Ask many low carbers what they miss most about their old diet, and the vast majority of them will say pizza. I often say pizza, and I was never that much of a pizza fanatic. I was certainly not one of those people who ate pizza every day in university, although I liked it well enough. I didn’t go out of my way to eat pizza, but I didn’t say no to it either. But on a low carb diet, I often find myself wistful about it It’s just that pizza is the whole package, you know? It has the bread and carbohydrates that most people in Western society crave, it has a touch of sweetness from the pizza sauce, and it has meat and cheese and perhaps a few veggies.
So I’ve long been on a mission to make a really great bread-like pizza crust. Yes, I know there are lots of interesting and healthy low carb “pizza crusts”, made with things like cauliflower or zucchini, and I think that’s all well and good. But I wanted something I could serve to my kids and not see that eye-roll or that look of horror that I had so bastardized one of their favourite foods. That meant that the crust had to be as close to the real thing as possible.
It definitely took a few tries to get this one right. My first was good, but a touch on the soggy side. It just didn’t quite stand up to the toppings well enough, although the flavour was fantastic. So on the second go round, I added more oat fiber for dryness and structure, and a little less liquid. I also baked it a little longer without the toppings, and a little less with them. Broiling the pizza at the end helps melt the cheese and get it nice and browned. The whole family loved both attempts, and the kids ate it without question, but the second try held together a little better. It’s still on the fragile side compared to wheat dough, but it’s a fantastic stand-in!
If you have a pizza stone, I definitely recommend using it. The pizza crust is good on a regular baking sheet but slightly crisper and better on the stone. Let the stone heat up while you are preheating the oven, and then just transfer the piece of parchment paper with the crust on it to the stone.
Ingredients
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1 cup oat fiber OR 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, oat fiber OR coconut flour, whey protein, baking powder, garlic powder and salt.
- Stir in eggs, melted butter and almond milk until dough comes together. It will be somewhat sticky.
- Take half the dough and form into a ball. Flatten the ball into a disc and roll out between two pieces of parchment paper to about 1/2 inch thickness (around 10 inches in diameter).
- Peel off top layer of parchment. Lift bottom parchment with crust on it onto a baking sheet or pizza stone.
- Bake 8 minutes, then remove from oven and put on your favourite toppings. Bake 5 to 7 minutes more.
- Turn on broiler to high and broil pizza 4 to 5 inches from heat source for 1 to 2 minutes, until cheese is melted, bubbly and a bit browned.
- Remove from oven and let site 5 minutes.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
Notes
Serves 8. Each serving has 21.25 g of carbs and 16.75 g of fiber (oat fiber is ALL fiber). Total NET CARBS = 4.5 g.
I am Carolyn, a writer, runner, mother and diabetic. I am also the evil mastermind behind this blog. I live for food. Join me in my experiments in creating delicious low carb, gluten free recipes. 
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I have noticed many of your recipes include Almond Milk; since we dislike it, would low carb milk work as well?
Thanks for your help.
Sure! It’s just really about getting the right amount of liquid into the recipe.
Oh, this looks so wonderful, Carolyn. So glad you’ve used YOUR kids as recipe tasters as they are for sure the toughest critics. My DH is diabetic, and pizza is one of the things that he “cheats” on and it send his numbers way up. Will make this tomorrow, all I need to pick up at the market is more cheese.
Oops, i have a question. How thick are you rolling it, or roughly, what diameter? Thanks!
Very good question. I rolled it out to about 10 inches diameter, and 1/2 inch thick or so. I need to edit my recipe to reflect that. Thanks!
Looks great to me! But I’m just a sucker for pizza.
This looks amazing…can’t wait to try it! I happen to have oat fiber that I bought for some low-carb recipe a long time ago, but was wondering where you get yours? Thanks again, Carolyn, for all your work developing these great recipes!
i luv the recipe. i can totally see almond flour giving you the right texture. about the oat FIBER. is that the same thing as oat FLOUR? cause i got a crapload of it and no idea what to use it for.
