Cauliflower Pizza Base (Crisp and Keto)
This cauliflower pizza base is riced cauliflower bound with egg, Parmesan and ground almonds, baked until crisp and then flipped. Each portion has 6.7g net carbs. It serves 4 and takes 25 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to bake.
A good cauliflower pizza base is thin, golden and crisp enough to pick up a slice. This one makes a 28cm base that you bake on its own, flip and then top with whatever you like. It's held together with egg, Parmesan and ground almonds, and each portion has 6.7g net carbs before toppings. The recipe is based on some well-loved versions. BBC Good Food's cauliflower crust pizza, rated 4.2 out of 5 from 42 ratings, binds the cauliflower with ground almonds and eggs and leaves cheese out of the base. Chef John's cauliflower pizza crust on Allrecipes, rated 4.6 out of 5 from 275 ratings, uses egg with goat's cheese and Parmigiano-Reggiano and is turned over before it's topped.
On Reddit, the same advice comes up in thread after thread on r/ketorecipes. One cook in a cauliflower pizza question thread squeezes the cooked cauliflower until it feels dry and crumbly. Another, in a thread on the best way to make a cauliflower crust, binds it with Parmesan and egg alone, and a thread about a cauliflower crust that wouldn't crisp suggests flipping it onto fresh baking paper. Our twist: we use both Parmesan and ground almonds, so the base browns well and holds together, and we flip it for a crisp underside.
No time to grate cauliflower? Our Keto Pizza Base Mix makes a pizza dough with eggs and water, and our Low Carb Pizza Base is a ready-made base from Italy that you top and bake. The Low Carb Pizza Base contains gluten (wheat).
Keto Pizza Base Mix
View product
Low Carb Pizza Base
View productHow a cauliflower pizza base compares with a classic pizza base
A classic pizza base is made from wheat flour, so most of its weight is carbohydrate. UK CoFID data lists 57.5g carbohydrate per 100g for a raw pizza base. A cauliflower pizza base swaps the flour for riced cauliflower, which has 4.4g carbohydrate per 100g raw, and uses egg, cheese and ground almonds to hold it together. Each portion of ours has 6.7g carbohydrate, and because there are no polyols in it, that is also its net carbs. Most of them come from the cauliflower itself.
| Food | Carbs | Net carbs |
|---|---|---|
| Our cauliflower pizza base, 1 portion | 6.7g | 6.7g |
| Pizza base, raw, 100g | 57.5g | 57.5g |
| Cheese and tomato pizza, retail, 100g | 36.1g | 36.1g |
| Cauliflower, raw, 100g | 4.4g | 4.4g |
| Keto Pizza Base Mix, dry, 100g | 18g | 5.5g |
| Low Carb Pizza Base, 100g | 2.9g | 2.9g |
The pizza and cauliflower figures are UK CoFID 2021 data for "Pizza base, raw" (11-1016), "Pizza, cheese and tomato, retail" (11-936) and "Cauliflower, raw" (13-512). The Keto Pizza Base Mix figures are for the dry mix, as on its product page, and its carbohydrate includes 12.5g polyols per 100g. The Low Carb Pizza Base figure is from its product page. Our figure is for 1 portion (1/4 of the base), before toppings.
A cauliflower base won't taste or chew like a bread dough. It's thinner and more delicate, with a savoury, slightly nutty flavour from the Parmesan and almonds, and the edge goes properly crisp. If you want a bready crust with more chew, the Keto Pizza Base Mix is the closer match.
Tips for a crisp cauliflower pizza base
- Squeeze, then squeeze again. Water is what makes a cauliflower base soggy. Twist the tea towel until no more liquid drips out and the cauliflower feels dry and crumbly.
- Let it cool before squeezing. Ten minutes on the tea towel makes it safe to handle, and you can squeeze much harder once it isn't too hot to hold.
- Press it thin and even. About 5mm all over bakes evenly. Thin patches burn before the thicker middle has firmed up.
