Keto Pizza

by KetoFocus.com

The Original Fathead Crust Pizza

4.9 Stars (72 Reviews) 63 Comments
Fat HeadKid FriendlyPizza

Fat Head crust is the top recipe for keto pizza. This cheesy, low-carb, fat filled crust offers a chewy, bread-like texture, but a crispy underbelly crust. This pizza allows you to follow the ketogenic diet with ZERO compromise!

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Nutrition Facts
Serving Size:
1 slice

8

Servings

241

Calories

19.8g

Fat

12.8g

Protein

3.5g

Net Carb

5.8g

Total Carbs

Unless you are brand new to the ketogenic, low carb lifestyle, you have probably heard of Fathead Pizza. It’s been a staple alternative to traditional high carbohydrate pizza for years.

knead fathead dough

Fathead dough, when used as the base for pizza, creates a crust that looks like real pizza crust and has a similar texture and flavor as well. It’s low in carbs and high in fat which makes it the perfect solution to pizza cravings on a keto diet. Top with a low carb marinara and your favorite toppings and you can easily enjoy keto pizza any night.

One of the reasons fathead pizza crust tastes so good is because it’s mostly made up of cheese! The mozzarella along with the almond flour yield a dense, crispy pizza crust packed full of flavor.

Before fathead pizza, most low carb folks were making pizza crust out of cauliflower. Cauliflower pizza crust is a pain to make. You have get most of the moisture out of the cauliflower in order to create the ideal texture. On top of that, cauliflower pizza crust doesn’t taste that great. Most keto recipes can still have that off-putting cauliflower flavor.

For the keto pizza recipe, you don’t need to add cream cheese to make the fathead dough. The texture and flavor is the same. The cream cheese in classic fathead dough recipes don’t add any purpose except they add calories and carbs! Yes, cream cheese as carbs so why add it in if it’s just not necessary?

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How to make keto pizza

  1. Make fathead dough. Combine melted mozzarella cheese with almond flour, egg, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt using a food processor, electric mixer or your hands.
  2. Roll out pizza dough into a giant circle. For a crispy crust, pre-bake your fathead crust for a few minutes. 
  3. Top your dough with pizza sauce, cheese and your favorite pizza toppings.
  4. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-18 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

half a pizza topped with pepperoni and shreds of cheddar cheese

Key ingredients for keto pizza crust

  • Mozzarella cheese – The cheese is a necessary ingredient in fathead dough. The melted mozzarella works similar to gluten in wheat flour to provide a flexible protein matrix to trap air bubbles as the dough bakes in the oven. Other cheese, especially hard cheeses, don’t work as well because they aren’t as stretchy as mozzarella cheese is when melted. Mozzarella cheese has a neutral flavor so you can’t really tell the pizza crust is made out of cheese!
  • Almond flour – The foundation to this crust. It gives the cheese structure similar to flour. Sunflower seed flour can be used if allergic to nuts. Lupin flour is delicious alternative but you will need to cut the amount in half (3/4 cup) as it doesn’t measure cup for cup with almond flour.
  • Egg – Will help hold the crust together.
  • Baking powder – The leavening agent to help the keto pizza dough rise.
  • Xanthan gum – Another ingredient that will work as a glue to hold the crust together so it keeps it shape. This can be omitted if sensitive to xanthan gum.

Keto Pizza Recipe Video

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Keto Pizza Crust Ingredients

  • 3.5 cups (about 10 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1.5 cups almond flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon italian seasoning, optional
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder, optional

Keto Pizza Directions

  • STEP
    1

    Preheat oven

    Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

    Oven preheated to 400 degrees ready for keto pizza
  • STEP
    2

    Melt the cheese

    Place mozzarella in a microwave-safe glass bowl. Microwave for about two minutes. Stir to combine and make sure all of the cheese is melted. You may need to microwave for additional time if all the cheese has not melted. Remove from microwave and let the mixture cool.

    Ingredients

    • Mozzarella cheese

    Microwave the cheeses
    Quick Tip
    If you are doubling or tripling this recipe, make sure you double or add on additional microwave time to ensure proper cheese melting.
  • STEP
    3

    Mix dry ingredients

    In a large separate bowl, mix together the almond flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt and seasonings, if using. Set aside.

