to work with your hands. Knead the dough together until you can form a round ball.
5. Plop the ball onto a silpat (these are awesome, by the way) with 1 tsp. olive oil to keep it easy to work with. Press the dough out with your hands, forming a circular pattern as you press outward.
6. Bake the pizza for 10 minutes on one side and remove from the oven. I prefer to bake the pizza on an upside down cookie sheet – this allows for the pizza to spread out slightly without being constricted or contorted by the edges of the cookie sheet.
7. Flip the pizza to the other side and bake for another 2-4 minutes.
8. Remove the pizza from the oven and top with toppings of your choice (in this case: 1/2 cup Rao’s tomato sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and 16 slices pepperoni).
9. Bake again for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until cheese is nicely melted.
10. Let cool slightly, cut into slices, and serve. Optionally, sprinkle oregano over the top!
This makes a total of 6 servings of Low-Carb Pepperoni Pizza. Each serving comes out to be 325 calories, 25g fats, 4.3g net carbs, and 18.1g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 2 cup mozzarella cheese | 672 | 50.1 | 4.9 | 0 | 4.9 | 49.7 |
| 1 1/2 ounce cream cheese | 145 | 14.5 | 1.7 | 0 | 1.7 | 2.6 |
| 1 large egg | 79 | 5.2 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.4 | 6.9 |
| 3/4 cup almond flour | 486 | 42 | 18.5 | 10.9 | 7.6 | 17.6 |
| 1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder | 56 | 0 | 12.8 | 11.2 | 1.6 | 0 |
| 1 tablespoon italian seasoning | 9 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| 1/2 teaspoon salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/2 teaspoon black pepper | 3 | 0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| 1/2 cup low-carb tomato sauce | 29 | 0.3 | 7.1 | 1.8 | 5.3 | 1.6 |
| 1 cup mozzarella cheese | 336 | 25 | 2.5 | 0 | 2.5 | 24.8 |
| 1 ounce pepperoni | 143 | 13.1 | 0.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 5.5 |
| — dried oregano | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 1958 | 150.5 | 50.7 | 25.4 | 25.4 | 109.2 |
| Per Serving (/6) | 326 | 25.1 | 8.5 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 18.2 |
Low-Carb Pepperoni Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Base:
- 2 cup mozzarella cheese grated
- 1 ½ ounce cream cheese softened
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder
- 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Toppings:
- ½ cup low-carb tomato sauce such as Rao's
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 ounce pepperoni
- dried oregano to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Add the mozzarella cheese to a microwave-safe bowl.
- Microwave the cheese until fully melted and workable (about 90 seconds). Try not to have any more browning than what's shown in the picture (browned cheese will go hard). This took me ~90 seconds. Add the cream cheese and egg and mix well.
- Add the almond flour, psyllium husk powder, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to the cheese mixture and stir to combine.
- Knead the dough until well incorporated, forming it into a large round ball.
- Plop the ball onto a greased Silpat to keep it easy to work with. Press the dough out to form a large circular pattern.
- Use an upside-down cookie sheet to enable the pizza to spread out slightly without being constricted around the edges. Place Silpat on upside-down pan and bake for 10 minutes on one side, then remove from the oven.
- Flip the pizza to the other side and bake for another 2–4 minutes.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and add the tomato sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni.
- Bake again for an additional 3–5 minutes, or until the cheese is nicely melted.
- Let cool slightly, cut into slices, and serve. Sprinkle some oregano over for garnish.
My husband and I both LOVE this pizza (except we make it with other types of meats). It is very versatile and you can change it up to suit your taste. We used to eat a large pizza ourselves. Now we eat 2 slices and a nice salad and are both VERY satisfied. There is usually a 1/4 of the pizza left over.
Awesome to hear – and definitely agree with you on the toppings. You can use just about anything on it 🙂
Thanks. Awesome recipe. Does anyone know if it will ruin it f I try flaxseed or psyllium in place of almond flour, to cut the carbs down?
Flaxseed might work, but the psyllium will definitely not. I’d say use around 3/4 the amount of flax in place of almond flour. It may turn out a bit sticky/chewy, so let me know how it goes so I can relay the info!
