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This Cottage Cheese Pizza Crust is an easy high protein way to make homemade pizza using cottage cheese and flour. The crust bakes up thin and lightly crisp, making it perfect for your favorite toppings. It’s an easy weeknight-friendly option with a boost of protein!
I’ve made a ton of cottage cheese recipes and this high-protein pizza crust is hands down one of my favorite recipes, especially when a pizza craving hits! It’s simple, delicious, and packed with a little bit of extra nutrition which is always a bonus.
If you’re craving more pizza flavor, try my Cottage Cheese Pizza Dip!
Why You’ll Love Cottage Cheese Pizza
Swapping out traditional pizza crust for this cottage cheese pizza crust recipe is an easy way to boost protein on pizza night. It tastes just as delicious as traditional pizza dough and bakes up thin and lightly crisp. Serve it with a side salad, Kale and Broccoli Salad, or Caesar Salad for a complete high protein meal.
Here’s why this version stands out:
- Just two simple ingredients. Made with cottage cheese and self-rising flour, this dough comes together with minimal ingredients. Add garlic powder or Italian seasoning for extra flavor if you’d like.
- No yeast so no rising time. Unlike traditional pizza dough, there’s no waiting. Just mix, roll, and bake. It’s perfect for a quick weeknight pizza.
- Higher in protein. Cottage cheese adds a boost of protein. Each two-slice serving packs around 24 grams of protein.
- Thin, lightly crisp texture. The crust bakes up golden and crisp on the edges while staying tender inside, which is perfect for holding your favorite toppings.
- Easy to customize. Top with anything from classic pepperoni to veggie-loaded combinations.
- Great for quick pizza nights. This is one of those recipes you can make on a whim when you’re craving pizza but don’t want the time or effort of traditional dough.
Ingredients You Need
You’ll just need a handful of ingredients to make an entire pizza!
- Cottage cheese: You’ll need cottage cheese, of course! I recommend full-fat cottage cheese (at least 4% milkfat cottage cheese) over fat-free cottage cheese for the best flavor and texture. My favorite brand is Good Culture.
- Self-rising flour: Self-rising flour is just all purpose flour with baking powder and salt added. It’s the key ingredient to two-ingredient doughs! If you don’t have any you can use regular flour and add ½ teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt per cup of flour.
- Garlic powder and Italian seasoning: This crust tastes great without seasonings, but I like to add them for extra flavor.
- Mozzarella cheese: You can use any shredded cheese that you usually like for pizza. I like to use mozzarella and then sometimes sprinkle different sharper cheeses on top like parmesan cheese or feta cheese.
- Pizza sauce: Use your favorite pizza sauce or marinara sauce, any will work!
- Turkey pepperoni slices: This is optional of course, but I’m a big fan of a few slices of turkey pepperoni.
Best Pizza Toppings
You can also use any of your favorite pizza toppings that you like. Here are a few of my other favorites:
Classic Pizza Toppings
- Marinara sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni
- Sausage, bell peppers, and onions
- Mushrooms and cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- Red pepper flakes
High-Protein Options
- Grilled chicken or rotisserie chicken
- Turkey pepperoni
- Ground turkey or lean beef
Fresh and Veggie-Forward
- Spinach and ricotta
- Cherry tomatoes and basil
- Roasted vegetables
- Fresh greens and herbs like fresh basil or arugula tossed in dressing (add after baking)
Flavor-Packed Variations
- Buffalo chicken with a drizzle of ranch
- BBQ chicken with red onion
- White pizza with garlic, olive oil, and ricotta
- Hamburger pizza with ground beef and cheddar cheese. Top with shredded lettuce or tomatoes after baking.
- Chopped bacon
Tip: Avoid overloading the crust with too many toppings, as it can make it harder to crisp.
How to Make Cottage Cheese Pizza Crust
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. In a medium bowl, add cottage cheese and self-rising flour.
Step 2: Mix the cottage cheese mixture with a wooden spoon and finish with clean hands and form dough into a ball. Note: Dough ball will be a little bit sticky! If it feels way too sticky and unmanageable, coat your hands with a small amount of flour and continue to form into a ball. Repeat if necessary.
Step 3: Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper. Press the dough flat with your hands. Note: Since the dough will be somewhat sticky, I recommend doing this directly on the parchment paper that you’ll be baking on.
Step 4: Roll the dough out into a pizza shape with a lightly floured rolling pin. The dough should be thin like thin crust pizza, but still durable.
Step 5: Transfer your parchment paper and pizza crust to a sheet pan or pizza pan. Spread your pizza sauce evenly on the rolled out pizza dough.