    Ingredients

    • Almond flour
    • Baking powder
    • Xanthan gum
    • Salt
    • Italian seasoning (optional)
    • Garlic powder (optional)

    mix other ingredients in bowl
  • STEP
    4

    Mix dough

    To a food processor, add melted mozzarella cheese, egg and dry ingredients.

    Ingredients

    • Melted cheese
    • Egg
    • Dry ingredients

    slowly add the almond flower mixture
    Quick Tip
    If you don't have a food processer, an electric mixer can be used. Fathead dough can be mixed by hand by kneading the dough until it comes together; however, this is very messy and time-consuming.
  • STEP
    5

    Knead pizza dough

    Once combined, form a big dough ball. Knead the dough a couple of times on a lightly almond floured surface to ensure the dough is uniform in appearance and all ingredients are fully combined.

    form dough into a ball
  • STEP
    6

    Layer between parchment

    Place the ball in between two pieces of parchment paper. You can also just use a silpat mat if you have one of those, but having that top layer of parchment paper keeps the dough from sticking to you and your rolling pin. Plus it allows you to roll out a nice thin pizza crust.

    roll the ball between parchment paper
  • STEP
    7

    Roll out crust

    Roll out dough to desired thickness. Remove top parchment layer and place on top of a baking sheet.

    roll out the pizza dough
  • STEP
    8

    Watcha gonna add?

    Add toppings.

    decorate the pizza
    Quick Tip
    If you are counting macros, make sure you take into account any of the toppings you add! The Nutrition Facts listed in this recipes are for the crust only.
  • STEP
    9

    Bake

    Bake in a 400 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbling.

    Bake for 10 - 12 minutes
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a cheesy pizza topped with pepperoni

Fathead pizza crust history

Where did this delicious fat filled goodness of keto pizza dough originate? Who invented Fathead Pizza Crust? You can find different variations of it plastered all over the internet. Lots of people credit the fathead recipe to comedian Tom Naughton as the original creator.

Tom Naughton directed and starred in his low carb documentary movie Fathead which follows him around as he attempts to lose weight on a fast food diet and refute the Super Size Me documentary. In his documentary, Naughton consumes less than 100 grams of carbohydrates a day and more than 100 grams of fat a day! He ends up losing weight, increasing energy levels, and decreasing his LDL cholesterol.

Naughton originally posted about the fathead pizza crust on his website in June 2013. But, if you read his post you will learn that he, nor his “older brother’s oldest son”, developed this fat fueled pizza recipe. The older brother’s son just found the crust recipe on another site.

Deep in the comments, Naughton credits the true author of the Fathead Pizza Crust to Cooky’s Creations. Cooky is a low carb blogger and keto foodie who is the creative mastermind behind this fat filled pizza crust. She blogged about this recipe a whole year earlier and called it “Holy Grail Pizza Crust.” The name Fat Head Pizza Crust was adopted by Naughton’s fans when he posted the recipe on his site and his movie had gained so much popularity.

 

3 reasons why keto pizza is amazing

  1. First, it’s the fat. Fat is where the flavor is and this crust is pretty much all cheese. This fathead crust is comprised of 70% fat per serving! When you are on a ketogenic diet, you naturally navigate towards fatty foods because that’s your main source of energy. Dietary fat breaks down into ketones. Fat is fuel. Pizza is fuel.
  2. The second reason why this pizza crust is a favorite among keto dieters is the texture and consistency. The fathead crust is a perfect balance of chewy, bread-like texture in the middle and a crispy underside and outer crust. It is a pizza that you can eat with your hands and not with a fork. Unlike cauliflower crust pizza, that tends to have a soft underbelly and will break apart when you pick up a slice of pizza.
  3. Lastly, fathead pizza doesn’t take very long to prepare. The ingredient list is fairly short and you can be eating keto pizza in no time. It’s a perfect quick keto pizza option for busy weeknights or weekend movie nights. One of our family traditions is to make pizzas and watch videos on Friday nights with the boys. Each kid gets to add their own toppings to their own mini fat head pizza.