This was amazing…. AMAZING. I was surprised at how great it turned out.
Wow, the family of 5 ate through 3 pizzas. Two pepperoni and one chicken chiptole. All delcious. Thank you! We now have a working pizza recipe.
I never post on a recipe unless I’ve tried it. Made this tonight, and I may never go back to regular pizza crust. This was so easy, and so perfect. My DH, who isn’t doing low-carb didn’t even realize it was. One quick question. I’ve seen questions/answers about freezing the crusts, but all suggest baking then freezing. Can it just be frozen as dough? Alternatively can I just make 2 dough recipes and keep one dough ball in the fridge for a few days?
Wow, what a fantastic review. Thanks so much and I’m so happy you liked it!
I haven’t personally frozen the dough but I have read many, many people freezing it and re-heating with success. Generally they par-cook it and then freeze.
You can, but because you have to melt the cheese and then mix ingredients into it, it may be hard to freeze as a ball. I’d much prefer to roll/flatten it out and then freeze. Less space and it will most likely be MUCH easier to work with.
Yum! Made this for the 1st time tonight it was great. I followed the directions exactly and it turned out really well! Thanks for sharing!
Definitely, glad it turned out well!
With all the positive comments I really didn’t think it could be THAT good. I thought maybe all these people just haven’t had pizza in forever and they just really don’t know or remember what a good pizza crust tastes since they are likely used to cauliflower crusts or just very dry cardboard crusts. Welp…. I was wrong. This is THEE best crust ever. I think this is definitely better than majority of famiky owned pizza shops and this definitely surpasses anything you grab from the freezer or call for delivery. My boyfriend who is a total pizza snob (like all men) was amazed. He forced down all pieces and didn’t know why he was so full as it looked so small! (We split this recipe into two and each had a small personal pizza). Thank to you Craig I now have to make this “at least once a week”! And just when I thought I was adding variety and creativity Craig came up with this recipe that will put all foods on a stand still so he can have his pizza!! I don’t mind tho to be honest because this was truly ass kickin!
Hahaha, thank you so much for the hilarious comment and making me laugh. Sometimes it’s definitely that way – you just haven’t had it in so long it kind of just tastes like it, so you go with it. I’m glad you all liked this one, though, and add it in to your rotation!
I agree .tried this and all I can say is I am in love ❤️❤️❤️ https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/06407160cc4b2c0a0b2870517990a5f1822ba25f1d1cee92c1d91c4f380b409f.jpg
I agree .tried this and all I can say is I am in love ❤️❤️❤️ https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Hi, would it be a good idea to add xanthan gum to this recipe? I’ve added it successfully to many other recipes but not sure if it would have a desired effect here.
You could but I don’t think it’d do too much here. The mozz is pretty sticky/thick as it is so the xanthan might not really help too much here.
Just made this! Wow. I have been unhappy with replacement pizzas since going grain-free/low carb. I had tried a similar “fathead”ish recipe and found it tasted like salty cheese. I tried this one tonight. I hate psyllium, so I replaced that with golden ground flaxseed, but did everything else the same. I divided the dough in two and made two personal sized pizzas, fully intending to eat a whole one on my own IF I LIKED IT! Well, I loved it! Crispy, not tasting like salty cheese, excellent. I did it with mozzarella and pepperoni and was in heaven. Like I said, I fully intended to eat a whole mini-pizza if I liked it…and even though I loved it, I could honestly only eat two slices. I have the other two slices in the fridge, and I baked and froze the other crust for a future pizza. Love your site and your work. Thank you so much.
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you but I’m really happy you took the change to try it – and like it! Thanks so much for taking the time out to leave such a glowing comment, it really means a lot 🙂
Has anyone tried to grill this pizza? I was thinking of par-baking the crust and then finishing the pizza on the grill but wanted to know if it was “durable” enough to go that way.
I haven’t tried and I haven’t read about it. It sounds pretty do-able though, especially if you par-bake it.
Can you substitute the Psyllium Husk Powder for anything else? Maybe coconut flower?
