A better grain-free pizza
If you’re grain-free like me (most of the time), you’ve probably gone through a period where you mourned the loss of a good slice of pizza. Thankfully, grain-free pizza crust is not especially hard to come by these days, especially in the Portland area. Unfortunately, quite a bit of it has the taste and texture of cardboard or relies too heavily on processed starches, which I try to limit.
Home-baked grain-free crust recipes also abound, and many are super tasty, but I’ve never found one that produced a pie that doesn’t realistically need to be eaten with a knife and fork. Unless you’re a preternaturally orange politician or a Seinfeld character, I’d guess you probably expect to pick up your slice and eat it with your hands.
The key element for a stable zucchini pizza crust
This Zucchini Pizza Crust is not only tasty but should produce a pie that you can actually pick up and eat without fear of it falling apart. It’s also a great way to plug some green veggies into your diet or use up some of the ample garden crop that zucchini plants often produce all at once.
Did you know that zucchini is roughly 95% water? It’s true! If you’ve ever made spiralized zucchini noodles or used them as a noodle alternative in lasagna, you’ll know that you’ve got to sweat the excess liquid out before you start cooking, or you’ll end up with a liquid mess and limp, soggy noodles. This process, known as disgorging, uses salt to pull the excess water out of your vegetables or fruit and is the most essential step in making a good Zucchini Pizza Crust. Thankfully, disgorging is a super simple process if you’ve got a good layer of cheesecloth and some salt.
How to disgorge
Start by shredding or mulching your zucchini. I like to roughly chop mine and then blitz it in my food processor because it’s the quickest method, but you can also use a julienne slicer or a traditional cheese grater if you prefer to work for it.
Cover the shredded zucchini in a healthy dose of good sea salt, but not so much that it will make for a super salty dough. For this recipe, around 2-3 tsp should be plenty!
Now step away from the zukes, pour yourself a big glass of wine, and get out of the bloody kitchen for 20 minutes. The salt will do all the work.
After 20 minutes, transfer the now swampy zucchini into a few layers of good cheesecloth and start squeezing. I usually just squeeze it over the sink, but sometimes I’ll squeeze the shreds over a bowl because it’s interesting to see how much water comes out. You should end up with a lot of liquid dispelled and a much smaller pile of zucchini shreds that are now perfect for making Zucchini Pizza Crust.
Pro tip
Let your crust cool on the pizza pan before loading it up with sauce and toppings, and let it cool just slightly again before slicing and eating. This will help prevent the crust from becoming soggy with toppings and help your crust stay together so you achieve a good consistency for picking it up and eating by hand.
A note for special diets
This Zucchini Pizza Crust is grain-free, gluten-free, and friendly for Keto and SIBO diets.
Zucchini Pizza Crust
Prep
Cook
Inactive
Total
Yield 1 large pizza crust
Ingredients
- 5 medium zucchini, grated (about 3 1/3 cups grated)
- 2-3 tsp sea salt (for disgorging)
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp dried oregano (optional)
Instructions
- Shred the zucchini in a food processor, with a julienne slicer, or a cheese grater.
- Disgorge the shredded zucchini (remove the excess water) by sprinkling liberally with salt. (2-3 tsp should be plenty) and set aside for 20 minutes.
- Now is a good time to preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 C).
- After 20 minutes, transfer the zucchini to a few layers of cheesecloth and squeeze out the excess water. You should end up with a lot of liquid and a much smaller pile of zucchini shreds.
- Combine zucchini mulch with the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl. I find that a wooden spoon works best for incorporating the ingredients into a pliable dough.
- Turn out the dough into a baking paper-lined baking sheet and spread into an even layer, about 1/3 inch thick. We generally use a round aerated pizza pan that measures 15.75 inches, but a regular large cookie sheet will work well also.
- Pop the pizza crust in the oven for 25-35 minutes, checking at the 25-minute mark. The crust should be starting to turn a nice golden brown on top. Let crust cool before topping.
- After you've dressed your pie in toppings, pop it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.
Notes
Let your crust cool before loading it up with sauce and toppings, and let it cool just slightly again before slicing and eating. This will help prevent the crust from becoming soggy with toppings and help your crust stay together so you achieve a good consistency for picking it up and eating by hand.
Courses Mains
Cuisine American
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/8th of pizza crust (large slice)
Amount Per Serving | ||
|---|---|---|
Calories 287 | ||
% Daily Value | ||
Total Fat 21 g | 32% | |
Saturated Fat 5 g | 25% | |
Cholesterol 61 mg | 20% | |
Sodium 665 mg | 28% | |
Total Carbohydrates 11 g | 4% | |
Dietary Fiber 5 g | 20% | |
Sugars 3 g | ||
Protein 17 g | 34% | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
what a great idea! I love that it’s gluten-free and has zucchini in it. I will be trying this real soon!
Yay an alternative to cauliflower crust. Don’t get me wrong, I love cauliflower, but it’s nice to see this crust made with another veggie.
