Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (2024)

Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (1)

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Table Of Contents hide

  • Why You’ll Love This Crustless Pizza Recipe
  • How To Make Crustless Pizza
  • Tips For Making Crustless Pizza
  • Topping Variations
  • Storage Instructions
  • What To Serve With Crustless Pizza
  • More Low Carb Pizza Recipes
  • Tools To Make A Pizza Without Crust
  • Crustless Pizza (20 Minutes!)

I already have a pizza casserole recipe, apizza bowl, and a famous keto pizza, so why do we need a crustless pizza recipe? Because it’s the best of both worlds. This pizza without crust has the same toppings you’d find on a meat lover’s pizza, but it takes away the fuss of making a crust, skips the cauliflower you’d find in my other pizza casserole, has minimal oven time (great for summer), and is ready super fast in just 20 minutes. Skillet pizza is the perfect dish for busy weeknights!

Not only does this keto crustless pizza satisfy even the biggest pizza cravings, but it’s also completely customizable by switching up the “toppings” — make it your own! Try it for the ultimate low carb dinner, or you could even serve it as a pizza dip.

Why You’ll Love This Crustless Pizza Recipe

  • Classic pizza flavors
  • 6 common pizza ingredients
  • On the table in just 20 minutes
  • Naturally low carb (8.9g net carbs per serving) and gluten-free
  • Faster and less messy than making a crust
  • Customizable toppings
Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (2)

Ingredients & Substitutions

This section explains how to choose the best ingredients for a low carb crustless pizza, what each one does in the recipe, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card below.

  • Sausage – This makes up the base layer of this pizza skillet. I used ground Italian sausage, but you could use other types of ground meat, such as pork sausage, ground beef, or even ground turkey instead.
  • Veggies– For a colorful variety in my skillet pizza, I used half of a red bell pepper, half of a yellow bell pepper, and cremini mushrooms. You could use a green bell pepper, white button mushrooms, or just about any vegetables you like.
  • Sauce – You can use sugar free marinara sauce, keto pizza sauce, alfredo sauce, or pesto sauce depending on your preference.
  • Mozzarella Cheese– Feel free to substitute it with shredded cheddar, Colby jack, pepper jack, or any cheese you prefer.
  • Pepperoni Slices – You can also top your crustless pizza with additional sausage, more veggies, or bacon!

How To Make Crustless Pizza

This section shows how to make a pizza without crust, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique, to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below.

  1. Brown meat. Cook the ground sausage in acast iron skillet, until browned and cooked through.
  2. Saute veggies. Lower the heat, and push sausage to pan edges, creating space in the center. Add the mushrooms and peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and dry.
Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (3)
Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (4)
  1. Add sauce. Turn off the heat. Pour the marinara sauce over the pan, and smooth evenly with a spatula.
  2. Add toppings. Sprinkle with the shredded mozzarella. Arrange the pepperoni slices on top.
Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (5)
Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (6)
  1. Bake. Transfer the skillet to the oven. Broil the crustless pizza recipe, until the cheese is melted and browned, and the pepperoni starts to crisp up a little.
Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (7)

Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (8)

Tips For Making Crustless Pizza

  • The pan will seem very full when you add the veggies.If they don’t all fit, add what you can and add the rest once they start to cook down. The mushrooms will shrink especially.
  • Make sure to cook the veggies enough to get all the water out.If you don’t, your crustless pizza may be watery.
  • Adjust the sauce amount based on your goals. This crustless pizza recipe uses 1 cup of marinara, which is moderately saucy. If you like it extra saucy, feel free to add more marinara to your liking, but it will increase the carb count. Conversely, if the carbs are too high for your macros, you can reduce the amount of sauce (the main source of carbs in this dish) or eat smaller servings.

Topping Variations

If you want other toppings in your pizza skillet, feel free to customize with your favorite pizza toppings. Here are some ideas:

