Low Carb, Keto Fathead Pizza Crust Recipe
Fathead Pizza Crust brings the low carb magic that bring “pizza night” back into your life. Because being keto doesn’t mean having to give up your favorite dishes like pizza!
Fathead Pizza Dough is a truly magical addition to your low carb repertoire . We CAN have our pizza and eat it too! We went into Fathead Dough 101 a couple weeks back.
Since this dough was introduced in our family we have pizza at home every Friday. Combine with fresh herbs, pepper flakes, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, it’s our absolute favorite thing to eat and we can’t wait for you to make this keto dough yourself!
Fathead Pizza 101
What is fathead pizza dough?
This brilliant keto dough is a combination of just a few ingredients that is nothing short of magical. Simple, easy to mix, make and bake. The dough can be used to make a lot of things, but our absolute favorite is this pizza. Because life is too short not to have pizza.
What does fathead pizza taste like?
The texture and taste are so spot on that you’ll have a hard time telling the difference from a thin crust pizza.
Can you make ahead of time?
We love this dough in terms of meal planning. You can make a ball of dough and store in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also bake your pizza dough and store in the fridge for a week. If you want personalized pizzas for your family this is perfection.
How many net carbs are in Fathead Pizza crust?
2 Net Carbs per slice! We slice it into 8 slices and split it between the husband and myself. You’ll want to calculate your carbs based on the toppings you choose if you opt to try another variation.
Can you use different types of flour?
Absolutely, we have had a lot success using coconut flour. The process of preparing the coconut crust pizza is exactly the same. The only difference is in the flour and egg quantities, since coconut flour is much more absorbent. To make coconut crust, use 1/3 cup coconut flour and 2 eggs. With the strong flavors on the cheese and sauce, you may find that you don’t even notice the difference!
Why is it called fathead dough?
The name Fathead pizza is an ode to the 2009 comedy-documentary “Fat Head”, which was a semi-satirical response to film “Super Size Me”. Using tongue-in-check-humor the movies creator, Tom Naughton, refutes the premise of “Super Size Me” by eating a high-fat fast food diet for a month. But unlike the outcome of “Super Size Me”, Naughton actually loses weight and lowers his cholesterol!
Using Fathead Dough For Your Low Carb Pizza Crust
What you’ll need:
- large mixing bowl
- parchment paper
- egg beater or food processor (optional)
- dough roller (optional)
Ingredients
- shredded mozzarella
- almond flour
- cream cheese
- eggs
- salt
- olive oil
(Yes, it REALLY is that simple!)
Use a microwave friendly bowl to combine your cheese, cream cheese and flour. Heat up for 60 seconds and immediately stir to the point that the ingredients combine with the cheese melting slightly. (If you don’t want to use the microwave you can also double-boil a heat-safe bowl on your stove).
Next pop your bowl back into the microwave for another 60 seconds to fully melt the cheese. If the cheese isn’t fully melted, another 30 seconds in the microwave should do the trick. Add your egg and continue to blend, fold and knead your dough (or use an eggbeater or food process) until ingredients are combined.
Form the dough in a thin pizza shape either by pressing with your hands or using a rolling pin. Press holes into the uncooked pizza dough using a pointy object like a fork, toothpick or knife. This last step will help ensure the dough does not bubble in the oven.
Looking for something to start off with? Check out the easy Caprese salad. OR our Keto Garlic Bread.
Toppings for your Fathead Pizza
First and foremost, sauce! You can opt for a standard marinara or low carb pizza sauce for a classic pizza, or you can get fancy with low-sugar barbecue sauce or a light Alfredo. Ranch works as well!
Beyond the sauce, mozzarella cheese is our go to, but we like to add a little cheddar as well.
To top it all off, the possibilities are endless. For the purposes of our recipe today, we opt for a classic pepperoni and cheese pizza. Because this is Keto pizza, we often lean toward added protein with meat. Bacon, ham, pepperoni, sausage just to name a few. Of course, vegetables are welcome as well. Onions, green peppers, fresh tomatoes and even zucchini are strong topping options.
Want to try out another fabulous Keto pizza crust option? Check out our Keto Chicken Crust Pizza. You can’t go wrong with either of these dough options!
Tips for Making Keto Pizza Dough
Dealing with sticky dough
If you’re struggling with sticky dough you’re not alone. Luckily we have a few pointer that can help.
- Cool the dough – place the dough in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes.
- Olive oil – lubricating your hands with some olive oil will help keep the dough from sticking.
