This Perfect Cauliflower Pizza Crust is a low carb recipe with just 3 ingredients, so you can enjoy your favourite pizza with way less carbs.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Cauliflower – you could also buy cauliflower rice at the store then bake or sauté it for 10-15 minutes. Frozen cauliflower would also work.
- Parmesan cheese – nutritional yeast is a great vegan substitute for parmesan.
- Egg – use fresh eggs or eggs from a carton, although fresh eggs are recommended.
Optional toppings
- Pizza sauce – use your favourite store-bought version or make your own homemade sauce.
- Grated mozzarella – or another cheese variety of your choice like low-fat or vegan cheese.
- Pepperoni – swap out for another protein like sausage, bacon, chicken or ground beef.
- Fresh basil – add on other veggies like bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, summer squash or zucchini.
How to make cauliflower pizza crust
- Cook and drain the cauliflower.
- Blend the cauliflower.
- Whisk the egg and add in the parmesan.
- Drain the cauliflower mixture.
- Mix the cauliflower into the egg and cheese.
- Press the dough onto a sheet pan.
- Bake in the oven.
- Add on your fave toppings, cook and enjoy!
Do you really need to use a cheesecloth?
Because cauliflower contains almost 60% water, and nobody likes a soggy pizza crust, the water needs to be removed from the cooked cauliflower rice. The easiest method is to squeeze it through a piece of cheesecloth.
Cheesecloth is the best option (buy some here) because its fibres have enough space between them to allow liquids to pass through easily. In addition to that, cheesecloth has a smooth surface that helps to prevent the rice from sticking to it.
If you can't find any cheesecloth, you can use a linen kitchen towel. This is honestly what I use because I can't be bothered to buy cheesecloth! I have no trouble getting a ton of liquid from the riced cauliflower. It just takes a good 5 minutes of squeezing and squeezing it in batches.
For the crust to become crispy during baking, it's very important to remove as much moisture from the cooked cauliflower as you possibly can. If you squeeze hard enough, maybe it will burn enough calories for you to have an extra slice of pizza. 😉
All joking aside, you should expect to remove about 1 to 1 ½ cups of water from the cooked cauliflower rice and the rice should have a very dry texture. When you form it into the dough, it will feel sticky and sort of similar to pizza dough.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! One plain, 12-inch traditional pizza crust has 804 calories and 64 net grams of carbohydrates. On the other hand, my recipe for cauliflower pizza crust has a few extra calories because of the cheese (958) but only 21.4 net grams of carbs. Yes, there is a LOT of cheese in the crust, plus any cheese you add on top. However, you will add less sauce, cheese and toppings to cauliflower crust pizza than a traditional pizza because it's smaller and has a thinner crust, so in the long run you do save on calories as well as carbs. Plus, you're getting far more protein too! If you are concerned about the higher fat content, you can use low-fat cheese.
Cauliflower crust is actually relatively easy to make and doesn’t require a lot of complicated ingredients. You only need three ingredients: cauliflower, parmesan cheese and egg.
This cauliflower crust is a low-carb alternative to traditional pizza crust, but it does still contain some carbs. For example, this recipe has 10 grams of carbs per serving.
Roll the crust out to approximately one-half inch thick. You can go thinner if you'd like a thinner crust and longer, larger pizza but I find 1/2 inch to be a nice size and fills a baking sheet very well. I also find the crust to be a bit sturdier if you make it thicker. There's less risk of it falling apart during the cooking process.
Storing and reheating
You can make this crust a couple days ahead of time before you go to serve it as pizza. Just follow all of the instructions in the recipe card below and then store in a large Ziploc bag in the fridge for up to 2 days.
To serve, just pull the crust out of the fridge, put it on a parchment-lined baking sheet, load it up with toppings and bake at 450 F for 5 to 10 minutes. You may need a little longer to ensure the crust gets re-heated all of the way since it will now be cold but it should reheat and taste just like new so it's a great option to make it ahead of time.
Store any leftover pizza wrapped in foil or in a large Ziploc bag in the fridge for up to 5 days. I’ll sometimes reheat my leftovers in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes if I'm in a rush and want my pizza ASAP. However, the crust will get a bit soggy and you will have to eat it with a fork and knife. The best way to reheat leftover pizza is in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes at 450 F.
Can you freeze cauliflower pizza crust?
Yes, you can freeze cauliflower crust! Just be sure that it is completely cool first. Once it's cool, wrap the crust tightly in plastic wrap, then add a layer of aluminum foil over that. It will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
For easy meal prep, you can also freeze cauliflower pizza crust ahead of time. Freeze the baked crust without any sauce or toppings on it. A few hours before you're ready to use the crust, transfer it to the refrigerator so it can thaw.
Wanna Learn How To Meal Prep?
My meal planning service, Dinner Prep Pro, removes the guesswork and helps you get dinner on the table in 15-20 minutes each night. My meal prep checklists only take 1 hour each week!
More low carb cauliflower recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls to pack up individual servings of this cauliflower crust pizza.
- Get some cheesecloth to drain the cauliflower.
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months.
Perfect Cauliflower Pizza Crust {Low-Carb}
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 2 cups grated parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
Optional toppings
- 1/4 cup Pizza sauce
- 1/2 cup Grated mozzarella cheese
- Pepperoni
- Fresh basil leaves
- Any other toppings you'd like! Note: I would not reccomend mushrooms because they release water and can make the crust fall apart
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook cauliflower in boiling water for 3-5 minutes until softened. Drain, then add cauliflower to a blender or food processor. Pulse until fully blended.
- Whisk egg in a large bowl, then mix in parmesan cheese. Drain cauliflower mixture with a linen towel or cheesecloth (squeeze out as much liquid as possible), then mix cauliflower into cheese/egg mixture until well-combined.
- Press the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet or silpat mat. Make the dough 1/2" thick. Bake for 20 minutes, then flip the crust using the parchment paper (make sure there is another sheet of parchment underneath) and bake another 10 minutes.
- Top with pizza sauce, cheese and other desired toppings (don't add too much or it will become soggy). Put back into oven and bake until the cheese has melted, about 5 minutes.
Comments & Reviews
Ivy Perez says
My family and I LOVE this recipe. I’ve been using active dry yeast because that’s all I could find. I mix it with about a half cup of the warm water and dissolve the hard bits before adding it to the recipe.
Pam says
I’ve tried cauliflower pizza crust before and was not impressed. This one is intriguing and I will try it. The Parmesan cheese is that fresh or already grated?
Taylor Stinson says
You’ll want to grate the Parmesan cheese..I buy a big block of it since it also lasts longer in the fridge that way. Hope you enjoy 🙂