Other uses for fathead dough

Besides pizza crust, the fathead dough is actually a universal pastry dough in the keto community. We have used it as the breading for bagel dogs, breadsticks, hamburger buns, biscuits, donuts, cinnamon rolls, and crackers.

roll out fathead pizza dough

Keto pizza sauce

If you are making a keto pizza recipe, you have to use a low carb pizza sauce. You can’t use any jar of pizza sauce on the shelf. Many of those are full of sugars and excess carbs. It’s important to look at the nutrition label on the back of marinara sauce to make sure it is the lowest carb possible. My favorite keto pizza sauce brands are Yo Mama and Rao’s. If you are on a budget, you may consider making your own! Keto pizza sauce is easy to make and this recipe uses crushed tomatoes and a few seasoning along with olive oil to give it that authentic flavor.

Pizza toppings

If you are using this keto dough to make pizza, you will need to keep it low carb with some keto approved pizza toppings. Luckily most pizza toppings are keto friendly. The only one you may have to stay away from is pineapple as pineapple is higher in sugar content. Here are some pizza toppings you may consider on your low carb pizza!

  • pepperoni
  • salami
  • sausage
  • ground beef
  • bell pepper
  • mushroom
  • olive
  • onion
  • anchovies
  • tomato
  • Canadian bacon
  • bacon
  • artichoke hearts
  • spinach
  • olive oil

Tips for making keto pizza crust

  • Use a food processor – To make your keto dough, the fastest way to mix up all of the crust ingredient evenly is to use a food processor. It will combine all the ingredients in seconds for a uniform dough ball.
  • Roll out dough between parchment paper – To keep your keto dough from sticking to the rolling pin, place the dough in between two sheets of parchment paper. This will give you an even thickness of crust and help you transfer the dough to your baking sheet or pizza stone. If you parchment paper slides around on the table too much, place a damp paper towel underneath the bottom parchment paper. This will keep the parchment paper from slipping and make it easy to roll out your keto pizza crust.
  • Melting the mozzarella cheese – You have the option to melt your mozzarella cheese in the microwave at 60 second intervals until melted or you can melt the cheese on the stove top over low – medium heat in a non stick skillet.
an unbaked combination pizza with olives, mushrooms, pepperoni and salami

Storage and meal prep information

Freezing pizza dough

The fat head dough can be frozen either in a dough ball or rolled out in a circle crust shape. For the dough ball, wrap in plastic wrap and place in a freezer safe bag to freeze. For the pizza crust, keep the crust in between the two sheets of parchment paper used to roll out the dough. Then place in a freezer safe bag to freeze.

This is a great way to store extra pizza dough. Double or triple the recipe to make multiple crusts. You can see that it is easy to have fat head pizza at your disposal, so there’s no excuse not to have pizza night at least once or twice a week on the ketogenic diet!

To thaw, place dough in the refrigerator for a few hours or at room temperature.

Making frozen keto pizza

Rather than just freezing the crust, you can easily make your own frozen pizza. After the crust is rolled out, add the pizza sauce and toppings. Out of cardboard, cut a base for the crust to sit on (similar to frozen pizza from the box). Then wrap in plastic wrap and store in a freezer safe bag.

Baking frozen pizza

Bake the frozen keto pizza from frozen in a 400 degree oven for just a bit longer 18-22 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Keto Pizza: FAQS

Can I buy keto pizza?

Blaze pizza is one of the most popular pizza restaurants that sells a keto pizza. Blaze pizza crust is made from cauliflower rice and mozzarella cheese and has 6 g net carbs per slice. Papa Murphy's sells a crustless pizza.

Should I use a pizza stone to make keto pizza?

It's not necessary but you could use a pizza stone to bake your low carb pizza on. It will help get the crust below the pizza crispy and aid in the cooking of the middle portion of the pizza. But a baking tray works fine too.

Is it keto to pull the toppings and cheese off of pizza and eat it?

Technically, yes as long as the marinara sauce used in the pizza doesn't have a lot of carbs or sugar in it. Some pizza places will add sugar to their sauce to add flavor. Look up the nutrition facts of the sauce used before going.

Nutritional information & Macros

Nutrition Information

Keto Pizza

Servings: 8

Amount Per Serving
Calories 241
Fat 19.8g
Protein 12.8g
Total Carbs 5.8g
Net Carbs 3.5g

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63 Comments

        2. I have never used it my fathead pizza dough. I used it to make gravy once as a thickener and it made the texture off putting to me, slimy. I was afraid it would do to the same to the dough.