Step 6: Add shredded cheese and pepperoni to the top of the pizza. Add any additional toppings that you’d like at this point. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until cheese is melted and you have a golden brown, crispy crust. Let the crust cool for a few minutes and then slice into eight pizza slices and enjoy!
Jamie’s Tips
Expert Recipe Tips
- Work directly on parchment paper. This dough is naturally sticky, so rolling it out directly on parchment makes it much easier to handle and prevents sticking.
- Roll it thin for the best texture. A thinner crust will bake up more crisp and sturdy. If it’s too thick, it can stay soft in the center.
- Bake until golden and set. The edges should be lightly golden and the center should feel firm before adding toppings.
- Watch the bake time. If you like less sauce and less toppings, it will be done closer to 20 minutes. If you have more sauce and more toppings, it will likely take a few minutes longer.
- If your dough feels too sticky, add a small amount of extra flour until it’s easier to handle.
FAQs
It has a similar flavor and works well with classic pizza toppings, but the texture is slightly different. You can also add seasonings like garlic powder and Italian seasoning to add classic pizza flavor.
Self-rising flour works best for this recipe. If you don’t have any you can use regular all-purpose flour and add ½ teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt per cup of flour.
The dough is naturally sticky because of the cottage cheese. Working on parchment paper makes it much easier to handle.
Yes, you can mix the dough ahead and store in the fridge for a short time, but it’s easiest to work with fresh.
Other Ways to Use Cottage Cheese Pizza Crust
- Cottage cheese garlic sticks: Instead of pizza, slice the dough into long garlic stick-sized pieces. Brush with butter, freshly minced garlic, Italian seasoning and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.
- Mini pizzas: Separate the dough into 3-4 dough balls for everyone’s own personal pizza (reduce bake time).
- Different combinations of toppings: Use any combination of your favorite pizza toppings.
How to Store
Store leftover pizza in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. For the best reheating, I recommend using an air fryer or oven at 400°F until the cheese is melted.
More Easy Pizza Recipes
If you’ve made and love this Cottage Cheese Pizza or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 rating and comments below!
Cottage Cheese Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- 1 cup cottage cheese, full-fat works best, but any will work
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2-3/4 cup pizza sauce
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup turkey pepperoni, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, add cottage cheese and self-rising flour. Mix with a wooden spoon and then finish with clean hands and form the dough into a ball. Note: it will be a little bit sticky! If it feels way too sticky and unmanageable, coat your hands with a small amount of flour and continue to form into a ball. Repeat if necessary, adding a very small amount of additional flour at a time.
- Next, lightly flour some parchment paper. First press the dough flat with your hands and then roll the dough out into a pizza shape with a lightly floured rolling pin. The dough should be quite thin but still durable. You can also use any floured cylinder shape to roll the dough, like a cup (use something non-breakable, like a plastic tumbler). Note: Since the dough will be somewhat sticky, I recommend doing this directly on the parchment paper that you'll be baking on.
- Transfer your parchment paper and pizza crust to a baking sheet. Spread your pizza sauce evenly on the rolled out pizza dough.
- Top with shredded cheese and pepperoni. You can also add any additional toppings that you'd like at this point.
- Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown. Note: If you like less sauce and less toppings, it will be done closer to 20 minutes. If you have more sauce and more toppings, it will likely take a few minutes longer.
Notes
- The dough will be sticky. This is normal, just work directly on parchment paper and lightly flour your hands or rolling pin as needed.
- Roll the dough thin. A thinner crust will bake up more crisp and sturdy.
- Cottage cheese consistency matters. Thicker cottage cheese works best. If yours is very water, you can strain it slightly for better texture.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an estimate.
Food photography by Marie-Catherine Dubé.
Perfection! My husband was so skeptical when I mentioned I was trying out this recipe but once he had his first bite, he wished I made another one because he didn’t want to share the rest with me! He wants me to make it again tomorrow claiming that we can “finish” the open container of cottage cheese haha.
Besides the garlic powder, I also added onion powder and since I added a bit more toppings, it needed to be baked for about 28 min for me to get that beautiful golden color. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!
Major win haha! So glad you both enjoyed it 🙂
This was great! I used whole wheat flour (adding the baking powder & salt to make up for not using self rising flour). Par-baked the crusts for a few minutes, flipped, then added the toppings. Both flavor & texture were perfect.
Thank you for this recipe! Will be a repeat for sure!
So happy you enjoyed it and thank you so much for leaving a review! 🙂
Made this tonight and was so pleasantly surprised at how good it was!! This will be on our dinner menu quite often ❤️ Thanks for sharing.
Happy you enjoyed it! Thank for your leaving a review 🙂
Could I use almond flour to make this a lower carb crust?
Not sure!