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It’s loaded with veggies and sprinkled with Parmesan, with a tangy bold red sauce and a thin crust. Yes, this is the BEST healthy pizza you’ll find.
People often ask us, what’s your favorite thing to cook? And if you know us, you won’t be surprised by the answer. PIZZA. After our honeymoon in Italy, Alex and I have spent the last ten years honing the absolute best way to make homemade artisan pizza. In fact, we’ve gotten a little nerdy about it. We’ve figured out how to make the best crust, sauce, and a to-die-for margherita pizza. We can do taco pizza and classic cheese pizza. But what about if you want something…a little lighter? We were posed with a challenge: Can you make a healthy pizza recipe? Oh, can we ever. Here’s everything about how to do it.
What makes a healthy pizza?
So you want to make a healthy pizza? First, let’s talk about what makes an unhealthy pizza. One slice of Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza is 300 calories. That pizza is loaded with gooey cheese, meat, and has a carb-loaded crust. So: want a healthy, fresh homemade alternative? Here are the features of this pizza that makes it healthy:
- Homemade thin crust: This pizza uses our easy thin crust pizza dough. It’s made with simple ingredients (flour, olive oil, water) and because it’s thin, it has significantly less calories than a fluffy crust.
- Super flavorful pizza sauce: Red sauce brings big flavor without big calories. This one is our easy pizza sauce, a fan-favorite recipe that takes only 5 minutes and tastes like Italy. (Really.)
- Limited cheese. This healthy pizza has only 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese. It’s just enough to bring in a savory flavor, but there’s so much flavor in the veggies and sauce you don’t need to load on cheese. (For a vegan pizza, head to Our Best Vegan Pizza.)
- Lots of veggies. Healthy isn’t just about calories: it’s about vitamins and nutrients. This pizza is topped with peppers that are loaded with vitamin C, and leafy green nutrient-dense arugula.
How many calories? One slice of this healthy pizza recipe is 96 calories. That’s about 1/3 the calories of a delivery pizza. Even better, it’s got the added vitamins and nutrients of fresh, colorful veggies. Dinnertime win!
Tips for making the best healthy pizza
How to make this best healthy pizza recipe? We’ve got a few tips for the best ever pizza that’s fresh and healthy.
- Use a pizza stone. This is our number 1 tip for homemade pizza recipes: use a pizza stone! It’s what makes the crust perfectly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Pizza stones are inexpensive and last for years; here’s the pizza stone we recommend.
- Pizza peels are handy. To get the pizza onto that hot stone, a pizza peel is helpful! It’s a paddle that throws the dough onto that blazing hot surface. Our favorites are this aluminum pizza peel or super pizza peel.
- Accessorize with salad & fruit. To keep this healthy pizza part of a healthy meal: accessorize it with salad and fruit! Our Favorite Chopped Salad, Best Kale Salad, or Wedge Salad would go well here. Or just go with veggies and Healthy Ranch. A great “dessert” would be green apple slices and our chocolate hummus.
Video: How to make pizza dough
The most technique-driven part of making pizza is making homemade dough. Because learning to make something like dough requires actually showing you, we’ve made a video to show the dough-making process. Here are a few tips about the dough to remember when making it: then watch the video above to see it in action:
- Make the dough 1 hour before serving OR make in advance. Making the dough takes only 15 minutes of hands on time. Then it rests for 45 minutes to proof before it’s ready to stretch. If you don’t have 1 hour before serving, you can make it up to 3 days in advance and refrigerate.
- Thin crust pizza dough is easy to shape: roll it! This pizza dough is easier to shape than our Pizza Dough Master Recipe because you roll it out with a rolling pin! This crust is easy to make: see the video above.
- Use Tipo 00 flour if you can find it. Our favorite flour for making pizza dough is what the Italians use: it’s called Tipo 00 and it makes the crust light and fluffy. You can find at it some grocery stores or online here.
This recipe is…
Vegetarian. For vegan, go to our Best Vegan Pizza.
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Best Healthy Pizza Recipe
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Prep Time: 1 hour- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 7 minutes
Yield: 8 slices
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Pin RecipeDescription
It’s loaded with veggies and sprinkled with Parmesan, with a tangy bold red sauce and a thin crust. Yes, this is the BEST healthy pizza you’ll find.
Ingredients
- 1 ball Easy Thin Crust Dough
- 1/2 cup Easy Pizza Sauce
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, plus more for garnish
- 1/2 tablespoon capers, drained
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup baby arugula
- Kosher salt
- Olive oil
- Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel
Instructions
- Make the pizza dough: Follow the Easy Thin Crust Pizza Dough recipe to prepare the dough. (This takes about 15 minutes to make and 45 minutes to rest.)
- Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F. OR preheat your pizza oven (here’s the pizza oven we use).
- Make the pizza sauce: Make the Easy Pizza Sauce.
- Prepare the toppings: Thinly slice the peppers. Thinly slice the red onion. Thinly slice the garlic. In a skillet, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Saute the vegetables, stirring often, for about 7 to 10 minutes, until browned and very soft. Stir in the oregano and remove from the heat.
- Bake the pizza: When the oven is ready, dust a pizza peel with cornmeal or semolina flour. (If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can use a rimless baking sheet or the back of a rimmed baking sheet. But a pizza peel is well worth the investment!) Stretch the dough into a circle; see How to Stretch Pizza Dough for instructions. Then gently place the dough onto the pizza peel.
- Spread the pizza sauce over the dough using the back of a spoon to create a thin layer. Sprinkle with the vegetables, drained capers, and Parmesan cheese.
- Use the pizza peel to carefully transfer the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the cheese and crust are nicely browned, about 5 to 7 minutes in the oven (or 1 minute in a pizza oven).
- While the pizza is baking, mix the baby arugula with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt. When the pizza is done, top with the arugula. Slice into pieces and serve immediately.
Category: Pizza
Method: Baked
Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: Healthy Pizza, Healthy Pizza Recipe, Veggie Pizza Recipe, Veggie Pizza
A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, Vegetarian Recipes
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