High Protein Pizza Recipe
Pizza lovers, rejoice! You no longer need to choose between your cravings and your fitness goals. I present to you: a high protein pizza recipe!
This post contains affiliate links which means I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase after clicking one of my links.
Pizza is definitely a top food in this house. In fact, it’s one of the things that bonded my husband and I together when we first met. Seems kind of silly when I say that out loud, but hey! Pizza is just that good. However, once we began making healthy changes to our lifestyle, pizza was one of the things we struggled to incorporate. It seemed we either couldn’t have it, or if we did we needed to resign to being far over calories and under our protein targets for the day. That’s all fine and dandy to do now and then for sure–no one can be perfect all the time. But we crave pizza an awful lot…so finding a macro-friendly pizza crust was necessary.
Did you know it’s actually possible to make a macro-friendly pizza that not only fits in your diet, but actually tastes amazing? This delicious recipe combines the best of both worlds: cheesy, saucy heaven, but still incredibly macro-friendly to help you meet your protein intake and keep you within your calorie targets.
Let me walk you through how to make your very own high protein pizza recipe that’s not only mouthwateringly good, but also nourishing for your body.
Ingredients for this High Protein Pizza Recipe
For the Crust
- 130 grams (about 1 cup) whole grain flour–I like to use hard white wheat for the lighter, chewy flavor.
- 250 grams nonfat Greek yogurt (about 1 cup)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
For the Toppings
- 1/2 cup of tomato sauce (look for a no added sugar variety)
- 4 1/2 ounces of shredded part-skim mozzarella (tip: buy a block and shred it yourself–it tastes 10x better!)
- 1 1/2 ounces shredded cheddar (see tip above)
- protein topping of choice– I use about 4 ounces of ground pork + Italian sausage seasoning
Instructions:
Luckily for all of us, this macro-friendly pizza crust is incredibly easy to make.
First, you are going to put your flour, baking powder, salt, and Greek yogurt in a mixing bowl. Stir well to combine. It can be a little tricky to get all the flour and yogurt melded together, but just keep stirring. Once the dough comes together, I cover the mixing bowl and let it sit while I prep all the other ingredients.
Next, pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. Prep & measure your protein topping. I highly recommend homemade sausage crumbles (take 1 pound of lean ground pork and cook it up with 1-2 tablespoons of Italian sausage seasoning). After I cook up a whole batch, I measure out about 4.5 ounces and put the rest in a freezer baggy to use on future pizzas. You can also just do lean ground beef or shredded chicken (ground beef with green pepper and white onion is divine!)
While pepperoni is delicious, it will add more fat than protein. It’s up to you as to how much protein you want to get on this pizza.
Third, you will shred your cheeses. Make sure you measure them out. I use mostly mozzarella with a sprinkling of cheddar for color and flavor. I promise the amount I put in the recipe is enough! But I get it…as a cheesehead who grew up in Wisconsin, I know you want to double that cheese. You do you, but the macros I give for this recipe are based on the suggested amounts.
Finally, it’s time to assemble!
A large cast iron skillet is best for this recipe, but if you don’t have one, you can use a parchment lined baking sheet.
Spray your cast iron skillet with a bit of cooking spray. I like Chosen Foods Avocado Oil Spray.
Using wet hands (keep a small bowl of water next to you to keep wetting hands as necessary), spread out the dough in a thin, even layer in the cast iron skillet. This can be a little tricky, but I find that using wet hands makes this process go smoothly. If you are used to working with regular pizza dough, this dough will feel nothing like it, but don’t be alarmed. It is indeed wet and sticky, but it bakes up deliciously.
Open up your can or jar of tomato sauce and measure out a 1/2 cup. Spread out your tomato sauce on top of the crust.
Follow that up with your mozzarella cheese, then your protein topping, any veggies if using, and finally the sprinkling of cheddar at the end.
Bake at 425 for 15-18 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.
