What if I told you that you could hit your daily protein goal while eating pizza?
Well, sure, you can eat a regular pizza and still hit your protein goals, but we’re all about taking regular foods and putting a high-protein spin on them.
So, we’re going to make a healthy pizza recipe that is lower carb and higher protein than a traditional pizza, and is a great option for weight loss or any diet!
As someone who grow up in New York, I’m a bit of a pizza snob.
Whenever I see people making “healthy” pizzas using tortillas, egg whites, or lavash, a little piece of me dies instead.
Pizza is one of the greatest foods on the planet, so why must we ruin it by trying to make it healthier?
I set out on a mission to make a lower-calorie, higher-protein version of everybody’s favorite cheesy food without sacrificing any flavor.
And while this could never be as good as a real-deal pizza, this protein pizza is amazing. Plus, it’s a great way to get extra protein into your diet.
I just need to be sure you have the right expectations heading into this recipe. You’d never going to accomplish a super bubbly crust with something so high in protein…
BUT, we’re still going to get a delicious crispy crust on this pizza, so it’s a small price to pay.
I don’t want this recipe to replace pizza in your life, because regular pizza is just too perfect. But I hope this can serve as a fun way to help you hit your protein goals!
How to make protein pizza
Just like my protein bagels, this recipe is a combination of flour, Greek yogurt, and unflavored protein powder.
Unlike regular pizza, there’s no yeast required in this protein pizza recipe, so we don’t need to wait for the dough to rise!
Simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them up until a pizza dough forms.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a silicone mat or parchment paper to form your pizza crust.
Since this dough has unflavored protein powder added in place of some of the flour, it’s going to be a somewhat sticky dough compared to what you might be used to. But don’t worry, that’s nothing a little bit of extra flour can’t fix.
Continue sprinkling extra flour over the top as needed while working with the dough to help form the pizza.
Press the pizza dough down with your hands to form a 10″ pizza. I love this silicone mat because you can see exactly how large the pizza that you made is.
Leave the outer crust slightly thicker to create a deliciously crispy crust around the outside of the pizza while keeping the center as a true thin crust pizza.
Note that since we’re baking this pizza in the air fryer, you need to make sure your pizza will fit in the air fryer basket. If you have a small air fryer, a 10″ pizza may be too large.
Add the pizza dough to your preheated air fryer, then poke holes around the center of the crust with a fork. The holes help prevent the pizza from puffing up (like my pita pockets).
Spray the top of the pizza crust with cooking spray, then sprinkle some seasoning around the crust. This part is optional, but I love the extra flavor it adds!
Air fry the pizza crust at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes.
And this stage, the pizza crust is going to look very crispy, which is great. However, if you flip it over, you’ll see that the bottom is still very soft…
We’re going to air fry the crust upside down for an additional 2 minutes to crisp up the bottom, then we’ll be ready to go.
Note: after 5 minutes the pizza crust will be firm enough to easily flip.
Now that the pizza is nice and crispy, it’s time to add the toppings!
You can get creative and top the pizza however you’d like, but I like to keep it classic with some sauce and cheese. However, I’m also a huge fan of breakfast pizza, so you can’t go wrong going that route either.
Pop the pizza back into the air fryer for 2 minutes to melt the cheese, then you’re ready to go!
If you like a very well-done pizza, you can keep the protein pizza in the air fryer for a couple more minutes, but the 9 total minutes works perfectly for me every time.
Slice and enjoy right away, or store leftovers in the fridge to reheat in the air fryer throughout the week.
Pro tip: you can actually turn this into , too! Add your toppings, but instead of returning to the air fryer, wrap it tightly in and place it in the freezer. When you’re ready to enjoy it, you can heat the directly in the air fryer until heated through.
Want more high-protein savory recipes?
This protein pizza recipe comes right out of my new recipe e-book, The Savory Protein Powder Recipe Book.
If you enjoy this recipe, you’ll love the e-book! It contains 30 high-protein savory recipes, including this protein pizza and my protein bagels.
Check it out, I know you’ll love it!
Protein Pizza with Over 60g of Protein
This protein pizza is packed with over 60g of protein and is ready in under 20 minutes! Eat the entire pizza yourself or split it up into slices to portion out for some low calorie meal prep.
Ingredients
- 90g Self-Rising Flour (if you do not have self-rising flour you can use the same amount of all-purpose flour plus 1 of teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt)
- 30g PEScience Select Multi-Purpose Protein
- 150g Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt
- 1⁄4 tsp Salt
- 1⁄2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 60g (1⁄4 Cup) Tomato Sauce
- 56g Light Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Italian Seasoning for Topping
Instructions
- Add all the dry ingredients (flour, protein, and seasoning) to a large bowl and mix. Add the Greek yogurt to the bowl and mix until a dough forms.
- Generously flour a clean surface and add your dough. Add more flour over the top of the dough and use your hands to press the dough out into a pizza shape, leaving the crust slightly thicker. You can use your air fryer basket as a reference for how large to make the pizza.
- Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees for a few minutes, then spray with cooking spray and add your formed pizza dough. Poke holes in the center of the dough with a fork to prevent it from bubbling up.
- Spray the dough with cooking spray, then season the outer crust with garlic powder (optional, but a garlic crust adds great flavor).
- Air fry at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, then carefully flip the pizza dough (use a spatula to get underneath the crust without breaking the pizza) and air fry for an additional 2 minutes to brown the bottom.
- Flip the dough back in the air fryer, then add your sauce and cheese.
- Air fry for an additional 2 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned to your liking.
- Top with Italian seasoning, cut into 6 slices, and enjoy.
Notes
- The air fryer pizza is originally adapted from my friend Mason Woodruff's recipe, who is a culinary genius (and has many recipes worth checking out).
- The air fryer creates the best result for a crispy crust. If you prefer the oven, heat the pizza in a hot skillet with a little olive oil for 2-3 minutes to crisp the bottom, then bake the pizza at 500 degrees for about 8 minutes. Add your toppings, then broil for 2 minutes to melt the cheese. Without the skillet, I find the bottom of the pizza does not crisp up enough if only using a baking sheet.
- If you are keto, you may be tempted to replace the flour with almond flour or coconut flour, but that will not work in this recipe.
- If you want to make this pizza without protein powder, you can substitute the protein powder 1:1 with more flour (but the protein content of this pizza will obviously be lower).
- The nutrition facts are based on the specific ingredients I used. Depending on the type of cheese and sauce you use, the total calories & macros may turn out slightly different.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 1 Serving Size Entire PizzaAmount Per Serving Calories 630Total Fat 5gCarbohydrates 80gProtein 61g
Chris
Saturday 20th of January 2024
Hi Matt, This is my first time making pizza dough with Greek Yogurt. I did have problems with the dough being more wet than a dough and found I had to add quite a bit more flour to get it to come together like a traditional dough. Once I overcame the hurdles I got it in the air fryer using a leftover throw-away pie tin. Once all cooked it was pretty tasty. I welcome a pizza recipe that is both healthy and high in protein. Any tips as to what may have gone wrong with making the dough? I do use a good scale also. I used a good Greek Yogurt and Big J Milling all purpose flour, and a good protein powder that I also weighed out 30 grams on. Definitely will be making this again and hope to fine tune it next time. Thank you for sharing this amazing tasty pizza recipe.
Chris
Amanda Coffey
Sunday 24th of September 2023
Can I make the crust and freeze before cooking ?