  • Caprese – Use ground beef or sausage for the base layer, without marinara. Replace the pepperoni on top with tomato slices and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar or glaze (make the glaze yourself by reducing the vinegar, so there’s no sugar added). Top with fresh basil.
  • Breakfast – Replace the sausage in this crustless pizza recipe with breakfast sausage, scramble some egg into the base layer, skip the marinara, and replace the pepperoni with crumbled bacon.
  • BBQ Chicken – Replace the sausage and peppers with shredded chicken breast and red onions, and the marinara with sugar-free BBQ sauce. Skip the pepperoni.
  • Hawaiian – Pineapple is not keto friendly, but if you are low carb, you might enjoy some in moderation. Combine chopped Canadian bacon and pineapple chunks for the bottom layer, and just cheese on top. Or keep the sausage underneath, and place the pineapple and Canadian bacon on top.
  • Traditional Veggie – Replace the sausage with more veggies (green peppers, mushrooms, black olives, onions, etc.) and top with extra cheese. Omit pepperoni. You can also add other keto vegetables.
  • Summer Veggie – Try zucchini, eggplant, or spinach. You’ll need to saute them to evaporate all the moisture, just as we do with the mushrooms and peppers.

Storage Instructions

  • Store: Keep leftovers in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. I like storing it right in the (covered) pan to maintain the layers, but an airtight container will keep it fresh for longer.
  • Meal prep: Prepare the crustless pizza in advance and reheat when needed, or prep ahead by assembling the pizza without crust, refrigerating, and broiling later.
  • Reheat: Warm in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees F until hot. You could also scoop a serving into a bowl and microwave.
  • Freeze: You can freeze before or after baking. Wrap the top with plastic wrap and foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. For best results, thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating, but you can also reheat from frozen (it will take longer).

What To Serve With Crustless Pizza

Crustless pizza makes a complete meal on it’s own, but a side or two never hurts! Here are some ideas:

  • Salad – If you opt for a smaller serving size, try serving it with a Caesar salad (skip the chicken for a side) or a kale salad.
  • Wings – For a classic pizza night feast, you can’t go wrong with a side of crispy baked wings, or make air fryer wings which are even faster.
  • Breadsticks – I love to serve this crustless pizza with a side of cauliflower breadsticks with additional marinara or keto cheese sauce.

More Low Carb Pizza Recipes

If you like this crustless pizza recipe, you might also like these other keto pizza recipes:

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Cheese Crust Pizza

Zucchini Pizza Crust

Chicken Crust Pizza

  • Cast Iron Skillet– This cast iron has so many great reviews (and I love it myself!) and works perfectly for oven-to-table serving.

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Recipe Card

Crustless Pizza Recipe (20 Minutes!) - Wholesome Yum (15)

4.88 from 49 votes☝️ Click stars to rate or click here to leave a review!

Crustless Pizza (20 Minutes!)

This easy crustless pizza recipe is the best 20-minute low carb dinner! It has all your favorite toppings, sauce and cheese, minus the fuss.

Prep: 2 minutes

Cook: 18 minutes

Total: 20 minutes

Author: Maya Krampf from WholesomeYum.com

Servings: 4 (adjust to scale recipe)

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Ingredients

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Instructions

Tap on the times in the instructions below to start a kitchen timer while you cook.

  1. Heat an oven-safe 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground sausage. Cook for 8-10 minutes, breaking apart with a spatula, until browned and cooked through.

  2. Toward the end of cooking the sausage, preheat the oven to the Broil setting.

  3. Reduce heat to medium. Push the sausage to the edges of the pan, making a space in the center. Add mushrooms and bell peppers to the center. Cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally once they start to soften and moving any less cooked pieces toward the bottom, until vegetables are soft and any excess moisture has evaporated. (Add a little oil if the pan gets too dry.)

  4. Turn off heat. Pour the marinara sauce over the pan. Smooth evenly with a spatula.

  5. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Arrange pepperoni slices on top.

  6. Transfer the skillet to the oven under the broiler. Broil for 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and browned, and pepperoni starts to crisp up a little.

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Related Easy Recipes

  • Pizza Casserole

  • Portobello Mushroom Pizza

  • Eggplant Pizza Recipe

  • Low Carb Keto Pizza Sauce

Recipe Notes

Serving size: 1/4 crustless pizza

Nutrition Facts

Amount per serving. Serving size in recipe notes above.

Calories571

Fat43.7g

Protein32.8g

Total Carbs11.1g

Net Carbs8.9g

Fiber2.2g

Sugar6.1g

Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see our nutrition policy.