When this pizza comes out of the oven, you’re going to be so ready to dig in!
Tips & Variations
Buffalo chicken protein pizza is another great option! Instead of using red sauce and ground pork, use a jarred Buffalo sauce, shredded chicken, and green onion.
I highly suggest shredding your own cheese for your homemade pizzas. Once you try it, you’ll never go back to pre-shredded.
I also suggest making up big batches of your protein so you have it ready to make this high protein pizza recipe anytime the pizza craving strikes.
Nutritional Information
The macros can’t be beat!
One whole sausage pizza makes 8 slices. For 1 slice, the stats are as follows:
- Calories: 176
- Protein: 13.7 grams
- Fat: 9.4 grams (3.8 grams saturated)
- Carbs: 15.8 grams
For my dinner, I usually help myself to 3 slices to get 529 calories & 41 grams of protein. You really can’t beat that for pizza night. Round it out with a big salad and you have the perfect meal.
Recipe Notes
- Leftover pizza is best reheated in the oven at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes if you have the patience. But the microwave works just fine, too!
Related Recipes
Want some other high-protein comfort foods? Try my High Protein Pasta Bake recipe and my Ultimate Chicken Ranch Poutine!
High Protein Pizza FAQs
You get protein on pizza by carefully choosing ingredients, such as lean meats, Greek yogurt, and cheeses. Ideally, 30% of the calories in a food should come from protein to accurately label it “high protein.” This pizza is right on the mark. The majority of the protein is in the crust, followed by the part-skim mozzarella and your lean meat topping.
Traditionally, pizza is a very calorie dense food, but it can certainly be adapted to be a healthy part of your diet. This pizza recipe has a moderate amount of fat from the cheese, but the crust and the toppings are lean. That helps keep the calorie level down. The crust is also made from a whole grain flour, which adds fiber and additional nutrients over while flour. You can also top it with as many veggies as you want!
Protein pizza is mostly made from the same tasty ingredients as regular pizza, but we choose ingredients that are slightly lower in fat (like a lean protein topping and a part-skim mozzarella). We also created a non-traditional crust using whole grain flour, baking powder, salt, and Greek yogurt. If you aren’t sure about Greek yogurt in your pizza crust, I urge to not to knock it until you try it! Especially if you follow my tip about baking in a cast iron skillet, the taste & texture of this dough is incredible.
High Protein Pizza
Equipment
- 1 Cast Iron Skillet optional, but recommended. Use a baking sheet if you don't have one.
Ingredients
For Crust
- 130 grams Whole Wheat Flour about 1 cup
- 250 grams Nonfat Greek Yogurt about 1 cup
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
For Toppings
- 1/2 cup Tomato Sauce
- 4 1/2 ounces Mozzarella shredded
- 1 1/2 ounce Cheddar shredded
- 4 1/2 ounces Ground Pork or other protein
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Measure out your flour, baking powder, salt, and Greek yogurt into a mixing bowl. Stir until it is combined thoroughly. It will be wet and sticky. Set aside.
- Prep your protein topping. Use pre-cooked protein for this recipe. See notes for suggestions.
- Shred your mozzarella and cheddar if not already shredded.
- Spray a large cast iron skillet with cooking spray. Put your pizza dough in the skillet. Using wet hands, spread the dough out as thin and evenly as you can. Keep a bowl of water next you and rewett your hands as necessary. Wet hands prevents the dough from sticking to you.
- Open your tomato sauce and measure out a 1/2 cup. Pour the 1/2 cup on your crust and use the back of a spoon to spread it evenly across your crust.
- Sprinkle your mozzarella cheese evenly across the whole pizza.
- Sprinkle your ground pork (or other protein) across the pizza.
- Finally, sprinkle the cheddar on top.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until your cheese is golden brown.
This crust still tastes delicious even though it isn’t a traditional style of crust. I have a new go to, to cut down on the calories and add protein!