I have a cauliflower crust in the oven but I grow zucchini! What am I doing?! Great comment, great recipe idea! Thank you.
I love that you can pick this pizza dough up! How awesome, nothing is worse than not being able to eat pizza with your hands!! Your zucchini crust looks excellent! I can’t wait to try it!
What a great way to use up some of the Zucchini’s from the garden! this looks awesome!
I love zucchini pizza crust. Such a fun way to get the kids to eat more veggies. This sounds so delish. Love the flavor of parmesan in my pizza crust
I love how you abbreviated the work zucchini! This is definitely a crust for fitness gurus. Would love to try making a margarita using this crust to see how it turns out. And great job on explaining how to get rid of the zucchini liquid. The moisture can certainly be an interference when mixing zucchini through other ingredients.
We loved this recipe!
I’m wondering is it possible to freeze dough for future cooking? Or would it be best to bake then freeze crusts?
I haven’t tested freezing this pizza dough out yet (because we gobble it up so fast) so I don’t know for certain. I would think that freezing the dough, rolled out and unbaked between two sheets of parchment paper might work better than baking then freezing. Because the dough holds so much moisture, I would worry that baking the dough, then freezing it and bringing it back up to temperature again may influence the texture and stability of the dough when you go to pick it up. I am super interested now though and am adding it to my list of things to test out! It would be wonderful if you could just pre-make a few batches of this and pull them out of the freezer for pizza night.
I experimented and did exactly what you said about parchment paper but I used wax paper instead. I was concerned about moisture as well. I found that it’s best to let it thaw completely before baking. Even then, the dough doesn’t taste completely “dry” but personally I thought it was still delicious. Results are best if you eat it on the same day you made the dough without freezing it but I had way too much zucchini on hand and didnt want to let them go to waste so thats why I froze those. I also made personal size crusts – larger sizes might won’t turn out as well due to more surface area needing to be baked. My pizza pan didn’t have holes on the bottom – that might make difference in terms of a more dry crust. I just remembered I also blended in squash and thsoe doesn’t seem to stay together as well as 100% zucchini. One pizza completely fell apart! But it was a still a delicious mess haha.
No regret and will continue to experiment.
I froze the zucchini and cheese together and then defrosted and added the other ingredients. It worked out well that way. I am not sure about adding the eggs to freeze but the hard part is the zucchini
That’s actually a great idea. I will try that next time.
Not gonna lie, this isn’t gonna make it to the actual pizza part–I will have it eaten much before then! Yum!
Hey what a great idea! I am always interested in new ways to eat Low Carb pizza! My favourite is the fathead pizza crust, but I will have to try this one for sure! Especially with all the zucchini from my garden I must use! Thanks!
Ah a delight to make everyone eat veggies and eat pizza too! Loved the concept.
I love this! I have a gluten allergy, so I’m always looking for new gf pizza crusts to try out. Veggies in the crust is a healthy bonus! 🙂
I never liked pizza, there I said it! But when the crust is so crispy delicious and healthy like this zucchini pizza I can eat a whole pizza. I made zucchini crust shrimp pizza for the first time a year back and since then that’s been our favorite family Saturday night pizza. I try to make it once a month or two. Thank you for bringing those memories back. Now I need to do zucchini crust pizza again 😀
This is a great idea for anyone looking to cut flour or that might be gluten sensitive. It looks really hearty and would taste good with a veggie pizza!
I’ve been looking for a similar recipe for quite some time and I think I found it!) I LOVE pizza and need a good healthy pizza crust! Thank you for the recipe! I will definitely make it!)
Wow this is such a great idea, I have lots of zucchini and I keep researching ways to use them up. Thank you!
Wow, you really can make pizza crust with just about anything! I’m loving all of these veggie twist on the classic crust, and I’m definitely going to have to give zucchini a try!
How many cups is 5 medium zucchini?
what is the measurement of zucchini in cups
I based the nutrition facts off of 4 cups of zucchini.
I am, glad i found this recipe, right in time for my New year resolution plans! To eat low carb and healthy!
I have to say this came out delicious!! Love the zucchini crust, I think better than a cauli crust. THANK YOU!
I have always wanted to try to make an alternate crust, and this recipe is great because it is filled with helpful tips to ensure a successful crust. Thank you!
Hubby and I love zoodles. Anymore, he won’t eat zucchini sliced and cooked. This is such an interesting concept I can’t wait to try it. We do salt the zoodles and wait before sautéing and it works like a charm. Using the zucchini as a crust would sure save on calories. Great recipe for the coming year.
This zucchini pizza crust sounds delicious I need to give it a try I like zoodles, I never thought we can make gluten free pizza crust with zucchini.
Any way to do it without the cheese? No dairy for me :(!
Unfortunately, because the parmesan is such a major component of this recipe and acts to provide structure to the crust, I don’t think you will get the same results with a substitution. If you wanted to experiment, I might start with a dairy free mozzarella – I’ve read that Daiya makes a good one. I’ve never worked with this alternative though, so I can’t vouch for it’s performance.