- Use baking paper. The base is fragile until it's baked. Baking paper stops it sticking, and makes flipping it much easier.
- Flip it. Turning the base over for the last 5 minutes dries and crisps the underside, a tip that comes up again and again on r/ketorecipes.
- Go easy on the toppings. A thin layer of sauce and well-drained mozzarella keep the base crisp. Heavy, wet toppings soften it.
Cauliflower Pizza Base (Crisp and Keto)
- Prep time25 min
- Cook time30 min
- Total time55 min
- Serves4
- Net carbs6.7g a portion
Ingredients
For the base
- 500g cauliflower florets (from 1 medium cauliflower)
- 1 large egg
- 40g Parmesan, finely grated
- 50g ground almonds
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp olive oil, for the baking paper
You will also need a food processor or box grater, a clean tea towel, baking paper and a large baking tray. The total time doesn't include the 8 to 10 minutes to bake your toppings.
Allergens: contains eggs, milk (Parmesan) and nuts (almonds). See the allergen notes under Nutrition.
Method
- Heat the oven. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan), gas 7. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and brush it with the 1 tsp olive oil.
- Rice the cauliflower. Blitz the 500g cauliflower florets in a food processor in two batches until they look like rice. If you don't have a food processor, grate them on the coarse side of a box grater.
- Cook and squeeze. Put the cauliflower in a bowl, cover and microwave on high for 5 minutes, or steam it for 5 minutes. Tip it onto a clean tea towel and leave it for 10 minutes until cool enough to handle. Gather up the towel and squeeze hard over the sink, twisting as you go, until no more liquid comes out. You should be left with a dry, crumbly ball.
- Make the dough. In a bowl, mix the squeezed cauliflower with the 1 egg, 40g Parmesan, 50g ground almonds, 1 tsp oregano, ½ tsp garlic powder and ¼ tsp salt until it holds together when pressed.
- Shape the base. Tip the mixture onto the lined tray and press it out with your hands into a round about 28cm across and 5mm thick. Keep it the same thickness all over, with the edge very slightly thicker so it doesn't burn.
- Bake. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the base is golden all over, firm in the middle and crisp at the edge.
- Flip and crisp. Lay a second sheet of baking paper over the base, put a board or second tray on top and carefully turn it over. Peel off the first sheet of paper and bake for another 5 minutes to crisp the underside. The base is now ready to top and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
Toppings for a cauliflower pizza base
- Margherita: spread over a thin layer of passata, add torn, well-drained mozzarella and finish with basil. The sauce from our keto Margherita pizza works well here.
- Pepperoni: passata, grated mozzarella and a few slices of pepperoni.
- Mushroom and spinach: fry the mushrooms and wilt the spinach first, then squeeze out the liquid so it doesn't soak into the base.
- White pizza: skip the tomato and use crème fraîche, garlic and mozzarella.
Bake topped pizzas at the same temperature for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Toppings will change the nutrition figures, so the table below is for the base on its own.
Ways to vary a cauliflower pizza base
- Without cheese: use another 20g ground almonds instead of the Parmesan, as in BBC Good Food's version.
- Herbs and spice: swap the oregano for dried mixed herbs, or add a pinch of chilli flakes.
- Two smaller bases: shape two 18cm rounds and bake them for 15 to 20 minutes before flipping.
- A folded pizza: a cauliflower base is too fragile to fold and seal. Our guide to what a calzone is explains how a folded pizza is made and why it needs a stretchier dough.
Storage, freezing and reheating
- Fridge: let the baked base or any leftover pizza cool, then cover it and put it in the fridge within 1 to 2 hours. We suggest eating it within 2 days, following the Food Standards Agency's leftover advice.
- Reheating: reheat leftover pizza in the oven at 200°C (180°C fan) for 8 to 10 minutes, until steaming hot all the way through. Reheat leftovers only once. The oven keeps the base crisper than a microwave.
