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Vegan keto pizza recipes can be hard to come by, despite low carb vegans increasing in number every day. The “holy grail” of low carb pizza crusts is undoubtedly the fathead dough – but it’s made with cream cheese, shredded cheese and eggs. So, clearly some alterations would need to be made to come up with a vegan fathead pizza recipe.
Regular fathead pizza is also almond flour based, which doesn’t really work for my almond allergy. So, this vegan fathead pizza would also have to be nut-free. Was I up for the challenge? Oh, heck yeah. I’m obsessed with pizza. This was going to happen if I had to move heaven and earth to accomplish it.
But actually, it didn’t end up being that difficult at all. Somehow, coming up with a gluten free, grain free, nut free, vegan, keto pizza crust was actually pretty simple… I basically just modified a flax cracker recipe to come up with this gem.
This does contain a solid amount of fiber, so I wouldn’t recommend eating the entire thing in one sitting. I mention this again below, but figuring doubling up on this pretty important fact can’t hurt…
Update: It’s been over two years since I originally posted this crust, and I still make it the exact same way! The pictures needed a bit of an overhaul, though, so here we are… If you’re looking for the pizza recipe used in these pictures, click here!
Notes on Making Nut Free Vegan Fathead Pizza Dough
- I like to buy whole flax seeds and grind them as needed. Storing flax seeds in the fridge in their whole form can help prevent oxidation! If you are using a volumetric measurement and want to do the same, 1/2 cup whole flaxseeds ground = 3/4 flax meal (it’s 84g either way, if you have a food scale).
- There is a whole lot of fiber in this recipe, so…uh, be warned!
- If you are going to make these ahead to freeze, I’d recommend par-baking them for about 15-20 minutes and then freezing them.
- Use either silicone baking mats or parchment paper to roll these out. It makes things so much easier!
- It’s really important to pour the water in slowly, and wait about a minute between each addition, to let the psyllium and flax absorb as much as possible.
- You can use whatever sauce and toppings you like! The recipe itself has 1.8g of net carbs per serving (better than traditional fathead pizza crust!), so there’s some wiggle room for sure.
- If you don’t have vegan cream cheese, add an additional 1/4 cup of water and 2 tbsp of psyllium husk instead! The results are a little less tangy, but still delicious!
- This recipe makes a flatbread-style crust. It’s flexible and slightly chewy, and holds together super well.
- Nutrition provided is for crust only, not toppings.
- I used the values from the USDA nutrient composition database to arrive at the nutrition information. Keep in mind that different brands and varieties have different nutritional information, so your results may vary!
Vegan Fathead Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup 84g ground flaxseed
- 1/4 cup 60g vegan cream cheese
- 2 tbsp psyllium husk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder or seasoning of choice!
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line with parchment paper, or a silicon baking mat.
- Mix together all dry ingredients.
- Cut in vegan cream cheese.
- Slowly add water to mixture, mixing thoroughly before adding more water.
- When all water is incorporated, turn out dough on the baking mat, and flatten into a quarter-inch-thick pizza shape. The easiest way to do this is by rolling the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper! You can flatten it by hand, too, but it takes longer and doesn't come out as uniform.
- Bake the round for 15 minutes, then carefully flip and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven, flip crust again and top with sauce/pesto/veggies/vegan cheese/whatever.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes more (depending on toppings). Remove, let cool and enjoy!
Nutrition
Am definitely going to try this. But we don’t have cream cheese in Ethiopia (real or vegan). I am not vegan myself, so am thinking to try ricotta or yoghurt or coconut cream. Any ideas which might be best?
Hi Joanna! Hm, do you have mascarpone in Ethiopia? That can work just as well. Otherwise, I would say ricotta, well-strained.
I’d love to know what you try, and how it works out!
Thanks. So we have a local cheese called Aibe (or ayibe). I think it’s like a small curd cottage cheese. I blended it smooth and then reduced the water in the recipt (maybe by half? I just added water to the blender with the cheese til it seemed like it would mix well with the dry ingredients). Worked a treat.