          Reply

  5. Do you think I could pre-bake the crusts and freeze or refrigerate? Then pull out as needed, top and bake? I am trying to think of meal prep as I am trying to get my whole family on board with healthier eating. I need quick week night meals for my super picky 10 year old who only eats pizza and chicken nuggets.

    Reply

      1. Hi Annie,

        Thank you for sharing all of your delicious recipes. I have never flash freeze any of my food so I am not sure how to do this can you share how you do this with your pizza dough. Also how to you store it in the freezer if freezing it rolled out?

        Reply

        1. Sure, there are two ways to store it. First, just place your dough ball in a plastic freezer safe bag, press out the air and put it in the freezer. The second, is to roll it out flat first. Store it flat with the bottom and top parchment paper attached the the flat dough. Place in a ziploc freezer bag and put in the freezer. You can stack multiple flat pizza crusts this way by stacking them on each other then putting them in the ziploc bag. As long as they have parchment paper in between them, they shouldn’t stick together.

          Reply

  6. Ok I actually made this today instead of the mummy dogs. But! I am going to cut strips out of the dough I rolled out and refrigerated then put some hot dogs inside with cheddar 😉
    I’ll let you how it turns out. So far everything I make of your creations has been absolutely stellar. Best stuff I’ve found on the internet so far for keto heads!

    Reply

      1. Yes they came out awesomeM I used a block of pollyO mozzarella and shredded it in a processor myself. I put two pieces of parchment sprayed with non stick spray and rolled it out into a pizza dough, then cut into eight strips after I refrigerated it for about an hour, wrapped the dogs in it added cheese and baked for the same time as the mummy dogs called for. Really filling and super delicious!
        Easy to do too!

        Reply

  7. In your notes you say “The combination of mozzarella and cream cheese along with the almond flour yield a dense, crispy pizza crust packed full of flavor.”. However, cream cheese is not listed in the ingredients nor in the instructions. Is it supposed to be part of this recipe?

    Reply

      1. Thanks for confirming no cream cheese : )

        I ended up making this tonight, and it is by far the best Keto pizza crust recipe I’ve tried! I had some issues getting the dough rolled out evenly, so I par baked it for 10 minutes on a pizza stone before adding my toppings. It came out great; thanks for sharing this recipe!

        Reply

  8. Can I make the dough a couple hours ahead of time and put in the fridge before rolling out? This is our first week on keto, so want to make sure I do things correctly 🙂

    Reply

  9. This pizza dough was amazing! Pizza is my most favorite food to eat. I was able to top my pizza with several ingredients. I used additional spices, such as; Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder. I hope that you will continue to shower us with additional recipes. I can’t wait !!! Thank you

    Reply

  10. I tried this last night, it was great! When I used to make pizza I would put cornmeal on the parchment before putting the crust down, I used Parmesan cheese instead, worked great. I also brushed the top of the pizza with garlic butter before topping.

    Reply

  11. The recipe calls for something called “1 teaspoon xanthan gum”, but that item is not included in the video which only has 4 ingredients. What is xanthan gum and it it optional?

    Thanks

    Reply

  12. We use your recipe all the time. It’s the best! Would you happen to know what the “MyFitnessPal” “personal pizza keto focus” portion is?

    Reply

  14. I made this yesterday and followed the guidelines that were provided and sprayed parchment paper with oil. I added Italian seasoning to the dough and forgot to put holes in the dough before putting the topping on it but the pizza turned out perfect. The Pizza was fantastic. I sauced the dough, added cheese’s, a pound of cooked Italian seasoned ground beef, onions, green and black olives, mushroom’s and topped with more cheese. It was awesome.

    I have used the same recipe on the dough with other ingredients making sweet rolls, cup cakes, cookies and dough to wrapped hotdogs in. Its very versatile.

    Reply

  15. I’ve made this several times and its PERFECTION!! I share this recipe link with all my keto friends. Thank you so much for sharing it! It comes together so quickly and it is really on point. So happy!!! <3

    Reply

  16. Annie, This is my first time to make Fathead dough. I used this recipe to make pretzels for Super Bowl party. They were a hit. Using your protein Lasagna for main course. Thank you for your hard work bringing us these recipes & ideas. ?

