My low carb pizza is super easy to make and tastes just like a real pizza. It has a crispy fathead crust and is ready in less than 20 minutes. Learn my hack how to make keto pizza without having to heat and melt the mozzarella!
Over the years, this keto pizza recipe has made many of my readers very happy! Here are a few reviews:
Louise: "Decided to give this a go as my kids were having a pizza night and I felt jealous. Honestly can't believe how good this base is. And no melting mozzarella dough to play with."
Hazel: "Just made this pizza for dinner for 2 of us and followed the recipe exactly and it came out perfect. Yet another keeper."
Melanie: "This is an amazing Pizza dough. Followed the recipe exactly just added some jalapeños on top. Will do this again!"
This recipe has been on my blog since 2018 and I still make this pizza often. Because, we love pizza in this house! Who doesn't?
It is simply wonderful to have a recipe to hand that tastes like an authentic pizza without piling on the carbs.
The crust is crispy, fluffy and sturdy enough to be able to lift a slice without it slopping down.
And even better, this recipe is gluten free, nut free, so simple and quick enough for a last-minute weekday dinner.
Love pizza? Also take a look at my almond flour pizza crust.
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The Best Thing About This Recipe
This is the ONLY low carb fathead pizza recipe you'll find that is not MESSY!
With my method, there is no need to melt the mozzarella. Also, you don't need to knead the dough. It's all done by your food processor.
Many people find it difficult to handle fathead dough. This is because you need to melt the mozzarella and then stir in the almond flour, cream cheese and egg.
It's almost impossible not to get your fingers sticky and there is that moment when you think it will never come together.
My recipe, on the other hand, is a truly easy low carb pizza!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients I used:
- Coconut flour
- Shredded mozzarella
- Psyllium husk
- Sea salt
- Egg
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
It is essential that you use the low moisture shredded mozzarella. Some people swear that the part-skim version works best, but I have not found any difference between that and the full fat version.
The pre-shredded mozzzarella for pizza that you can buy in all supermarkets contain a small amount of starch. This is so low that it does not affect the total carb count. However, if you are sensitive to starch, use a mozzarella block instead and grate it yourself.
Do not use the soft white mozzarella for salads. It contains too much liquid and is not suitable for this recipe.
NOTE: I used whole psyllium husk and NOT psyllium husk powder. Psyllium powder is much finer and will absorb way more liquid, so if you want to use it instead I recommend to halve the amount.
Equipment
The one essential kitchen gadget to make this easy Keto pizza crust is a food processor or stand mixer. You simply put in all your ingredients and wait until the machine has turned them into a smooth dough. This can take a couple of minutes, so be patient!
What happens is that the blades of the food processor end up heating the mozzarella and make it very pliable.
You might be able to get the same result with an immersion blender plus attachment. In this case, you may have to mix the dough in two batches.
Instructions
Let me show you how easy it is to make a homemade low carb pizza. Here are the basic steps.
Scroll down to the recipe card for a detailed method with ingredient amounts, oven timings and nutrition information.
STEP 1
Blend the mozzarella cheese, coconut flour, egg, psyllium husk and salt in a food processor until a smooth dough forms.
STEP 2
Grease your hands with oil and form 2 dough balls.
STEP 3
Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper. This prevents the dough from sticking to your rolling pin.
STEP 4
Bake the pizza crusts in the preheated oven until glden brown.
STEP 6
Return to the oven and continue baking until the toppings are melted and/or crisp.
Katrin's Top Tips
#1 Grease your hands with olive oil before handling the dough. It is sticky!
#2 Always add the tomato sauce and any additional toppings AFTER the crust has been baked. This ensures that the low carb pizza crust is nice and crisp and won't get soggy.
#3 Keep in mind that the pizza crust is mainly mozzarella. Therefore, there is no need to top the pizza with a lot of cheese.
Variations And Substitutions
Almond flour pizza: Use ½ cup or 50 grams of almond flour instead of the coconut flour. Reduce by 1 tablespoon if your almond flour is super-fine.
No psyllium husk: You can replace the psyllium husk with ground flaxseed.
