Fathead pizza crust topped off with loads of melty cheese and tasty pepperoni. You can add any of your favorite toppings to this low carb pizza for a pizza recipe the whole family will enjoy!
I’m not going to lie. There are plenty of times that I order my family pizza from the local pizza shop and then I just pick all the toppings off the top and eat them with a fork.
I get some weird looks from my people, but they’re mostly used to my crustless pizza ways.
On nights when I’m not too lazy to get in the kitchen, though, this keto pizza crust recipe is where it’s at.
Have you tried fathead pizza before? I shared a BLT Pizza using this fathead dough awhile back and it was a big hit. I think you’ll all like a more traditional pizza too!
How to make fathead pizza crust:
This fat head pizza recipe starts with some shredded mozzarella cheese and a little cream cheese. You’ll microwave those together until nice and melty.
Stir in an egg and some almond flour. I like to add a little Italian seasoning to the crust as well, but this is totally optional. Just gives it a little boost of flavor, if you like that kind of thing.
Stir that mixture all together. It’ll get pretty thick and sticky.
Drop the ‘dough’ onto a large piece of parchment paper and place another piece of parchment on top. Use your rolling pin to roll the dough out into a 12 inch circle.
The parchment paper is key to success with this recipe. The dough will be too sticky to work without the the parchment.
Remove that top piece of parchment and trim the bottom piece to fit your pizza pan.
Do not bake this directly on the pizza pan or it will stick. Bake the fathead pizza crust on a parchment lined pan for best results.
You’ll want to bake the crust in a hot oven for about 10 minutes to let it firm up and start turning golden brown.
If you really want a sturdy crust, flip the crust over and bake a few more minutes. This helps it hold up really well.
Once you’ve parbaked the crust, spread on a little pizza sauce. I use Rao’s marinara because I always have it on hand, it’s very low in carbs, and it tastes amazing.
Top that off with extra cheese and your favorite toppings. Pepperoni is always the preferred choice in my house. 😉
Pop this bake in the oven for about 10 minutes to melt the cheese.
Slice this up into 6 slices and serve!
How does this low carb pizza crust taste?
The ingredients sound a bit strange for a pizza crust, but the cheese firms up nicely in the oven and takes on the texture of a traditional dough.
It’s a bit chewy and very pliable. If you underbake the crust, you may have issues with it holding together but otherwise it holds up very well and you can eat it like you would a traditional pizza.
The crust tastes very similar to your traditional pizza dough.
The true test of any recipe: Will my carb-loving children eat it? Oh yes! They actually prefer my keto pizza to the standard flour crust.
I double this recipe to serve my entire family because I have a teenage boy who can really put away the pizza. That said, because the crust is made of cheese, it’s very filling and I personally can’t often eat more than 2 pieces.
Try this fathead pizza crust with my BLT Pizza too!
More low carb recipes to try:
Steak Bites: My steak marinade is bursting with flavor!
Low Carb Crackers: I use this same dough to make crackers and season them up with ranch.
Low Carb Lasagna: You’ll never guess what I’m using in place of pasta.
Philly Cheese Steak Casserole: A total hit in my house!
Pepperoni Fathead Pizza
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella divided
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/3 cup sugar-free marinara
- 1/4 cup sliced pepperoni
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Add 2 cups of mozzarella and cream cheese to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir to combine and return to microwave until cheese has melted, about 30 more seconds.
- Stir in the almond flour, egg, and Italian seasoning to combine.
- Place the dough on a large sheet of parchment paper. Top with a second sheet of parchment.
- Roll the dough out into a 12 inch diameter circle.
- Remove the top piece of parchment and transfer the bottom sheet with the dough on it to a pizza pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until crust is lightly golden.
- For an extra sturdy crust that holds up well, carefully flip the crust over and bake for 3 more minutes.
- Remove crust from the oven. Spread the marinara over the pizza crust and sprinkle with the remaining 1 1/2 cups mozzarella. Arrange pepperoni evenly over the top.
- Bake the pizza for another 10 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before slicing into 8 pieces and serving.
Kelly says
Just made this was amazing, no issues with sticking to paper etc. Just store In fridge? Would you freeze it? With toppings? Thank you for this❤️
Karly Campbell says
Hi Kelly! We keep this in the fridge and reheat in the microwave or oven. You can definitely freeze the crust, so depending on your toppings I think it’d freeze fine. Not sure how it will reheat since it’s already been baked though.
Janet says
This is the first recipe I’ve ever left a comment for, and that’s because it was amazing! I love pizza and as I was making this dough, I kept thinking, there’s no way I will like this. Boy, was I wrong! My husband and son loved it! For toppings I used shrimp, and thin slices of green peppers and red onions. My dough turned out a little on the dark side, but it’s because I needed to take it out on the first bake a little earlier. Definitely 5 star recipe!
Karly Campbell says
So glad you and the family enjoyed it, Janet! This dough is super versatile, so have fun getting creative!
Barbara says
Thank you for this. My husband and I have been trying to eat low carb, and this is by far our favorite low carb recipe. Absolutely delicious!
Dawn says
Hi Karly, the dough tastes amazing, but it may be good to add a line to your recipe that due to differences in brands of parchment a thin layer of cooking spray should be used. Our first time through and it was a bit sad. I managed to scrape a lot of the bottoms layer up so in the end it worked but next time we will put a thin layer of oil into the paper. Great recipe!
Karly Campbell says
Hi Dawn! You used parchment and still needed oil? I’ve never had that issue before. I’m glad it still turned out for you!
