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This Keto Sheet Pan Pizza is a delicious twist on an old classic. A low-carb sausage crust is topped with cheese and lots of delicious toppings.
Who can resist a hot, homemade, pizza gooey with melted cheese and topped with onions and sweet peppers? Not us!
Our Keto Sheet Pan Pizza with Sausage Crust is sure to please the low-carb fans at your table. But even if you aren’t following a keto diet yourself – you’ll love this fantastic pizza too!
We used a three-cheese blend of shredded mozzarella, Parmesan, and cream cheese. Then we combine that with sauteed vegetables and spinach for toppings. The ingredients are baked on a crust made from a combination of coconut flour, almond flour, Parmesan, mozzarella, and sweet Italian sausage. Yes – This recipe tastes just as amazing as it sounds.
Why this recipe works
Our goal in developing this recipe was to come up with an original, easy, keto pizza dough that was high in fat, low in carbs, and moderate in protein — the ideal nutritional macros for any keto recipe.
After reading through dozens of keto pizza recipes, many were made using almond flour as the base (aka ‘fathead’ pizza), others used raw, ground chicken for the crust, and still others used cooked chicken. They all seemed good, but they suffered from a similar issue in that the amount of fat included was low, and really didn’t fit the recommended keto recipe proportions.
Our keto pizza checks all of the keto boxes along the way thanks to sweet Italian sausage crust as the base, with low-carb almond and coconut flours to bind it together. Topped with cheese and vegetables – this pizza has the ideal balance of macros with all of the mouthwatering flavors you want.
Why You’ll Love our Keto Sheet Pan Pizza with Sausage Crust
- It’s delicious. Who doesn’t love sausage and cheese topped with veggies and more cheese?
- The macros are in step with your keto goals. You never knew keto could taste so good!
- Delicious leftovers. Just pop the extra slices into an airtight container and store in the fridge.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Sausage – Use sweet Italian sausage with the casings removed, or buy bulk Italian sausage. If you prefer things a little spicier, use hot Italian sausage instead. We’ve been asked a lot about swapping in ground turkey, chicken, or beef – and you can, but the texture, flavors and macros will be different. You’ll also need to add additional seasonings to the crust since these meats lack the same flavor of sausage.
- Almond and Coconut Flour – These flours are important for texture and keep the carb count low as well. If you do choose to use a different flour, do a little reading to find a quality substitute that won’t compromise your flavor or carb levels.
- Cheese – What would pizza be without cheese? We use mozzarella and freshly grated Parmesan. These go in the crust to help the sausage and other ingredients bind, and they are also used as toppings too.
- Homemade Pizza Sauce – We made our keto pizza with our easy no-cook Homemade Pizza Sauce, leaving out the sugar to keep the macros in line. You can also use a keto-friendly jarred sauce.
- Toppings – These are a matter of preference of course, but choose veggies with great flavor and low carbs for your toppings. We chose peppers, onions and spinach.
Special Supplies Needed
- A quarter sheet pan or shallow baking dish that measures 13 x 9 inches. You could use a slightly larger pan – the pizza crust will be thinner though.
How do you make Keto Pizza with a sausage crust?
- Mix the Dough. After preheating the oven, remove the sausage from its casings. Then mix all of the crust ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.
- Bake the Crust. Press the crust onto a greased quarter sheet pan, creating an even edge of crust around the sides of the pan. At this point, you want the crust to be somewhat firm, so pop it into the fridge for 30 minutes or so before you bake it if needed.
- Prep and Saute the Veggies. While the crust bakes, prepare your toppings. Chop your onions and peppers. Then saute them in olive oil, adding the spinach right at the end so it just wilts. Remove your pan from the heat and set it aside until you’re ready to assemble the pizza.
- Top and Bake. After the first bake, top the crust with pizza sauce, then with those yummy veggies. Cover the entire pizza with more cheese, then bake. (We like our cheese nice and gooey and golden, so after 25 minutes of baking, we broiled it for just a bit to give the topping that nice golden caramelized color.)
- Serve and Enjoy! Cut your pizza into eight slices and enjoy it hot out of the oven.
Frequently asked Questions
- Can I use regular or self-rising flour in the recipe? No. Since this is a low carb recipe, using regular flour would require many other alterations. Stick with the coconut and almond flour for this one.
- Does keto pizza freeze well? Yes. After the pizza is cool, simply wrap any leftovers tightly in plastic and place in the freezer.
- Can I use a different kind of meat such as ground beef in this recipe? We haven’t tried different meats ourselves, but it should work. You’ll want to add extra seasonings, since the sausage has more flavor than other meats. Also be aware that using a different type of meat will alter the keto macro balance, but by all means, try it out and see how you like it.
This post originally appeared on A Family Feast in April 2019. We’ve made some updates to the post but the delicious recipe remains the same.)
You may enjoy these other keto recipes:
- Baked Western Omelet {Keto, Low-Carb}
- The Best 90-Second Keto Bread
- Chicken Tender Sauté
- Keto Bread
- Baked Sausage Egg Cups
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Keto Sheet Pan Pizza with Sausage Crust
Nutritional Information for this recipe is provided at the bottom of this recipe card. Scroll down.