Course:Main Course

Cuisine:American, Italian

Keywords:crustless pizza recipe, keto crustless pizza, low carb crustless pizza, pizza without crust, skillet pizza

Calories: 571 kcal

© Copyright Maya Krampf for Wholesome Yum. Please DO NOT SCREENSHOT OR COPY/PASTE recipes to social media or websites. We’d LOVE for you to share a link with photo instead. 🙂

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FAQs

Can I eat cheese and pepperoni off pizza on keto? ›

Cheese: A great source of fat and protein. The most common cheese is mozzarella but you can also use cheddar, Parmesan, and ricotta. Meat: The meat toppings are generally all keto (watch out for meatballs filled with breadcrumbs). Pepperoni, Italian sausage, and Canadian bacon are all popular low-carb options.

Does Domino's do crustless pizza? ›

In its latest product, Specialty Chicken, there's no pizza crust in sight. Instead, the U.S. chain has replaced it with breaded, white boneless chicken pieces that are then topped with sauce, cheese and other assorted pizza toppings.

Who has no crust pizza in a bowl? ›

What is a papa bowl? A Papa Bowl is a creative way to enjoy all the Papa Johns pizza toppings you love, but without the crust.

Can I eat unlimited cheese on keto? ›

Enjoying cheese is one of the pleasures of the keto diet. But that doesn't mean it's unlimited and unrestricted. Nutritionists say that keto practitioners need to be selective with the cheese varieties they consume while on keto and enjoy them only in moderation to avoid disrupting ketosis and hampering weight loss.

What kind of pizza is OK for keto? ›

Regular pizza bases are usually a no-no for those following a ketogenic or moderate low-carb diet. By swapping out a regular, carb-laden base for a Lo-Dough base, you can cut the carbs by more than 90%, reduce calories and simultaneously supplement your diet with the fibre it needs!

What chain makes keto pizza? ›

Read more: Blaze Pizza just launched the first keto-diet-approved pizza crust to be served at a national chain. I tried it and was surprised by how good it was.

Does Little Caesars have crustless pizza? ›

No crust, no problem. With our Thin Crust pizza, you'll get edge-to-edge Cheese and Pepperoni. Order one on our app today!

What is the secret to a crispy pizza crust? ›

Bake the crust in the fully preheated oven for five minutes. This helps dry it out and prepares it for it's final crispy form. If you top it with everything first, it probably won't get enough heat and air exposure to fully crisp, so partially bake the crust and sauce first.

What happens if you don't use yeast in pizza dough? ›

No-yeast pizza dough does not go through a lot of kneading and rising, so it has a softer, fluffier, less chewy, and more bread-like texture. It's not super crispy, it does not make those big delicate bubbles on the edges, and it doesn't get very brown.

What is Brooklyn style? ›

While both New York pizza and Brooklyn style have relatively thin crusts, pizza you'll find in Brooklyn tends to have a crispy dough throughout that cracks when you fold the slice, whereas a classic New York slice still has a crispy edge but a softer dough underneath the cheese that bends when you fold it.

Is it rude to not eat the crust of pizza? ›

No need pretending, Italians very often cut of the crusts of their pizza. It is not considered offensive or wrong.

What do you call a pizza with no toppings? ›

“You could call a New York-style pizza without toppings a plain pizza, but one could make the case that the name could also describe a marinara pizza.

Is crustless pizza good for you? ›

Ever wondered why a crustless pizza is popular on a keto diet? It has barely any carbs! If you use certain vegetables or smoked meats, it can increase the carb count, but made as written, it's virtually carb-free.

Can you eat pepperoni on keto? ›

Is Pepperoni Keto-Friendly? Yes! Pepperoni is a dream addition to any ketogenic diet and snacks like Chomps Pepperoni Seasoned Turkey can be a great healthy snack on the go. Pepperoni has negligible carbs, a moderate amount of protein, and a healthy mix of fats, vitamins, and minerals.

How many carbs are in a slice of cheese and pepperoni pizza? ›

Better Bakery
Nutrition Facts
How much sodium is in Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza? Amount of sodium in Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza: Sodium 1110mg47%
How many carbs are in Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza? Amount of carbs in Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza: Carbohydrates 45g-
17 more rows

Can I have a pizza cheat day on keto? ›

For keto dieters, a cheat day can mean indulging in actual pasta, pizza, and other high-carb meals. While many dieters think of cheat day as a well-deserved reward, nutritionists say there are downsides to it.

Can you eat cheese slices on keto diet? ›

You can eat high fat foods like cheese on the Keto diet. Cheddar, Gouda, goat cheese, and blue cheese are the best to consider. Cheese to avoid on Keto are cottage cheese and low fat and processed varieties.

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