Oh, that’s clever! I’m glad it worked for you 😀
Awesome site!! It is really nice to find keto recipes that dont include a thousand eggs… I’m pescetarian but dont like eating fish or eggs often all your recipes are awesome.
Is there any way to substitute psyllium husk? Its quite difficult to find here in spain.
Thanks!
Hi Maria! Thank you so much for the kind words! I am working on a psyllium husk substitute!
If you eat dairy, you could use a cup of melted semi-hard cheese instead! That will hold everything together for sure!
I only have the powdered, how much would that be? Is it ok to replace the seeds?
Hi Chrissy! This is a great question. If you only have the powder, you could just use 2 tsp instead. 1 tsp of psyllium husk powder = 1 tbsp of whole psyllium husk 🙂
OMG you totally get it!!! Where has your site been? I am so happy I did finally find you now though. Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting sooooo many great recipes with also great nutritional choices in the ingredients!!!!
Thank you so much for the kind words, Bridey! 😀
I’m so happy you like the recipes I post, and appreciate the ingredient choices. It can be hard to find keto and low carb foods that align with a meat-free way of eating!
Again, thank you for the comment and feel free to leave comments or questions whenever they arise!
Which vegan cream cheese do you use?
Hi Tanya! I usually use the Trader Joe’s brand, but have also used Follow Your Heart. They both work really well!
OMG SOOOO Good!!! I can’t use psyllium so I sub ground flax. I also used flax flour. Cooked up great! It was a bit sticky to spread out, but if you wet your hands a bit it can easily be done.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Marsha!! And thank you for the tips – I was actually going to make this today but ran out of psyllium and was just thinking about whether flax would work, so it was perfect timing! 🙂
I don’t have whole flax seeds but flaxseed powder. What would be the substitution ratio?
Hi Kellie! Good question – you could use 3/4 of a cup in place of the 1/2 cup of whole seeds 🙂
Do you warm the cream cheese or just cut it up well and incorporate?
Hi Allyson! Great question – the brand I use is already pretty soft, so it doesn’t need to be warmed, but if you use one that is a little bit harder to work with, you may want to let it soften for a bit!
I tried this with 1/2 cup ground flax seed and 1/4 cup coconut flour and it worked out great! I feel like it may have added some flufflyness that you can’t get with just flax. Just incase anyone else wants to try that!
Thanks for the tip, Mandy! This sounds great! 😀
I love the idea of using the flax and coconut flour 🙂 I have trouble swallowing psyllium so I can’t wait to try this recipe using this alteration. And this website is amazing. I read about the benefits of keto but my dad has a high stage kidney disease from going low carb too many years without balancing his diet. We recently went plant based for the most part (some cheese on occasion) and we do eat healthy oils so vegan keto at least for a meal a day seems awesome. Going to try more recipes!!
Thank you for that suggestion. I want to add a little fluff when we make it this evening!
Would this work with a nut-based cream cheese such as Miyoko’s, or perhaps with a homemade vegan cream cheese? Unfortunately I can’t tolerate Daiya, TJ’s or Tofutti.
Thanks!
Hi Sarah, absolutely! There are tons of whole-foods-based cream cheese substitutes out there and they would be delicious 😀
Is there a substitute for flaxseed? I cannot tolerate it.
Hi Michele, so sorry – just seeing this now! You could use chia seeds in place of flax!
Is there an alternative to the flax? Like completely seedless? Maybe GF oats ground?
Hi Stephen! I have not tried replacing the flax with anything. Ground oats could be an interesting substitution for those that aren’t as concerned about the carb counts. If you do try this, I would be interested in hearing about it! 🙂
This is best vegan keto pizza dough that I’ve ever made. I like how much more filling it is in comparison with other VK pizza doughs. Not to mention, how delicious it is!