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If your family is anything like mine, then they love pizza night and this Keto Crustless Pizza Casserole recipe is an awesome low-carb alternative. This recipe is so versatile and I give you tip on how to make this pizza casserole your own with easy variations. It’s perfect for those who want crustless pizza and a keto option with no crust.
Benefits of a Low-carb Pizza Casserole
- Sneak in veggies: This keto crustless pizza casserole is packed full of ingredients that make pizza so tasty without all the carbs. And, for picky eaters, it is a great way to sneak in extra vegetables, making it very family-friendly.
- Meal Prep & Freezer Friendly: it’s perfect for a busy weeknight since it is easy to prepare ahead of time, reheats well and can be stored in the freezer. I love making this 1-2 days ahead of time and popping it in the oven when I’m ready to eat it.
Ingredients Needed
- Italian Sausage: I’m using fresh raw Italian sausage that I picked up at the butcher counter in my local market.
- Olive Oil: this is my cooking fat of choice. You could substitute avocado oil if you wish.
- Vegetables: to make this dish filling but also to enjoy this as a crustless pizza with all the toppings, I‘m using a mix of low-carb vegetables like yellow onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms
- Natural Ancient Sea Salt
- Black Pepper
- Pepperoni: any pepperoni that you enjoy fan be used in this recipe.
- Marinara Sauce: when I first shared this recipe, I used Tomato Basil Sauce from the market, but you could also make your own marinara sauce in minutes using canned tomatoes.
- Pizza Blend Cheese: this is usually a mix of cheeses like mozzarella, Romano cheese and cheddar. You can use any shredded cheese that you prefer if this is not available in your local market.
How To Make Crustless Pizza Casserole
The best way to learn how to make this is to watch the post video. It’s located in the recipe card under the list of instructions and ingredients. In the video, you’ll notice these steps
- Brown the sausage: Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat. Brown the sausage meat, then set aside.
- Sauté the vegetables: In the same pan that you browned the sausage meat, add the olive oil, vegetables, salt, and pepper. Saute the vegetables until translucent & tender.
- Layer the casserole in a 9×13 baking pan. I made two layers with 1/2 sausage meat, 1 cup tomato sauce, 1/2 the vegetables, 1/2 the cheese, and 1/2 the pepperoni.
- Bake in the oven until the top is browned and the cheese is fully melted (~15-20 minutes).
Top Cooking Tips & FAQs
- This will appear loose hot out the oven: you didn’t do anything wrong. After it cools off, the sauce, meat and cheeses will firm up.
- Any Italian Sausage will work: There are many varieties of Italian Sausage, including hot or mild, pork, turkey, and chicken. Sometimes Italian flavored meat comes as a package of seasoned ground meat. All of those work in this recipe. You can even skip the pepperoni, and use an Italian sausage meatless alternative.
Keto Crustless Pizza Recipe Variations
Pizza is one of those meals you can let your imagination take over a bit. We love to add different vegetables to this. Other vegetables that would be fantastic in this crustless pizza casserole are:
- Cauliflower
- Zucchini
- Spinach
- Olives
- Eggplant
Crust Options
If you really want a pizza with a crust, there are some keto-friendly options available for you to choose from. For example, you could try Fathead Dough, which offers a low carb pizza crust to make a more traditional pizza out of.
Or, if you are curious about a cauliflower crusted pizza, you could check out my Buffalo Chicken Pizza for an option that is actually low-carb and available at many markets.
Pizza toppings are largely keto-friendly. So, a pizza without the crust would keep the carbs low enough for most people to enjoy crustless pizza it stick to 20g of net carbs per day. When making this recipe or buying it, just be sure to choose low-carb vegetables and sauce-free meats. For example, in this recipe, you’ll see that I include pepperoni, mushrooms, and peppers. You’ll want to skip things like bbq chicken unless you are using a keto-friendly bbq sauce.
This crustless pizza has only 6 grams of net carbohydrates in a serving. And, what I love about it, is that nearly all of these carbs are from fresh vegetables! As a means of comparison, according to the USDA, a third of a traditional medium pizza (which is about 2 slices) is 53 grams of net carbs, most of which is from the dough.
Yes – more restaurants are adding crustless pizza to their menu, such as Marcos. But, I personally save the money on takeout and make a large batch for multiple meals at home.
Recipes to Enjoy This With
- Air Fryer Broccoli
- Air Fryer Spaghetti Squash
- Eggplant with Breading
- Air Fryer Asparagus
Other Keto Italian Food Recipes
If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Keto Crustless Pizza Casserole Recipe
Use DRDAVINAHS at checkout to save on some equipment & ingredients!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Italian Sausage, hot or mild, casing removed
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 medium Yellow Onion, sliced thinly
- 1 large bell pepper, I used red and green bell peppers, but you can use whatever you have on hand
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms, optional
- 1/2 tsp Natural Ancient Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 5 oz Uncured Pepperoni
- 2 cups Tomato Basil Sauce, use DrDavinahS for 10% off!
- 3 cups Pizza Blend Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees
- Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat. Brown the sausage meat, then set aside.
- In the same pan that you browned the sausage meat, add the olive oil, vegetables, salt, and pepper. Saute the vegetables until translucent & tender.
- Layer the casserole in a 9×13 baking pan. I made two layers with 1/2 sausage meat, 1 cup tomato sauce, 1/2 the vegetables, 1/2 the cheese, and 1/2 the pepperoni.
- Bake in the oven until the top is browned and the cheese is fully melted (~15-20 minutes).
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