This looks great! I’ve tried a lot of almond flour and other… weird… grain-free pizza crusts recipes and have only had one that I’ve liked. I really loved it, but trying a new one wouldn’t hurt. And I just happened to have bought unflavored whey for the first time on Friday. So I’ll definitely be making this! Just have to get the oat fiber.
I’ve been wanting to make a cauliflower crust pizza, but I know my husband would give me the side-eye if I try serving that to him. This looks like a much better gluten-free crust option!
This looks great! Where is a good place to purchase oat fiber? Also, did you use a particular brand of unflavored whey protein powder?
I so would like to become gluten-free but the recipes seem to have hard to find ingredients (not to mention expensive) … maybe some day. In the meantime, I am enjoying the recipes.
I so luv sitting down at the computer with my second espresso and some bite of a sweet ‘Carolyn’ inspiration (today it’s the gingerbread biscotti) AND peruse your newest posting!
And my order of oat fiber just arrived…can’t wait to give this one a go. Let’s see just since yesterday I’ve made those biscotti, the frozen raspberry mousse tart with chocolate crust. Soon up, the sticky toffee pudding cakes…there’s a trip to the liquor store for the dark rum.
Thanks for your delicious inspiration!!!
And I love getting comments like this. Glad you love the recipes!
these look so good! I am so glad to have this!
You’re right a good low carb pizza crust is hard to come by, this one looks delicious!
Is Whey Protein Powder the same as Whey Protein Isolate? I am having trouble finding carb-free (or at least very low carb) unflavored whey protein powder, but can find the protein isolate. Any recommendations or examples of what you use would be helpful.
Thanks for guiding the way!
Hi Eric – I use Jarrow Unflavoured Whey Protein (purchased on Amazon). It has all of 2g of carbs per scoop, which I’ve measured out and it comes to a little less than 1/3 cup. Hope that helps!
I love an easy almond flour crust, but never thought to add protein powder – SO smart!
I use protein powders a lot in my almond flour baking…not so much to up the protein as to give the baked goods some structure. I find it helps replace the proteins in gluten.
Is there a difference between oat flour and oat fiber?
Yes, big huge difference. Oat fiber is all fiber, therefore has no carbs. Oat flour has plenty of carbs and should be used more sparingly.
Would love to try it, but don’t do oats in any form (or rice, tapioca flours), what else would you sub in? (coconut flour or more almond flour?)
How about some coconut flour? It would probably work.
I use soy and garbanzo bean flour instead of the oat fiber, but prefer the coconut flour as the substitute.
I love the flavor almond flour adds. As a pizza lover, I will definitely be trying this recipe!
This looks amazing. I know it will taste delicious. If my blood sugar doesn’t freak out, it could be a life changer. (Do I want to be a pizza addict again?)
How do you think the dough would freeze? It would be nice to make a lot at once and then have it around when the pizza craving comes.
a low carb pizza sounds so difficult to achieve but you’ve done it, C! this looks amazing.
I’ve been meaning to try an almond flour pizza crust for a very long time … This may just have to be the one
Carolyn, your pizza sounds fantastic! I have almond flour…no I need to go get me some almond milk. Would skim milk do?? I am low-carbing, low cal-ing it these days (post pregnancy body is lookin’ pretty ugly
) so I’m often on your page jotting down recipes. 
But skim milk has carbs ! Lactose is a carb
Hi Daniel. Not every reader of my blog is low carb, many just want healthier versions of things. Besides which, subbing in skim milk would add about 4 g of carbs to the WHOLE RECIPE, so the additional carbs per serving would be negligible.
Carolyn, your pizza sounds fantastic! I have almond flour…now I need to go get me some almond milk. Would skim milk do?? I am low-carbing, low cal-ing it these days (post pregnancy body is lookin’ pretty ugly
) so I’m often on your page jotting down recipes. 
Skim milk would be fine!
