What better way to introduce the new blog than by sharing the recipe that has been a mainstay in our household for the past two years: low carb pizza.
It all started with a post-it note from my coworker. After discovering that we were both on a keto diet, she scribbled down a few lines, handed me the note, and said: “Trust me.” I scanned the makeshift recipe with apprehension. A pizza made of meat? And turkey no less? I know pizza; pizza is like my family. I’ve had just about every kind of pizza imaginable, and turkey was never invited to the party. And a low carb pizza at that? I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea but slid the post-it in my purse to avoid hurt feelings. Several weeks later, as I was cleaning out said purse, the sticky neon paper resurfaced.
Don't forget to PIN it for later! ?
![Keto Pizza - Turkey Crust Meatza [Recipe]](https://cdn.ketogasm.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/keto-meatza-turkey.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeG4Wp35dtM&loop=1
I shared the recipe with my guy and was rushed off to the grocery store to acquire all the fixings. What I saw as blasphemy to the pizza gods, he saw as everything his heart desired — meat on top of more meat. The only other time I had seen him that excited about food was when he found out that turducken is a real thing.
He needed meatza in his life.
We whipped it up that night and never looked back. This low carb pizza is outrageously delicious. Seriously. I slapped the post-it on my fridge after realizing the recipe was a keeper. It’s still there.
Since then, I’ve tweaked a few things, played around with the ratios, cooking vessels, and a variety of toppings. I prefer to use a cast-iron skillet
to get a nice crunch on the crust. Cast-iron skillets get super hot and stay that way, which is great for searing meat. Since your crust is made of meat and cheese, the meat is seared nicely while the cheese crisps up.
If you don't have cast-iron, you can use any oven safe dish or pan as long as it has sides to prevent the grease from dripping out.
The bigger the pan, the thinner the crust and vice versa. So if you like a thin crust, consider using a pan with a larger surface area to spread out the ingredients.
The following recipe has all of my favorite pizza toppings and comes to a measly 22 grams of carbs for the entire pizza! That's less than 4 grams of carbs per slice! Feel free to swap the toppings out for your own faves, just be sure to update your macros.
I like this low carb pizza better than the delivery we used to order every week! If that's not a testament to how spectacular this recipe is... then I don't know what is. You've got to give it a try!
Want to try another keto pizza recipe? Try my fathead pizza rolls, one of the most popular recipes on the blog!
What's your favorite type of pizza? Let me know in the comments below!
Ingredients
Meatza Crust
- 1 pound turkey ground
- 2 cups mozzarella grated and loosely packed
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Meatza Toppings
- 2 tablespoons Rao's marinara sauce
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese
- 4 olives sliced
- 4 slices canadian bacon
- 8 slices pepperoni
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.
- Combine turkey, 2 cups mozzarella, egg and garlic powder. Be sure to reserve at least a ½ cup of the cheese for the topping.
- Press the mixture flat into a greased cast-iron skillet.
- Bake in oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and carefully drain accumulated grease.
- Spread the tomato sauce evenly over the cooked turkey mixture.
- Sprinkle half of the remaining mozzarella over the crust, then layer olive, canadian bacon, and pepperoni toppings.
- Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella cheese over the top.
- Bake in oven for an additional 20 minutes.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing into meatza to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi, I'm Tasha–nutritionist, recipe developer, and multi-published cookbook author.
I have an egg white allergy. Is there something I could use as a substitution, instead of egg?
You can leave the egg out, I believe it will still work well without it.
I love this recipe! I recently had weight loss surgery and this recipe is so perfect for me, but I did make a few minor tweaks, like I used 99% fat free ground turkey BREAST to make it even lower fat, and the bonus was, it doesn't shrink up as much and there was no fat to pour off in between, I also used Sargento reduced fat 4-cheese Italian blend cheese, super yummy, and because I'm originally from Chicago where our pizzas are a good inch thick slabs of cheese on our pizza, I used the whole 2 cup pouch, 1 cup in the crust, and the 2nd cup on top. Then I used turkey pepperoni which is 70% less fat, diced bell pepper, and a dash of dried oregano on top (another Chicago thing), and no Canadian bacon. I also found little cans of Contadina pizza sauce work great, although one can is probably enough for 3 or 4 pizzas, and I found these great little olive cups (like the size of the apple sauce you'd send in your kids lunch, only sliced black olives, perfect portion for this little pizza).
what size cast iron skillet did you use?
I used a 9 inch! I should clarify in the recipe - sorry about that. A larger size would work great if you have that size on hand, just a thinner crust! Hope that helps a little.
Hi--Is there a way to hold the crust together without the egg? I have an allergy, but this recipe looks delicious!
Hi Erin! I haven't tried it without the egg personally, but think it would hold up pretty well without it! If you do try it, let us know how it went and I can add a note in the recipe for others with similar allergies. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi Erin! I made it without the egg, and it held together fine. I think the cheese helped bind it together. It was delicious! I made mine with all veggie toppings. Enjoy!
Pamela did you cook up your veggies some before adding to pizza ? I want to try this tomorrow ..
You could try geletin or pectin in place of egg. Also cheese binds
Hi Tasha,
Can I make this in a regular round pan if I do not have a cast iron skillet? Also
Thank you!
Absolutely!
No need to use an egg for the crust. It holds together just fine.
You can even make a Chicago Style Meatza with 2 lbs of turkey!
I add italian spices to both the turkey and tomato sauce to give it a stronger "pizza " taste.
This base lends itself to all kinds of toppings, traditional or not.
We have some variation of Meatza at least a couple times a week!
I'm going to try this with crockpot turkey. Been cooking all day so it should be ground up good. Comments ?
I think that will work super good! Sometimes I make pizza crusts with shredded chicken (which is probably a bit tougher than what's in your crockpot) and it's great. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
"Combine turkey, 1 cup mozzarella, egg and garlic powder. Be sure to reserve at least a 1/2 cup of the cheese for the topping."
So is the recipe 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella, or 'combine turkey, 1/2 cup mozzarella?'
Going to try this this weekend. Thank you!
You'll combine the turkey with 1 cup of mozzarella; the rest of the cheese is used for the topping. Hope that helps 🙂
If you put in shaved parmasen the crust is crunchy good!
This was so good my son asked if there was more!
Going to make this again tonight!
Hi Erin! I made it without the egg, and it held together fine. I think the cheese helped bind it together. It was delicious! I made mine with all veggie toppings. Enjoy!
Hi Erin,
How many servings is this? This looks great!
This was delicious and the whole family enjoyed it. Super easy recipe and will go on repeat for sure, probably a weekend meal since the. Ok time is a bit long.
Hi
Can you use ground beef? If so do you have to cook it first?
This was SO good!! My family is super picky, and everyone ate it happily. They all agreed I should make it again sometime. Success!! 🙂
Great recipe. Thank you. My family loved it.
I made this and it was pretty good but next time will definitely tweak. I used my 9” square cast iron skillet and it was too much meat. Will definitely season the turkey first, thin it out and use more pizza sauce. It was a little dry but definitely a good foundation.
Great feedback! It is pretty thick as written. For thin crust, I like to use this recipe (or use chicken) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Might be worth a try for you!
Can this crust be cooked for 20 min then frozen. Then later add veggies and sauce,cheese and cook for the additional 20 min ?
Absolutely! That's a great idea too!
Thank you for posting. I absolutely LOVED it. And it was so simple.
Do you brown the turkey first?
It goes in like a meatloaf and bakes to form the crust. Then add the toppings! No need to brown the turkey separately. 🙂