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.
Want a side with that? Try one of our 10 Best Sides to Go with Pizza.
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 ¼ 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 baby arugula.
How many calories? One slice of this healthy pizza recipe is 96 calories. Only 96 calories! That’s about ⅓ 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 plus care tips.
- 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, Perfect Italian 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.
Print
Best Healthy Pizza Recipe
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 7 minutes
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
Description
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
- ½ cup Easy Pizza Sauce
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1/4 medium red onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano, plus more for garnish
- ½ tablespoon capers, drained
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ 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 ¼ 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
Does the dough freeze well?
Yes! To freeze: Place each dough ball in a freezer proof bag and put in the freezer. The morning that you are going to use the dough, remove it from the freezer and place it in the fridge to thaw. About 30 minutes before making the pizza, take it out of the baggie and allow it to relax on the counter, covered with a towel.
The red onion is not listed under the ingredients. Is it not supposed to be on the pizza?
Good catch: added to the ingredients! Thanks!
Hello, could you give me a weight for how much dough you should use? Just there seemed to be far too much dough and to keep the calories as you have stated them, I’d like to use exact amounts. Thanks!
Hi! We use our thin crust pizza recipe for this. The dough for one pizza should be 216 grams (The recipe makes four dough balls).
Hi,
If I’m making this tonight and can’t get a pizza stone how long do I bake it in the oven for?
Thank you,
Hi! The bake time will be about the same, but you will end up with a little tougher crust by baking it on a tray. Enjoy!
Thank you.
I hardly ever leave reviews but this was probably the best pizza I’ve ever had and I’ve eaten my share fair of pizza, even in Italy! Only issue I had with the dough was my fault, I rolled it too thin before putting it on the peel but second attempt was a success, live and learn. Lastly, instead of arugula I just used spring mix, cheaper and easier to find and even though I wasn’t sure about raw greens atop pizza it was delish on this healthier version. 😋
So glad to hear this! Thanks for commenting :)
Hi there…we are planning a pizza party for my daughters bday party. Trying to look at recipes and seeing what I can make ahead. Could I do the veggies ahead of time?
Thank you
Definitely! You could also try the our focaccia pizza as a base because you get more servings out of the pizza and it’s mostly just waiting time: https://www.acouplecooks.com/focaccia-pizza/
Have you tried grinding lentils into flour ? Black lentil beans have more protein. Substitute ground lentil flour for the crust . Then you can use a little more cheese . The carbs would work out the same .
We haven’t tried it!
Pizza is delicious.
terrible
★★★★★
Found your recipe for healthy pizza…I’m always looking for ways to eat healthy….
Thank you
I really enjoy cooking, so I keep trying something new.