Healthier Pizza alternative - when you're dying for a slice

morriusmfp

My girlfriend and I love pizza, far too much. But a shop bought oven pizza can be 600 calories per half a pizza. Sometimes we'd have one each, shamefully!

I was itching for some kind of pizza-ish meal the other day, but the choice was either a very small serving or going way over my calorie allowance So, I had a think and came up with a great alternative.

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For a single pizza (multiply ingredients by however many pizzas you're making!)

For the base:

A single (thick) flour tortilla wrap. These vary in size. We used ones made with Italian herbs, which were 200 calories each.

For the topping:

1 Tablespoon tomato puree (14cals)
Half-fat mozzarella. 62.5g (109cals)
Half a small onion (16-20 cals)
Sliced mushroom, 1 cup (15 cals)
4 cherry tomatoes, halved (28 cals)
Garlic (to your preference, barely any calories!)

To cook:

Fry light, 3-4 sprays, (3-4 cals)

You can add sliced meats or vegetables, pineapple, fish... whatever you like. Just count those calories!

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Here's the method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Lay the tortilla on baking paper, on a baking tray.
Spread the tomato puree evenly upon the tortilla.
Shred the mozzarella and place evenly upon the tortilla.
Halve the cherry tomatoes, and place evenly upon the tortilla.

Using a couple of sprays of 'fry light', fry the mushroom and onion with the garlic on a low heat. You want to soften them up a little, four minutes at most should do the trick.

Place the cooked vegetables on the tortilla. Give the whole tortilla one spray of fry light to coat.

Transfer the whole tray to the oven, and bake until the cheese is nicely melted. You will need a keep a very close eye on your pizza as it cooks, because the tortilla edges will go from warm to blackened in a very short space of time! It took us about five minutes.

Remove from the oven. Cut with a pizza cutter and serve immediately, with a salad of your choice. Alternatively, dress the tortilla with rocket leaves (and extra virgin olive oil, if you're feeling extravagant) before cutting.

Done! a full plate of pizza and a side salad to boot, coming in at under 400 calories. You could use a smaller tortilla or less mozzarella (or swap the mozzarella for extra light cheddar) to shave a few more calories off.

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It's not Dominos, but it's not 3400 calories a pizza either!

If anyone gives this a go, let me know how you altered it to make it your own.

Scoochie1

My sister told me this trick a few years back - it works really realy well and takes very little effort

JennaM222

Sounds awesome - thank you for sharing!

leomom72

i have a recipe for no sodium pizza dough..makes 8 servings 250 cals and 4 fat per serving..no sodium..lemmie know

Gilbrod

Dude! That's brilliant!!! The possibilities are endless! Good looking out.

babygurl48

bump!

Piglet_26

Ooooh i'm loving this idea a lot. Me and my partner are the same, love the pizza but not the calories. Will be giving this recipe ago for sure

P.S i've used a similar idea before but making mini pizzas substituting the tortilla for pitta breads.

Another alternative (for us Uk based people) substitute the tortilla with a warburtons square(ish) wrap for 159 calories

itsanot

For about the same calories you can use pita bread. Gives you a little thicker crust! Just as yummy!

tuneses

This is what i make

Ingredients
1 tortilla Ortega - Whole Wheat Tortillas (8 Inch)
1/4 cup Pellicano's - Southern Italian Pizza Sauce
1/4 cups Fresh Spinach
1/2 Generic – Tomato Large
6 olives Black Pearls - Medium Pitted Black Olives
1 g (2 tsp) Sage, Fresh
1/4 cup Kraft - Fat Free Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
8.5 slices Hormel - Turkey Pepperoni Slices

Lay the tortilla on a cookie sheet. Spread on pizza sauce with a spoon. Add spinach, tomatoes, black olives, sage, cheese and pepperoni slices. Cook on 350 for 20-25 minutes depending on how crispy you like your pizza
Calories 272 Fiber 5, Fat 8, Protein 19, Carbs 31

TCB2day

Thank for sharing! I'm adding your receipe to my collection and look forward to enjoying pizza without the guilt!

roxiedo

bump

ayshamc

I have never thought about using Tortilla's as Pizza bases in the oven! I often use Pizza Ingredients and then close them as wraps and heat them on the George Foreman Grill - but didn't ever think about putting them in the oven as actual bases.

Thank you so much, will give this a go on the weekend

kendrafallon

*bump* :drinker:

seniorfaye

bump for later!!

swaymyway

For 200 calories you can make an actual pizza base - yeast, 100g wholemeal flour - that's all you need.
I'd rather have an actual dough base than a tortilla myself

DRJJ2004

Great idea!! Bumpin :O)

leelu

i make simular with pita bread - -i use the whole pack of 8 or ten pitas, and make a production line as you can freeze them raw too and have them on lazy days

MicMar66

Wow...I am going to try this!!! Thanks!

hellolouisey

Ooh good call, I heart pizza!

Kpconner

I like the sound of this too! I also use a whole wheat english muffin topped with just 1 Tbl pizza sauce each half and then sprinkle generously with diced green pepper and light skim mozzerella...very low fat but does the trick! oops forgot to add...I top the english muffins with this and then place in over to broil just to get cheese a bit browned. you can add onion too if you like but I stay away from the sausage and pepperoni unfortunately but it keeps it low fat.

Sweet_Pandora

A while back someone posted a recipe here on MFP for portabello mushroom pizza, I tried it and it was amazing. I don't have the recipe and calorie info but here is the gist of it

Portobello Mushroom Pizza

Remove stem from mushroom and wash and bake in oven for 10 minutes at 350 F
Remove from oven and soak up extra juice from the mushroom (I use papertowel)
Top pizza sauce
Fresh basil
Green Onion
Sliced Black Olives
Swiss Cheese

Bake additional 10 minutes and then put under broiler until cheese bubbles.

This is what I like on mine, you can top them any way you like. The calories are minimal and I guess they would be considered gluten free.

The portobello mushroom is thick enough to fill in as the crust.

SueSaylor

This sounds super yummy....thanks for the tip - I can use all I can get.

mrf2990

I use a deli flat instead of a tortilla and do the same thing, it works great and give you two mini pizzas!

morriusmfp

For 200 calories you can make an actual pizza base - yeast, 100g wholemeal flour - that's all you need.
I'd rather have an actual dough base than a tortilla myself

Yes, but this recipe takes about ten minutes from start to finish.

Making your own dough is great, my girlfriend uses the recipe she got from her little Italian grandmother, it's delicious. But it requires forethought and prep time if you want to do it properly. This is more of a quick alternative to takeaway or shop-bought.

Besides, low calorie tortillas can be found under 100 calories, we just used what we had to hand in a moment of inspiration!

caroln3

Sounds delicious thanks for the recipe!

microwoman999

Thanks Bump!

Crystal_Rudolph

YUMMY!!!

Tennis2Win

Sounds Delicious! Thanks for the recipe!

dmpizza

Sounds great, but I think a homemade slice isn't so bad calorie wise because people use less cheese and oil.

BerkleyEL

Oh yea, this is an awesome idea!
I think it might end up being my lunch!!
at least, a variation with what I've got in-house.

jbdowns35

I buy bobolli whole wheat ready made pizze crusts. Delicious & easy. When they go on sale, I buy a few & throw them in the freezer. Then I just top them with whatever I got! Garlic, sliced tomatoes, leftover chicken, red onion, spinach, low-fat mozzerella, the list is endless!