- Freezer: freeze the baked, flipped and cooled base before you top it, wrapped well and kept flat. We suggest using it within a month for the best texture. Top it straight from the freezer and bake until the base is crisp and the topping is steaming hot.
The 1 to 2 hour cooling time, the 2-day fridge life and the reheating advice follow the Food Standards Agency's guidance on how to chill, freeze and defrost food safely.
Nutrition
Per portion (1/4 of the base, 2 slices), before toppings:
| Nutrient | Per portion |
|---|---|
| Energy | 198 kcal |
| Fat | 13.1g |
| of which saturates | 3.2g |
| Carbohydrate | 6.7g |
| of which sugars | 4.3g |
| Net carbs | 6.7g |
| Fibre | 4.0g |
| Protein | 11.4g |
| Salt | 0.62g |
Net carbs are carbohydrate minus polyols. There are no polyols in this recipe, so net carbs are the same as carbohydrate. On UK labels, fibre is already listed separately from carbohydrate, so it isn't subtracted. Figures are calculated from UK (McCance and Widdowson's CoFID) data for raw cauliflower (13-512), whole raw egg (12-937, 60g without the shell), Parmesan (12-526), ground almonds (14-870), garlic powder (13-830), salt (17-367) and olive oil (17-038), with USDA figures for dried oregano. They use the raw weight of the cauliflower, before squeezing. Energy is calculated from fat, protein, carbohydrate and fibre. Figures will vary with the size of your cauliflower and the brands you use.
Allergens: the base contains eggs, milk (Parmesan) and nuts (ground almonds). If you use a shortcut instead, the Keto Pizza Base Mix pack says it contains almonds and milk, and that there may be traces of other nuts, cereals, milk and eggs. The Low Carb Pizza Base product page says it contains gluten (wheat) and may contain mustard and soy. Always check the current labels before cooking for anyone with an allergy.
FAQ
How many carbs are in a cauliflower pizza base?
Each portion of our cauliflower pizza base (a quarter of the base) has 6.7g carbohydrate. There are no polyols in it, so that is also 6.7g net carbs, and 5.5g of it comes from the cauliflower. UK CoFID data lists 57.5g carbohydrate per 100g for a raw wheat pizza base. Your toppings add more, so count the sauce and cheese as well.
Why is my cauliflower pizza base soggy?
Almost always, it's water left in the cauliflower. Squeeze it in a tea towel until it feels dry and crumbly, then press the base out thinly and evenly. Bake it on its own until golden and firm before adding anything, and flip it for the last 5 minutes so the underside crisps. Members of r/ketorecipes give the same advice. Use a thin layer of sauce and pat fresh mozzarella dry.
Can you freeze cauliflower pizza bases?
Yes. Let the baked, flipped base cool completely, then wrap it well, with baking paper between bases, and freeze it flat. We suggest using it within a month for the best texture. Top it straight from the freezer and bake at 220°C (200°C fan) until the base is crisp and the topping is steaming hot. One Allrecipes reviewer of Chef John's crust freezes the raw riced cauliflower instead, ready to cook and squeeze.
Can you make it without cheese?
Yes. BBC Good Food's cauliflower crust pizza leaves the cheese out of the base altogether and binds the cauliflower with ground almonds and two eggs instead. To make ours without cheese, replace the 40g Parmesan with another 20g ground almonds and add a pinch more salt. The base browns less and is a little more fragile, so flip it carefully. The nutrition figures will change.
Can I use a ready-made base instead of cauliflower?
Yes. If you don't want to grate and squeeze cauliflower, our Keto Pizza Base Mix makes a dough with eggs and water, and our Keto Margherita Pizza recipe shows how. Our Low Carb Pizza Base is a ready-made base from Italy: add your toppings and bake it for 5 to 6 minutes at 250°C. The Low Carb Pizza Base contains gluten (wheat), so it isn't suitable for anyone avoiding gluten.