Yes, or flaxseed meal. Or you can leave it out for this specific recipe 🙂
Awesome, thank you.
Thank you, I havent been able to buy it at any nearby stores I think I am gonna sub it out for flaxseed.
It is available online. I got 1kg on eBay really cheap and this recipe doesn’t need much.
Just reading the recipe and instructions, i knew this was and A++ winner, but after all the comments, I was definitely sold. I NEED to make this soon. Thank you for sharing and I’ll reply after I’ve devoured my first bake. 🙂
Yes, you gotta try this pizza! Don’t forget to report back! 😀
Let me start off by saying that I RARELY post comments. I know that I should get better at that because when compliments are due, we should all give them accordingly, which is why I wanted to start with this article. I am a major pizza junkie, so imagine my skepticism when I stumbled upon this recipe claiming to be anything remotely close to what real pizza is like. I have been on a keto diet for about a week and really wanted a pizza though, so I figured I would give it a try. I can truly say that this will make me going keto soooo much easier!! I will not be going back to “real” pizza for a very long time. Given the nutritional profile over that of normal pizza, coupled with the taste, and you have a treat that can be eaten as part of your regular everyday meals. I added some avocados, and ground beef, along with the pepperoni’s and it was ridiculous!! Thank you so much for this. You have made the end of my year that much tastier!!!
That sounds like such a good pizza Matthew! I’m glad you found this recipe. Thank so much for your kind comment! Personally, I love keto pizza more than the “real” thing because it’s SO FILLING.
Has anyone tried this on a pizza stone??
I would like to know this too. I have a pizza stone and haven’t tried this pizza yet. Would I still need to flip the crust if using the stone?
I’ve read online from people using similar recipes and having success on a pizza stone. I don’t believe you need to flip it when using a pizza stone but I’m not 100% sure. Maybe someone else that has tried it can chime in!
Amazing recipe! I’m afraid I’m going to have to make this once a week from hereon out 🙂
I ran into some trouble when combining the dry ingredients with the cheese (I didn’t heat it long enough I suppose) so I put it all in a food processor and it came out perfect! Thank you for giving me pizza back!
Woah! I’ve never heard of that. I’m glad it turned out. 😀
Just used this recipe for a pizza base, it was totally amazing
Yay! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I love pizza – when I was in university a few years ago it’s all I’d eat for dinner and it is still my favourite food! Moving onto a Keto diet is hard at first, and the one thing I’ve missed more than anything is pepperoni pizza. I never thought I’d say this but I prefer this to any wheat crust I’ve ever had!
I did have some issues with the base, at first it kept breaking apart but I realised I needed to add some more Olive Oil to keep it together. I also didn’t have any greaseproof/parchment paper and so it stuck a little. It didn’t come out looking as good as yours but wow it was so tasty!
You can prepare this quicker than Dominos can deliver to your house, it took me about 20-25 mins from start to finish. I’m a novice cook and this was the first time I’ve made any form of pastry.
Highly recommend this recipe and will be trying to make more different recipes as well!
Really glad to hear you liked it! Make sure you microwave the cheese well and it’s super melty when you start mixing the other ingredients in. That helps me out a ton when I’m working with it. Olive oil or water on the hands will do well when forming. I think you’ll notice a big improvement on forming it when you’re able to get some parchment, too!
Hope you keep making it and enjoying it. If you ever improve on it, let us know so we can update the recipe!
My wife and I made this and were amazed by the recipe. We decided to make pizza pockets the second time around using this dough, and it turned out superb!
Thank you very much for this and all the other recipes you have given us. They help scratch the cheating itch and make it much easier to stick to the keto life style =)
Woah! That sounds good! I miss pizza pockets 😀
I don’t know if anyone will read this, but.. my dough was really sticky and wouldn’t come out of the parchment paper I used on top of the pizza pan (spreading it in the first place was already a tad difficult). Can anyone shed my some light? Did I put less almond flour than I should? Of maybe too little of the psyllium husk?
