Business Insider
Newsletters
Food

7 unique pizza crust alternatives to try if you want to cut back on carbs

By Jessica Kelly
pizzas
There are a few lower carb ways to enjoy pizza. Shutterstock
  • If you love pizza but want to switch up the standard, doughy base, there are plenty of options.
  • Ingredients like ground chicken, red beets, and zucchini can be used to create unique bases for pizza toppings.
  • Cauliflower and sweet potatoes are also solid ingredients to use if you'd like to make a crust that's not dough-based. 
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you crave pizza often but are looking for ways to swap out carb-heavy, doughy crusts, there are plenty of options. 

Here are some creative alternatives to standard pizza crusts that you can try. 

You can use thinly flattened ground chicken to create a filling crust.

ground chicken turkey
You can season the ground chicken before turning it into a crust. Shutterstock

Using chicken as a pizza crust is a sort of creative version of the dish chicken parmesan, but you can use any toppings you'd like. 

You basically replace the pizza crust with ground chicken and cheese. You can find popular recipes for this crust here and here.

Eggs can serve as a protein-packed base for your favorite pizza toppings.

Making Omelette in Pan
It's easy to load omelets with pizza toppings. Supermop / Shutterstock

While making a classic omelet, mix in your favorite pizza ingredients and toppers, like sauce, cheese, meat, and veggies.

Using eggs as a base is a great way to create a personal pizza of sorts, sans the carbs you'd find in a standard crust. 

Red beets make for a colorful crust.

beet pizza crust
You can buy premade beet crust or make it yourself. Shutterstock

Lighter than the average pizza dough, but still quite mild in taste is a red-beet crust.

These fairly low-carb crusts can be purchased premade from stores like Whole Foods, or prepared at home using a variety of recipes. 

 

 

Zucchini boat pizzas are a simple way to enjoy your favorite toppings.

Zucchini boat pizzas
Zucchini makes for a light crust. Shutterstock

Zucchinis have long been heralded as a low-carb alternative to everything from noodles to sandwich bread, so it's no surprise they can also replace pizza crust.

Simply scoop out the middle of a zucchini, bake it for a bit, load it up with your favorite toppings, and pop it in the oven again. 

You can find two popular recipes for these pizzas here and here. 

Portobello mushroom caps be a great pizza base, too.

mushroom pizzas
Portobello mushroom caps can be filled with pizza toppings. Shutterstock

If zucchini isn't quite your style, there's always portobello mushrooms. Simply pop the stems off and load up the caps with your favorite toppings to create mini pizza-style stuffed mushrooms.

Sweet potatoes make for a unique, fiber-heavy crust.

vegetable topped pizza
Sweet potatoes contain a decent amount of fiber. Shutterstock

Sweet potatoes are a great source of fiber, and you can actually use them to make a pizza crust.

There are a variety of ways to make this, but one option is The Kitchen's version on the Food Network which requires ingredients like olive oil, sweet potatoes, cheese, and egg.

 

A Cauliflower pizza crust is a lower-calorie option.

cauliflower rice crust pizza
There are also plenty of recipes for making your own cauliflower crust. Matthew Mead/AP

Cauliflower crust can serve as a great base for pizza toppings, and it can be made at home or purchased in stores.

A popular choice is Trader Joe's cauliflower pizza crust, which is gluten-free and is also relatively low in calories and fat.

Read More:

Read next

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

HOME Subscribe

Jump to

  1. Main content
  2. Search
  3. Account