Over my many years (15 and counting!) of being and preaching and teaching low carb, there is one thing I have noticed time and again… and that is that sooo many people, when they go low carb… one of the biggest cravings they have, and one of the foods they most often really miss (or go off plan with), is pizza. And who doesn’t understand that? Pizza is quick & easy, it’s readily available, and it’s oh-so-delicious and satisfying.
Well, I’m here to tell you that you can have your “cake” (ie. pizza) and eat it too, and still be on plan with your low carb, Paleo, health-promoting (= CleanKeto) diet! Woohoo! And it’s easy, fast, and tasty (like all of my recipes 😉), so there’s no longer any excuse to go off-plan and derail your health progress with mainstream gluten-and-dairy-bomb pizza.
This meatza is so good, and so happy-making, it’s on our weekly menu, pretty much without fail.
So, without further ado, let’s get to this awesome recipe.
Note: If you love a sausage-loaded pizza, make this recipe as is, and you will be a very happy camper. If you don’t love (or don’t eat) pork sausage, you can substitute pastured ground chicken or pastured ground turkey to make a crust that is more mild-flavored and not so “meaty”.
Meatza!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground sausage from pastured pork; (I use these sausage links – just remove the casings and you’re good to go!
- ¼ - ⅓ cup Muir Glen organic pizza sauce Note: I’ve tried a LOT of tomato sauces, tomato pastes+seasoning mixes, and pizza sauces on my meatzas over the years, and this one is, IMHO, the best tasting – a good pizza sauce really makes all the difference in making a yummy pizza.
- Toppings of choice (ex. mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted vegetables, pepperoni, ham, pineapple, whatever floats your boat)
- CleanKeto cheeze spread
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Press the ground sausage, chicken or turkey into a ~9″ glass pie dish (a little smaller or bigger is just fine, if that’s what you’ve got), and use your fingers to press/spread it out fairly evenly throughout the pan and up the sides.
- It doesn’t need to be perfectly, evenly spread out, or even close! Just smush it out to cover the pan fairly evenly, and you’re good to go. Of course, if you enjoy going for perfectionism… have at it. But if you and your loved ones are hungry and eager for dinner to be on the table, just press it out quickly and get on with it.
- It’s easier to spread the meat out if it is at or near room temp (and also more pleasant for your fingers to massage warmer vs cold meat), so if you can, pull the meat out of the fridge an hour ahead of time (but no longer than 2 hours!) No biggie, though, if you skip that part.
- Bake the meat “crust” for 10 minutes.
- Pull the pie pan out of the oven.
- Spread the pizza sauce onto the meat crust in a fairly even layer.
- Place several dollops of cheeze spread onto the tomato sauce.
- Sprinkle your desired pizza toppings onto the pizza sauce.
- Bake the pizza for another 15-20 minutes, until hot and bubbly.
- Cut into wedges and serve.
- Buon appetito!