Ingredients
Dough
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 whole large eggs
Toppings
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium Bell pepper sliced, (any bell pepper, green, red, yellow or orange)
8 ounces baby spinach
2 tablespoons fresh garlic passed through a garlic press
1/2 cup pizza sauce (leave out the sugar)
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium bowl mix uncooked sausage meat, cream cheese, almond flour, coconut flour, 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and eggs.
Spray a quarter sheet pan (13×9-inch) with kitchen pan spray.
Press the mixture into the pan making an even edge all the way around.
NOTE>…If mixture is not cold, refrigerate the filled pan for 30 minutes to firm up the crust before baking.
Bake 12 minutes, turning pan half way through baking.
While crust is baking, in a medium skillet with the olive oil over medium heat, saute onions and peppers for ten minutes until slightly soft. Add spinach and cook one minute to wilt.
Add garlic and remove from heat.
When crust comes out of oven, spread pizza sauce on bottom, top with cooked vegetables from pan, sprinkle on cheddar and mozzarella and bake for about 25 minutes, or until browned and melty. Place under the broiler for a minute if you desire it to be more browned.
Cut into eight portions and serve.
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Got it! Thank you Jack, for the quick response and the hard work you guys do. I hope to report back soon! (I had trouble replying under your reply, but this in regards to my question about the crust!)
Hi Jack and Martha! Do you think the crust portion can be done a day ahead, either just the mixture cooked OR actually baked and then topped the next day? Also, do you think your White BBQ sauce/pancetta/onion pizza would be okay here or is a tomato based sauce better? Thank you!
Hi Stephanie, this is Jack.
The Keto pizza is quite forgiving. The crust can be made ahead and baked later or baked and topped later. Once the crust is baked, the sky is the limit for toppings so no, don’t limit yourself to a tomato based sauce and toppings. Do note however, that once you change the sauce and toppings, all bets are off for Keto. You would need to recalculate the entire pizza to see if it meets your dietary requirements to be Keto. There are lots of on-line calculators so depending on how strict your diet is, you will need to do the math on the final product.
Good luck.
Hi. I was wondering if you could use either ground chicken or ground beef, instead of the sausage? I’m not a fan of sausage. Thank you
Hi Shana – We haven’t tried it ourselves but it could work – although I suspect the crust might not be as firm. The sausage has more flavorings, as well as more fat so you’ll want to season the beef and chicken and select a higher fat ground beef/chicken if possible.
Can you substitute ground beef for sausage
Hi John – We haven’t tried it ourselves but it could work – although I suspect the crust might not be as firm. The sausage has more flavorings, as well as more fat so you’ll want to season the beef and select a higher fat ground beef.
Just curious, what is the rationale behind putting the italian sausage IN the crust?
Hi Kelley – The sausage serves as a binder for the crust – plus great flavor!
AMAZING!!! I’ve been doing keto for a month now and this is the first time I’ve tried any type of pizza recipe. To respond to someone who commented earlier I did cook the sausage first and it still combined really well. I pressed it in the pan. And instead of adding the peppers and spinach to the top I put a little bit of onion and pepperoni with mozzarella cheese and it was amazing! Great recipe!! The crust is SOOO good! Keep the recipe is coming! Thank you 🙂
Thanks Tonya – glad you enjoyed it!
How many carbs does each slice have?
Hi Iris – All of the nutritional information for this recipe at the bottom of the recipe card.
Hi, made today and…is the crust supposed to look like goo AFTER baking it the 2nd time? Like wallpaper paste? Followed everything exactly but didn’t have pizza sauce and used a jar spaghetti sauce…. wondering if that’s what made it soupy or what was it supposed to be like? The flavors are awesome and it satisfied a craving for sure, thank you!
Hi Sarah – It bakes up as a softer pizza crust, but not like goo…not sure where things went wrong. It’s possible the spaghetti sauce had more water it in?
The recipe was easy and delicious! I do however wish I would have done my own research in regards to the keto numbers (carbs, fats and protein) listed on the nutrition fact sheet as my numbers came out much higher. I followed the ingredient list exactly and now I’m unfortunately already near my daily limit.
Again, this is a yummy recipe, will just do my own research in advance to make sure I don’t go over my set carbs, fats and protein to ensure ketosis.
Thanks for your feedback Brooklyn.
My wife is allergic to tree nuts (almonds), is there an amount of coconut flour only that will still work?
Hi Tim – Without testing it ourselves, I can’t say for sure what will work. But I just did a quick google search and found this article – https://www.dummies.com/food-drink/special-diets/paleo-diet/substituting-coconut-flour-for-almond-flour/ – since coconut flour is much more absorbant, you may need to add more liquid or fat to the mixture. Also any swaps you make will impact the carb count – just keep that in mind too if you are looking for this to remain a keto recipe. Hope this helps!