My family and I love this pizza crust and make it all the time. I follow the recipe except for the olive oil. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with it the first time so I left it out. Craig since then explained it but since it worked without it I just never use it. I use parchment paper and although it does stick a little I can gently peel it off. If I were you I would try it again being careful to measure exactly. I did try using double the psyllium once but I did notice a difference in the taste (kind of cardboard like).I also make two pizzas out of it, but that shouldn’t make a difference in the stickiness. Good luck to you. I want everyone to know the joy of pizza made with this crust.
Thank you for the great review Molly!
Sorry for rehashing old comments sections. Do you think the psyllium husk is required? what purpose does it server? My wife is allergic, so I’d skip it. Maybe put some loose bran in there in place?
I think you can skip it, it’s for texture. We have pizzas on the site without it too. If you make this one and the dough is too wet then just try adding a little more almond flour.
This is a great recipe. Tastes like a ‘real’ pizza. Fantastic stuff.
What is the purpose of the Psyllium powder in the recipe?
It absorbs a lot of water and can help with texture/chewiness.
Thank your for responding. I looked it up and couldn’t figure out what it was for.
This was DE-LI-CIOUS! I have one question… My crust wasn’t very crisp. I cooked it per the timing in the recipe and even left it in a little longer but still wasn’t firm. Any ideas what may have happened?
It normally firms up a lot more as it cools down a bit. But, if you want it to be a bit on the crispy side we recommend using the top rack and leaving it in extra long on both sides.
I loved this recipe so so so much! I have been struggling with the need for a pizza in all its carby glory and I am happy to report that this did the trick. I have had several low-carb pizza doughs (including one or two from here) but this is by far the very best one. I didn’t feel like I was missing out on a thing and actually preferred this over the pizza I could’ve ordered! Woohoo! Thank you for this recipe. 10 pounds down since late February and VERY glad I didn’t allow cheating to meet this craving. Y’all rock.
Yes!!! So glad to hear that Amy!
Can you share a link to the exact sauce you used? Rao’s “Marinara Sauce” AND their “Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce” according to their Amazon has 4 carbs and 1 fiber, netting 3 carbs. I’d love a link to the actual sauce used that nets 2 carbs.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Hi Stephanie, I think that they are all 3 net carbs (though some flavors I’ve seen are higher). I’m not sure if it’s because the nutrition labels were changed at some point (This recipe is about 3 years old.) But, I’m working on updating all the nutrition tables across the site so I’ll be changing this one to reflect the current labels soon.
I found one at Stop & Shop today that has only 2 net carbs (3g total, 1g fiber). The label says Rao’s Homemade Tomato Basil Sauce. It might just be the best tomato sauce I’ve ever tried. I don’t see an expiration date on it which is weird but it does have a code in case it needs to be recalled (ROA1 16/P315 09:52).
That’s great!
Excellent recipe! My extremely picky son loved it too?
That’s the best kind of review you can get! Kids are so honest. 😀
Excellent recipe! My extremely picky son loved it too👍
I think I may the only one to have a problem with this dough. I have made it 3 times and all 3 times It never looked like the picture. it doesn’t fully mix together and you can actually see stringy cheese. The taste is good, I left out the Italian seasoning as I thought it was too strong the first time I made it. Let me just say I am not an amateur cook. I cook and bake pretty difficult recipes so was surprised that this just didn’t come together for me. Any suggestions?
Hi Susan, sometimes keto cooking can be quite tricky! When I first started making this dough I had a similar issue. I usually try and make sure that I’ve purchased a full fat version of the cheese, and the cheese has to be quite hot. If it it cools down too much during mixing I will usually return it to the microwave to heat it back up some more. I’ve also found that sometimes the almond flour itself will matter. The first bag I purchased was actually meal – and that didn’t seem to work as well for me.
Thanks for the tips. I will definitely try it again!
I hope it turns out better next time!
I just tried this pizza after being keto for a month. I felt guilty eating every bite because I felt like I was cheating. Is it Chicago deep dish? No. Is it like an artisan cornmeal crust like pizza? Absolutely. Very good bang for the buck.
Give it a few minutes to cool and allow for the dough to harden a bit.
I’m so glad to hear that Jonathan, enjoy!
Anyway to do this, but without a microwave to melt the cheese?