Baking powder: If you want to crusts to puff up more, add ½ teaspoon of baking powder.
Topping Ideas
Most classic pizza toppings are naturally low in carbs. You probably know your favourites already. Here are a few ideas for mix-and-matching:
- Meat: Bacon, cooked ham, gound beef, chorizo, nduja
- Vegetables: sauteed mushrooms, peppers, grilled eggplant
- Flavor: Fresh garlic, fresh oregano, extra virgin olive oil, chili peppers, capers, anchovies, olives
- Fried egg
- Cheese: Parmesan, pecorino, buffalo mozzarella
Recipe FAQs
The original fathead dough is a low carb pizza dough made with mozzarella, cream cheese, almond flour and egg. It tastes surprisingly similar to wheat dough. I have adapted it to use in sweet and savoury dishes such as my keto pretzels and these Keto Cinnamon Rolls. I've also made Keto hot pockets with it, filled with ham and gooey cheese.
The original fathead dough recipe contains cream cheese. This makes the dough softer and the pizza slices floppy. With my version, the pizza crust is sturdier.
It's because of the type of parchment you used. Some parchment paper brands have a waffle texture that feels rough to the touch. I have found that the crust can stick to these. If your parchment paper is smooth, nothing will stick. If it is textured, brush it with oil first to prevent sticking.
Because the crusts contain only a small amount of coconut flour, you cannot detect it at all. My kids (who are not coconut flour lovers) enjoyed the "cheesy taste" of the pizza.
Meal Prep And Storage
Keto pizza dough is great for meal prep. You can prepare the dough for several pizzas and store the dough balls tightly wrapped in cling film in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Alternatively, freeze the unbaked dough for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight and let the dough come to room temperature before rolling it out and baking as per recipe.
Or, pre-bake the pizza crusts and then freeze them, layering parchment paper between the crusts so they do not stick together.
Storing: Store leftover low carb pizza in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or freeze it for up to 3 months.
Reheating: Reheat fridge-cold pizza in the oven (200C/400F) for 5-7 minutes. Reheat previously frozen pizza for 12-14 minutes.
You can also reheat pizza in a frying pan on the stove over low heat. This takes a few minutes. Don't forget to cover with a lid!
Note that heating leftover pizza in the microwave will make it warm, but it won't make it crispy. For crispy pizza, you must reheat it in the oven or in a pan.
Portion Size
This recipe makes 2 low carb pizzas with a diameter of 20 centimetres. Even though they are smaller than regular pizzas, they are much more filling.
An entire pizza is suitable for a hungry person (think your husband after a gym session or a teenager).
Other than that, half a pizza plus a crunchy green salad is a saftisfying lunch or dinner.
One entire pizza contains 8.8g net carbs. These carbs are mainly from the mozzarella. Don't be fooled by other keto pizza recipes that are apparently much lower in carbs. These often state one serving as being one slice!
More Keto Pizza Recipes
- Cottage Cheese Pizza Bowl20 Minutes
- Low Carb Keto Pizza Rolls45 Minutes
- Crispy Low Carb Keto Pizza Bites10 Minutes
- Almond Flour Pizza Crust40 Minutes
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Recipe
Low Carb Pizza (Easy, Crispy)
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 2 cups pre-shredded mozzarella 220g
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour 16g
- ½ tablespoon psyllium husk or ½ teaspoon psyllium husk powder
- 1 egg
- pinch of salt
For the Topping
- ⅓ cup Marinara Sauce 80ml
- 10 slices pepperoni 30g
- ¼ cup shredded mozzarella 28g
- handful of basil leaves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F (electric).
- Put the mozzarella, coconut flour, psyllium husk, egg and salt in a blender or food processor. Blend until you have a smooth dough. This takes around 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl in between if needed.
- Grease your hands with olive oil and form 2 dough balls (130g each).
- Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper to make 2 round pizza crusts (20 centimetres diameter). The top parchment prevents the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
- Remove the top parchment paper and transfer the crusts on their bottom parchment onto a baking sheet. Bake the pizza crusts for 7 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove the crusts from the oven and spread with toppings of your choice. I used marinara sauce, salami slices, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil.