    Reply

    1. Hi Annie, I have been shying away from making fathead pizza dough for the 7 months I’ve been eating keto (42 lbs gone so far!). Tonight I made it for my hubby and I and added some Italian seasonings, then topped it with Rao’s marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and onions. We both LOVE IT! Thank you! It will definitely be a staple in our home going forward! Also many thanks for the warning about the mess when using a mixer to combine the wet and dry ingredients. It really helped keep this non-cook keto cook calm and moving forward with the process!

      Reply

  18. Is the dough on its own 3.5g net carbs total or per slice? I made it yesterday from 3 ingredient recipe and loved it and my 12 year old son said he prefers it to normal pizza.xx

    Reply

  20. I noticed on this pizza recipe is said 3.5 cups of mozzarella but in parentheses it has 10oz? That would only be about 1 cup and 1/4 is this recipe for more that one crust? Just curious I want to make it but I don’t know how much geese I would need.

    Reply

  25. This was a hit! I made it with the fathead dough recipe from this recipe and put pepperoni on it! My husband, who doesn’t follow a keto diet, loved it too. He’d never had a keto pizza before. I’m so happy to have found something he’ll eat along with me! We will be making this again for sure!

    Reply

  26. I made this last night exactly as the recipe says. It came out delicious and we now can enjoy pizza again! I want to roll out the dough thinner next time to try to get it crispier. Do you think I should add another tsp of xanthan gum to make it hold together more? The instructions on the bag say 2 teaspoons per cup of flour for pizza.

    I made two smaller pizzas with the dough and baked them on a pizza stone. I flipped them over at about 7 minutes and then baked for another 5. Removed them from the oven and then added my toppings. Baked again for another 10 or so. Edges were super crispy. Great recipe! Thank you!

    Reply

  27. I made this tonight for dinner an it was so good, an easy, I used my food processor to mix the crust dough, an that worked so much better than hand mixer..:) I can not wait to use this dough on other recipes, thank you so much.

    Reply

  28. This is a great recipe. I’ve been going through your library and this one by far is the best. I made this last night for myself and my wife who isn’t on keto, she loved it. I am on keto for nearly 5 months and been craving pizza nearly every day. Thanks so much!

    Funny thing though, I don’t know if you use a convection oven or a broiler, but literally on every recipe I have to bake everything at least an extra 15 minutes. The keto bread loaf, well, that is an extra 20! Truly, every oven is different.

    Reply

  29. Boy is this a game changer. Made my first batch a week ago and planning for more already. I do have a question though – is there a variation or way to make baguette style bread with it for subs?

    Reply

  31. The crust was great, but I have a question. Your recipe is showing for 8 servings, which I assume is the 8 slices, but how many pizzas is this one recipe supposed to make? When I made it, it was alot of dough, so I divided it into 3 sections and made a pizza crust out of each section, but it still seemed like I could have separated it even more. What is your suggestion? Also, can I use the left over dough to make biscuits or rolls?

    Reply

    1. It makes a large pizza and if you cut into 8 slices, each slice is a serving. But you can make smaller pizzas. And yes, you can use the leftover dough for biscuits, rolls, breadsticks, even pie crust for savory pies.

      Reply

  32. This recipe is fantastic! The best keto crust I’ve ever had. I made a whole batch and split it in half, I froze the other half. The crust actually got crispy and tasted really good with a great texture. I only ended up eating half of it so today we put it in the air fryer and it was just as good as the first time I ate it. Even my non keto husband said it was really good and to save the recipe ☺️

    Reply

  33. OMG!! Another great recipe. This is so many things from simple to extremely delicious. Another keeper recipe!!

    Reply

  34. I’m confused about the amount of mozzarella to use. A typical 8 oz. Bag of pre-shredded mozzarella states that it is 2 cups. Therefore 10 ounces would be 2.5 cups (instead of 3.5)? Thanks for the clarification.

    Reply

    1. It honestly depends on how much you pack the shredded cheese to measure in cups. I recommend using ounces but when I published the video, everyone wanted measurements in cups.

      Reply

  35. I made this tonight…followed recipe to the T apart from I only used 2 cups of packed shredded mozzarella and only had a bag of ground almonds and not almond flour. I used my food processor to mix. I greased one circle of parchment paper and molded by hand the dough ball into a pizza base shape. The pizza came out perfect! It was crispy on the edges and held its slices great. It was so easy to make. I will def be making again on a regular basis. Thank you.

    Reply

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