Sure! You can use a double boiler (bowl over a pot of boiling water.) I think you could even use a non-stick frying pan.
Hey that’s how I eat my pizza too!
Would it work to make the crusts in advance and freeze them? Then i could take them out warm them up, and add toppings for a quick dinner.
Always looking for dinners I can make quickly lol
This is my absolute favorite. I’m eating it right now! Best LCHF pizza dough everrrrrrrr
Hello! I am having one problem with my dough. I used fresh mozzarella and the dough was super sticky and didn’t really ball. Has anyone else used fresh mozzarella, or do you use shredded?
Fresh Mozzarella is generally too moist to be optimal for many applications. I’d get shredded or if you don’t want the anti-caking etc…, you can get blocks of drier mozzarella (essentially the shredded stuff, but not shredded). Well I can. And if I can get it in Australia, I presume those in the US,UK, and similar can!
Since I like to use fresh veggies as toppings (onions, peppers, mushrooms), and I want them to cook longer than 3-5 minutes, can I possibly add the toppings earlier in the process? Such as immediately after flipping? Or should I just take the extra step and precook my veggies a little.
I would pre-cook them a little!
This pizza was awesome. Thanks for sharing..
Thank you!
Has anyone tried making this crust for a white pizza with garlic?
OK we tried this pizza recipe and here are my take-aways:
1–Crust was not easy to flip – I used the silicone mat however, to make the dough thinner I made a large square — btw i had no trouble rolling it out as I followed the suggestions to really melt cheese
2–what i believe ruined this attempt was we believe the italian seasoning- over barring
We will give it another go and will leave out seasoning and perhaps make a white cheese and garlic
Thanks,
Dennis
Sometimes I find it helpful to dust the underside of the pizza with a little flax meal (like some pizza shops do with cornmeal on the bottom.) Most people don’t seem to need to do this, but I have a special talent for getting pizzas stuck.
Made this pizza last night and it was fantastic with my own homemade ragoo (keto friendly). There I was thinking I would never have pizza again! Thank you, kind and beautiful souls!
Since going wheat, grain and sugar free 4/18/16, I have tried many pizza crust recipes. Looked thru my recipe pizza folder and decided to try this one. OMG, it was amazing! This is truly the BEST pizza crust of all keto type pizzas, in my humbled opinion. I made my own pizza sauce and decided to add just a tad of sweet life sweetner, good decision. I have taken pics of my preparation and final product. Attached is pic of final product. BTW, you can hold the slice in her hands (once cooled a little), unlike many others who claim it can be done. Bhttps://uploads.disquscdn….
A Perfect recipe for Pizza lovers!!
Is the psyllum powder absolutely necessary? I definitelty don’t have it in the pantry at the moment.
You can skip it for this recipe if you prefer.
This was definately a success! The crust was perfect.
Nothing short of awesome. Made this pizza and also made an O face after taking a bite.
I made this last night for my wife and I. I did make some small changes which you may like. First I made mymown pizza sauce mixing tomato paste, water and italian seasoning. Next in ororder tget my fat content up, I added pancetta along with pepperoni. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
this was so effing good
I was recently diagnosed type 2 about a week ago. This recipe saved my life since pizza is life! Thank you for this!
Question, how large is this pizza crust once you make it?
I usually make it in on a cookie sheet, so when I normally make it for myself (not for photos) it spans the entire cookie sheet.
Depending how thin you spread it out, it’s about the size of a 90s Small to Medium Pizza (depending where you get pizza). 1/2 makes a good personal-pizza size.
I usually get a much larger pizza than what you described – we normally make our pizza square and can spread this dough out to a full 8×11 cookie sheet.
Just curious, what purpose does the cream cheese serve in the making of the crust? Is it for taste? Or is it for holding it together? In the latter case could more mozz or another egg substitute?
It tends to help the cheese mix with everything else – but you could probably get away with it. If your dough isn’t pulling together, a splash of heavy cream may work.
This pizza is absolutely amazing! I had my doubts, but WOW! If you’re missing the taste of pizza this recipe really delivers the flavour and texture you are craving. A+++