No Cauliflower, No Bake Low Carb Pizza

A low carb “diet” is my go to when I want to drop some weight. And I need to drop some weight. I’ve been eating like a slob lately and it shows on my scale. I’ve been seeing cauliflower recipes for pizza and bread sticks. So I thought I was going to go buy a food processor to make some cauliflower bread. It cost about $100! Who knew?! I decided I didn’t want to make cauliflower bread that badly. So I went down the bread aisle, wondering if there were any low carb breads on the market. And what did I find? Low carb tortilla! Sounds like an option to me! 🙂

(pictures courtesy of Target.com)

Originally, I used the low carb tortillas to make breakfast tacos and ham and turkey sandwiches with mayo, mustard, onions – the whole nine. I’ve used both the flour and whole wheat.  All delicious by the way. And then I got the brilliant idea to make pizza. I love pizza! Sometimes when I’m low carbbing it I go buy a $5 pizza from Little Caesar’s and just eat the cheese and pepperoni!

Okay, without further ado, here’s my no cauliflower, no bake (yes – we’re not baking this baby! I’m lazy ?) low carb pizza! I don’t have measurements because that’s how I roll. Actually, you know what you like – use your best judgment!

So, I’m making a pesto chicken pizza. Pesto is delicious and has less carbs than a tomato base sauce (although I do make pepperoni pizzas this way as well).

First you want to heat up your chicken in a skillet. I purchased rotisserie chicken from the grocery story. (I told you I was lazy!) But feel free to cook your own chicken or use some leftover chicken.

Set the chicken to the side. Wipe down your skillet if you need to or pull out another skillet for the tortilla. I use one skillet for this. (Again, I’m lazy) Lay your tortilla in the skillet. The tortilla is likely soft at this point and you might be wondering how it will hold up. Don’t worry. As it cooks it will harden and make the perfect thin pizza crust. I like using the flour tortilla for pizza. Sometimes the whole wheat drowns out the other flavors. At least that’s the case when I make pepperoni pizzas. Haven’t tried chicken and pesto on the whole wheat tortillas.

Add your sauce. You can make pesto yourself. It’s very easy to do. You can also buy a jar in the sauce aisle at your grocery store which is even easier to do! I’m using DeLallo Simply Pesto.

Pesto is thicker than a tomato sauce and harder to spread. You will likely end up using more sauce than you would with a tomato pizza sauce. However, be careful not to use too much pesto, because it has a lot of olive oil. When it warms up it thins out and the pizza can become too oily. You may want to heat up the sauce before spreading on the tortilla. I haven’t tried this yet.

This is about 3 spoonfuls (tablespoons) of pesto and it turned out to be a little too much. I was having a hard time spreading it (see note above) so I just piled more on the bare spaces. Not the best idea. Don’t worry if every inch isn’t covered with sauce. As long as there’s flavor in every bite I think you’ll be fine.

Now layer on your cheese. I’m using a three cheese blend here.

And finally add your chicken. Continue to cook your pizza until the cheese is melted completely. The warm chicken will help the cheese melt as well. At this point the tortilla should have also hardened up nicely. It turns out to be a thin pizza crust with a little crunch to it.

And that’s it. Pesto Chicken No Cauliflower, No Bake Low Carb Pizza. Seafood such as shrimp and lobster also pair well with a pesto pizza base. I also enjoy roasted veggies on a pesto pizza. I just roast my veggies first – onions, bell peppers, squash, zucchini, etc. similar to how I warm my chicken first here.

I love this meal because it’s tasty, cheap, and quick. Even if you’re not eating low carbs it’s a great lunch or dinner to have on hand. Everyone in your family can make their own pizza. You can also bake in the oven, I just choose not to. I put my mom onto this low carb pizza and she bakes hers.

I’ve also made Pepperoni Pizza using this technique. Again, a tomato sauce has more carbs that pesto sauces. The pizza sauce (traditional tomato sauce) I use has 9 grams of carbs per 1/4 cup serving compared to just 2 carbs in the pesto sauce. However, I only use about a tablespoon of the pizza sauce. It spreads easily and a little goes a long way. So as long as you don’t go overboard you’re still good if I use a traditional pizza sauce.

The ingredients for pepperoni pizza are pretty much the same – low carb tortilla, mozzarella or three cheese blend, pepperoni, other toppings I love such as olives and sometimes I sprinkle on a little Italian seasoning and top with Parmesan cheese. I don’t heat the pepperoni first. It’s thinner than chicken and heats pretty quickly. I just add on top of the cheese and let it cook until the cheese is melted and the pepperoni looks like the picture below.

So what do you think? Are you going to give it a try?!