- Add a bit more flour – When an else fails, adding a few more pinches of flour with help reduce some of that stickiness
Using a food processor
If you’re in a hurry or want to minimize clean up, a food processor of eggbeater is a great option. We recommend using an s-blade or a dough hook and, if you have a “dough” setting, go with that. Let it run for 20-60 seconds until the ingredients are combined and form into a ball. Scrape out the remains from the side of the bowl so you don’t let any go to waste.
Stay Tuned: We’ll be sharing our favorite recipes with this dough in the coming weeks like our Keto Cinnamon Rolls.
If you are new to this Low Carb/Keto lifestyle and are unsure what we are talking about please feel free to read up more on Net Carbs. Or start at our Low Carb & Keto 101 Starter Page.
Other recipes you might enjoy:
Fathead Pizza Crust Recipe
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 2 Tablespoons cream cheese
- 1 whole egg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 Tablespoons low carb marinara
- 1/4 cup pepperoni
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese for pizza topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- In a microwavable friendly bowl add cheese, almond flour and cream cheese. Microwave on high for 60 seconds.
- Stir until slightly combined and place back into the microwave for another 60 seconds, or until cheese is warm and melted.
- Add egg and large pinch of salt. Stir dough together until it forms a ball and egg is mixed in. Allow dough to sit for 15 minutes.
- Prepare your counter top by placing plastic wrap onto counter to roll dough out onto. Dump dough onto prepared counter. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over top of dough and roll out into a circle.
- Remove top plastic wrap and replace with paper/baking parchment. Place onto your pizza pan baking parchment piece being on the bottom and then remove the remaining plastic wrap.
- Poke holes with a knife into the crust and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Flip pizza crust face down onto pizza pan and gently removing the parchment paper. (This is the best system we've created to avoid the dough sticking) Bake for additional 2-3 minutes
- Top with marinara sauce, pepperoni and cheese.
- Bake for 10 minutes until cheese is melted.
Easy to make ,absolutely delicious and my family loved them ! I had to change the time a little because of my oven so the pizza base needed 20 mins in total (15 mins on one side and 5 mins on the other). It was a little bit softer and bendier than I was expecting and we ate ours with a knife and fork but it was sooooo good and filled our pizza craving perfectly ! Thank you so much ! We will make this again (and again and again !)
Added red and greenbell pepper on top. 2 words : just perfect !
Can you explain why the dough needs to sit if there is no yeast or rising agent in it? Is it simply for the purpose of cooling? Thanks!
We’ve found that it’s alot easier to roll out with allowing it to just sit and cool down a little bit. It’s a little less sticky and just overall easier to work with and roll out 🙂
So I just made this. I made a bigger pizza, about 16″, and I greased the the pizza pan with coconut oil like there was no tomorrow. I also didn’t flip it over and whatever. I made the dough, as instructed, but doubled the ingredients. I used pizza cheese which is a cheddar/jack blend instead of mozzarella also. I baked the dough on 375°F for 20 mins. Put the sauce, cheese, and turkey pepperoni on top. Baked it for another 20 mins.
Turned out perfect.
I think what needs to be mentioned is the type of cheese you use. Cheese plays a big factor in how this dough turns out. Mozzarella is a very low moisture cheese, therefore doesn’t produce the greasiness that this crust may need.
Thank you for your recipe, I will definitely use it again. =)
This did not work for me. The crust stuck to the parchment paper. Should I have baked it longer than 10 minutes? It all went into the trash.
There are TWO reasons this could have happened. One, yes it is possible it needed to bake longer if it was rather soft still OR TWO, Did you by chance roll the dough out onto the parchment paper? Like pressing the dough into the paper with the rolling pin. I’ve found that with certain types of parchment paper for some reason if you press this dough into it even just a tad too much it ends up sticking like mad. Then if this happens…patience is the game.. You want to slowly peel it away and with a knife you can slide the knife and gently remove any of the crust that sticks on the paper.
Hope this helps!
Is this the size of a small pizza or personal size?
You really can make this into a standard pizza size. We generally roll it out to fit in our standard pizza pan. I would 100% not be able to eat it all myself so would say it’s small/medium sized depending how much you roll it out too.
How big of a circle do you roll dough out to, inch wise?
Mmmm we have made this super thin and also a bit thicker. See our pepperoni pizza or chicken bbq pizza videos to see the bit ‘thicker’.. I’d say apprx.. 12-14inches for in between thicker and thinner 🙂
This recipe says 1/4 Tablespoon salt. I’m guessing it should be 1/4 teaspoon?
Also: Are the calories stated for the ball of dough or for 1 piece of pizza?
Thanks.
Yessssss thank you for catching this!!! It is 1/4 teaspoon.
Calories and nutrition info are for 1 slice of pizza ? if you are to slice it into 8 slices.