- Return to the oven for a further 6 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the toppings have crisped up.
Notes
Nutrition
First published in April 2018. Republished in June 2024 with more details and information.
Marcia
I took a chance and substituted cream cheese for the mozzarella. Also added 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning and 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper. Whoa! This was very good!
Katrin
How interesting that it held together! Thank you so much for sharing, I must give this version a go 🙂
Kathryn R Snave
I'm just putting this out there, I've tried several of your recipes and they are soooo gooood. I've tried other recipes and they really are awful. I bought a cookbook and I doubt that they two people who wrote it ever tested the recipes. I've wasted so much food and time and ended up with squat.
You are the best my friend.
Katrin
Thank you so much! I know how disappointing it is to try a recipe that does not work, especially when it comes to baked stuff that just cannot be salvaged. I'm glad you found my site 🙂
Zoe
Just tried this recipe and omg almost better then the real thing! So glad I found this and can now make it again again cause it’s so quick and easy!
Anna
Hi Katrin, did you ever try to use less mozzarella and more flour instead? Could this work, maybe with some additional water? The taste is just too "cheesy" for me (at least with the mozzarella I can get here in Germany).
Katrin
Hi Anna, it's very possible that the food in Germany is less processed than over here in the UK so you actually get more taste 🙂 You could definitely try that, it would make the dough more crumbly and tender. See how you get on, and if it all falls apart when you roll it out, try a second egg (maybe just the white) to hold it together, or maybe some ground flaxseed.
Maryann
Hi Katrin! We’re always looking for a delicious crust. If we add the baking powder will it still be crisp, as you mentioned spongy? I have a blend of mozzarella and provolone shredded. Do you think that would work?
Katrin
Hi Maryann, I don't think using baking powder would make the pizza any less crispy. Just give it a go!
Cara Pryor
This looks so good! Could I use almond flour instead of coconut flour?
Katrin
Yes, you can - the original FatHead recipe uses almond flour. I'd double the amount of almond flour though as it's less absorbent than coconut flour.
Giovanna
This turned out perfect, and it was so easy! Your recipes Never fail to amaze me xx
tammy franks
OMG this is so good I did use the flax seed flour instead of the psyllium , and it is wonderful, also i used the lowest carb can sauce with added basil and garlic , 3 net carbs , with a small salad this whole meal was 10 net carbs , (half the dough) i will make this for hamburger buns , like flat bread ones . thanks again !!!
Katrin
Hi Tammy, great news! I'm so happy you enjoyed the pizza. Great idea to use it for hamburger buns!!!
Cathy
This sounds delicious. I don't have a stand mixer nor a food processor. Do you think a hand-held mixer would work here? I hope you can answer real soon as I would like to make for dinner tonight. Thanks.
Katrin
Hi Cathy, so sorry I'm seeing this too late for dinner! If you have a thin, tall container you can mix in, it might work. It could get a bit messy though. It took a couple of minutes in my food processor to warm up the cheese enough to produce a smooth dough.
Ray Whitmore
The recipe is great. No messing with heating the mozzarella cheese first. But I like to point out that the slice that you show is entirely too dainty. In the US, a typical slice is about 4 times as large.
As usual, an outstanding idea.
Katrin
Of course you can. You could use ground flax instead, or just add a little more coconut flour. It should work just as well.
tammy franks
flax seed flour ok ?? cause I have that and I do make crackers out of it , so never thought i could do pizza with it .
Katrin
Do you mean flaxseed flour instead of psyllium? That should work fine. Flaxseed instead of the coconut flour - this would change the taste quite a bit I should think. It would firm up the mozzarella though, so in that respect it would work. It might just not taste as much as pizza dough.
tammy franks
yes i meant instead of the psyllium , I would still use the coconut flour . thank you so much !!
Katrin
Dear Jaqui, thank you for your comment. I agree - the flavour of the mozzarella in the dough (and of course your choice of topping) really masks the coconut flour taste so much you cannot detect it. I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Katrin
Let me know how you got on!! I'm happy you like my pretzel recipe. Now I want to make another batch of them!!!