I think pizza would be really hard for me not to eat so this recipe would be perfect! It looks delish!
Can you use wheat bran instead of oat fiber?
I have no idea, because I no longer use wheat bran. I think you could, although your dough will be a little stickier than mine when you roll it out.
Would psyllium husk powder be okay to sub in for the oat fiber?
I’ve never used it, but I think anything that is powdery and high fiber, like coconut flour and I suppose psyllium husk powder, would work. Does it absorb a lot of liquids?
What a great crust recipe. So nice to have options like this when you need gluten free.
Gluten-free pizza crust is tough enough, and to make it low-carb is even more challenging – cudos to you Carolyn for trying to figure this out!
This is amazing! Pizza is a diabetes nightmare and will spike blood sugars hours later. Pizza is also a kid staple so this would be perfect for Miranda,
Cheers!
I am a little confused when you said to take half the dough and form into a ball–does this make 2 crusts?
Yup, two crusts. Did I not say that in the recipe? I can change that…
This looks amazing, Carolyn! I’m astounded you were able to use as much as 1/2 oat fiber in anything and it not be too dry to eat. I’m eager to try this.
I noticed that you added baking powder. Did it actually help the dough to rise? I was under the impression that almond dough can’t rise.
Everything rises with a little leavener. Almond flour can indeed rise, I do it all the time in my baked goods, all of which contain baking powder and/or baking soda. For many baked goods, you want AT LEAST twice the leavening agent you would use in regular baked goods, because almond flour doesn’t rise as easily as wheat flour. In this recipe, you only want it to rise a little, you want a nice dense crust.
Hi,
I’m new to your website and really loving it, can you tell me though where you find gluten free oat fiber? I can’t wait to try this and your other bread recipes!
Thanks!
Hi Colleen, Sadly, the one place I got GF oat fiber has gone under. I now make this pizza crust with coconut flour instead, half the amount of the oat fiber and it works great. Guess I should actually update the recipe…
Love, love, love it! Thank you, I have been missing pizza, so, so much!
This recipe is awesome!! Just made it, but had to substitute some blanched almond flour with the non-blanched, and the oat fiber with wheat bran (the fine version) as I couldn’t find oat fiber. It still turned out great, and non soggy, which was my biggest issue with other recipes. The crust could kinda taste like scones, so I might try to use this recipe for that!
So glad to hear it!
Just a little FYI….I just purchased Oat Fiber from Netrition….they get it from LifeSource Foods. And, I am trying your pizza crusts today….my husband says he will eat something else (?) tonight besides pizza since he has NOT liked any of my attempts at low carb pizza so far. I’ll definitely let you know how this turns out! Thanks for all your hard work….I love your site.
Thanks, Linda. It’s hard to accept pizza that isn’t made with wheat flour, but maybe your husband will like it if he tries a bit. My kids did and they are my toughest critics!
I can’t wait to try this this weekend! I just got some Oat Fiber from Honeyville Farms (THANKS for recommending them!). I’ve been making the cauliflower crust for some months now – which is acceptable – but I want to pick up a slice and hold it in my hands! lol Have you ever tried making the crust ahead and freezing or refrigerating it?
I will continue to thank you for all you share with us! I just made three of your Almond Crusted Butter Cakes (with different variations), sliced them up and put them in the freezer. They freeze like a dream!!
This looks awesome! My son and I are on a casein free/gluten free diet so we can’t use the Whey powder. Would the recipe still work the same…or should I substitute something else in?
I’d sub some sort of protein powder but it can be hemp or egg protein. Protein helps it rise and holds its shape.
Such a good recipe! I have made it twice in the last three days. My husband was recently diagnosed with celiac and I basically have also cut out gluten and sugar as well. This tastes like REAL pizza crust. I didn’t have any whey protein, so I added in a little cornstarch and some Parmesan cheese. It will be our regular crust recipe, thanks for posting!
Oh, I love the addition of the parmesan, I may have to try that next time.