Keto Pizza

Keto pizza has been doing the rounds of the blogging & recipe world for a good while now, so this is certainly no new invention. The results of every pizza I’ve seen look spectacularly good and exactly like the real deal, but with no carbs! Some sort of powerful witchcraft, right? Wrong! The secret ingredient is cauliflower.

But is cauliflower pizza actually a convincing substitute? I’m going to try it and tell you if it’s any good.

Keto Pizza

For the base:

• 1 cauliflower
• 32g grated mozzeralla
• 32g grated parmesan
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp oregano

For the pizza sauce:

• 250g Italian pasata
• 1 tsp chilli infused tomato puree
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1tsp minced garlic
• A few torn fresh basil leaves

For the topping:

• 1 small ball of fresh mozzarella
• Handful of grated mozzarella

Toppings can be whatever else you fancy! I went for chestnut mushrooms, prosciutto & green pesto.

So first you have to grate your cauliflower so it resembles fine grains of rice. I did find this bit a total faff: the little flowers crumble and break off everywhere so it’s a long and messy process! When you’re finally done, put the ‘rice’ in the microwave for 4 minutes.

Whilst that’s cooking, put your cheeses, egg and seasoning into a large mixing bowl.

The cauliflower now needs to be put into a tea towel and strained to get rid of any moisture. There’s a lot of water and you really need to squeeze out as much as you can, because in the words of Ms Berry, we don’t want a soggy bottom. Once that’s done mix it into the cheese & egg to create your keto pizza dough.

I used a greased pizza tray to shape my base. This bit is great fun and so easy: normal dough is very elastic so it springs back, but the cauliflower pizza base just does whatever you tell it to.

Don’t forget to form a little crust on it! This now goes into the oven at 220c for 10 minutes. Whilst that’s cooking prepare your pizza sauce by putting all the ingredients into a pan on medium heat and leaving to thicken.

In no time at all your pizza base will be ready. I’ve got to say it does look mighty appetising.

Add your toppings in whichever way you like. You’re the boss!

And in that goes again for another 5 minutes, so those lovely toppings can mingle.

Pretty damn convincing, right? My eyes are certainly fooled, but will my taste buds be? Well, the first give away is in the cutting: it lacks the crunch of a bread base. Still, it holds itself together and makes it onto my plate in one piece. I would recommend cooking it for a few more minutes to let it crisp up more.

With cheese and tomato being the dominant flavours it almost has a lasagne taste about it, and despite the lack of crunch it’s bloody delicious. The base doesn’t taste like a big squished vegetable, instead it’s very rich and salty.

Keto food is designed to be high fat as an energy substitute for the missing carbs, and can be a great way to aid weight loss. Saying that, with the amount of cheese used it’s more a recipe to see you through a cheat day or a craving for stodge. The high fat content does however make this pizza extremely filling: I can usually polish off a whole pizza no problem, but half of this keto pizza and I was stuffed!

Pretty easy to make and extremely tasty. Even better? No post pizza bloat! Keto pizza gets a thumbs up from me!