Faith says
Is it supposed to be 425 or 325 degrees? The two times I’ve made this I have followed your instructions EXACTLY. I did not overbake, timers were used and I even stayed in the kitchen… The crust keeps turning out very dark. It tastes ok but really looks just this side of burnt. I tried cooking for half the time you have in the recipe at 425 degrees and it worked nicely and resembled your photos here?
Karly Campbell says
Hi Faith! We do bake at 425, but you can reduce the time or temp if you find the crust is getting too dark for your liking. 🙂
Patrick Landers says
OMG, I have been doing keto for 6 months and this is the first time I have left a comment on any recipe! I cannot express how good this is!!! Thank you, thank you so much!
Karly Campbell says
Thanks, Patrick! Glad you enjoy the recipe!
rc says
OMG. This was delicious and so easy.. I am on the keto diet and was really craving pizza. I am also not a great cook. This recipe was so easy and delicious. I ended up using a baking sheet because I do not have a circular pan and it worked just as well. it looked so good that I had to text pictures out to my friends to prove that I made it. Next time I will add other toppings.
Angel Rainey says
Is there any way to keep the pizza from sticking to the parchment paper ? I made this for my husband who is on the keto diet and he loved it! But we had A TIME trying to get it peeled off of the Parchment paper that it was baked on.
Karly Campbell says
Hi Angel! We’ve never had an issue with the baked dough sticking to parchment. You could try spraying it with non-stick spray and see if that helps. So strange, because we make this dough every week and never have that problem. I normally use the Walmart brand of parchment paper, if that helps. 🙂
Becca says
This is the only fathead recipe that I’ve been able to master. I don’t know if it’s how you explain things but it works.
For some reason though I have to use almost a whole cup of almond flour but that’s okay to me.
I make mine multiple ways like this morning I got early and made it so I wouldn’t have to layer and I used ground chuck instead of pepperoni, and it was amazing. A little heavier on the caloric side of things but so worth it!
I recently decided to pick back up on keto, or more so just living a low carb lifestyle and I think this pizza makes it a lot easier cause it’s still super quick. I can make it in as long as it takes to bake a frozen pizza or wait for delivery.
Karly Campbell says
Hi Becca!
So glad you’ve mastered the dough!
Are you, by chance, using 2 ounces of cream cheese instead of 2 tablespoons? If you have more cheese, you’ll need more almond flour and that one is an easy mistake to make. 🙂
We make tons of variations of this too…I have a cheeseburger pizza coming soon!
Becca says
You know that could be it, I use 1 oz of cream cheese but I don’t think that’s anymore than 2tbsp. Either way, it makes a slightly larger pizza and my non low carb fam loves it too so it works! (:
Karly Campbell says
1 oz should be 2 tablespoons! I guess that’s probably not the issue. Glad you like it either way! 🙂
Cher Vormwald says
This pizza recipe is the best pizza I have EVER made. The crust is perfect, absolutely perfect. Cannot thank you enough for this recipe!
David says
I just made it. Ate half of it. Absolutely stuffed, should have stopped after 2 slices but I started bing eating. I weight 175 lbs. Amazing. It doesn’t seem possible that this is only about 900 calories for half a pizza? Best thing I’ve eaten in a while.
Barbara Atkinson says
My daughter and I made this pizza today. It was so good. I am diabetic and need to stay low carb. I turned the crust over to brown a bit more and then put chopped tomatoes, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese on top. Texture was more “bread like” than I thought it would be. You can even pick up the slices to eat. It brought back great memories of my Italian grandmother’s pizza.
Karly Campbell says
So glad you enjoyed the pizza! 🙂
Deanna says
My daughter can’t use nut based flours and I don’t have coconut flour on hand, can I use regular flour?
Karly Campbell says
I really don’t know how it’d work with wheat flour.
Jason says
Do you leave the parchment paper for the 2nd bake?
Karly Campbell says
Yep!
Zdrava Hrana says
I’ve made this a couple of times now and it turned out amazing! I added a bit more seasoning to the crust, as well as powdered garlic, and I also made two smaller pizzas instead of one large one because I only tolerate almond flour in smaller amounts. I’m not on keto diet, but I can’t eat grains so this was such a great replacement for my favorite comfort food. Thank you! 🙂
Karly Campbell says
So glad this works for you! You could also try with coconut flour if you tolerate that better. Add an extra egg and use 1/3 cup coconut flour. 🙂
Suzie says
My crust turned really dark, almost black. It tasted fine though. Does this happen to you?
Karly Campbell says
Nope, I’ve never had it that dark, but the mixture is mostly cheese and it does brown. My guess is that you just baked it too long.
JD says
My 3rd one and it gets better each time! Thanks for the recipe!
Carrie says
This is perfect, thanks for sharing. I wonder if the crust can be frozen?
Karly Campbell says
Yep, it freezes well!
Toni says
Do you freeze before or after cooking the crust?
Karly Campbell says
I bake for about 10 minutes, let it cool, and then freeze. Then top and bake from frozen for about 15-20 minutes.
kate says
Very good. I would cut the amount of cheese on top might regularly order as combined with the crust it’s very rich. To spread the crust I dusted it with a little almond powder and to shape, lined a large skillet w parchment before placing on cookie sheet. My crust browned excellently on both sides. I have to check if green peppers are keto enough. But, also, made as directed topped with a simple salad–voila!
Thank you. Day 27 on keto and missing some of my comfort food. Who knew!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(going to also try to cauliflower version to as I want to up my vegies a little more to cut calories.
Karly Campbell says
Green peppers are very low in carbs, should be fine! 🙂 So glad you liked the pizza.
Johannah says
This is absolutely delicious. Perfect crust texture and taste… pizza has always been a favorite of mine but since keto I haven’t had it… this really hit the spot!! Thanks!!!
Karly Campbell says
So glad you enjoyed it. 🙂