What do you do when you are craving pizza and have already used your Healthy Extra b allowance? You make this low syn MEATZZA of course.
How I haven't put my recipe of the ever so popular Meatzza up on the blog, I have no idea. Because it is seriously delicious.
I have been making meatzza's for years, truth be told I actually prefer this to a regular pizza now. You might think I am bonkers, but all that carbs and bread on a regular pizza does not agree with me and leaves me feeling rather icky.
I first starting making Meatzza's when I did a stint of paleo a few years back because of ongoing health issues.
I love pizza, so it was important for me to be able to enjoy something similar when I was on a restriction of so many foods, in fact, I wasn't even eating dairy during that stint of paleo, so my meatzza recipe, didn't even include any cheese at the time , and it was still yummy.
Now I have introduced certain foods back into my diet, I know exactly what I have to limit and what I don't. So usually when I fancy pizza, I go low on the bread and just use a small Healthy Extra B pita bread, like on these delicious pizza recipes:
and then, of course, there are also these amazing gluten free options which I love too.
or if you just want any kind of pizza type dish, there are also the following:
- Pizza Fries
- Breakfast Omelette Pizza
- Portobello Mushroom Pizzas
- Pizza Topped Baked Sweet Potato
- Breakfast Hash Brown Pizza
- Syn Free Pizza Toasts
That's a whole load of different pizza recipes to satisfy those pizza cravings right?
But how do you make Meatzza? Well, it depends on who you ask. You only have to google the word "meatzza" and you will be greeted with pages and pages of Meatzza recipes to choose from. This, however, is how I make mine and my whole family love it. So it's the recipe I have stuck to, every time I make this.
Firstly let me explain what a meatzza actually is. It's a large patty of ground meat, molded into a kind of pizza base shape replacing the usual dough pizza bases, and then baked in the oven before adding your choice of toppings, before being baked again just like you would a traditional pizza. To melt all that yummy cheese.
Many recipes use an egg in the meat mixture, but I personally do not like the result that gives. So instead I add a magic ingredient - which is a little bit of starch - either tapioca, arrowroot or corn starch will do. Of course using the starch does add some syns, but it's only a tiny amount, so when divided up into servings, is hardly anything at all.
If you really want to keep this syn free, then, by all means, omit it, but the cornstarch really does work wonders, it stops the meat drying out and becoming crumbly, and helps it to hold its shape.
I also use a quiche dish which is 10.5 inches to bake the meatzza in, mainly because again it helps the base stay moist and stops it drying out. Using a flat tray means all the juices will drain off away from the meat. What you want is for the base to absorb most of those juices back into the base as it cooks on its second placement in the oven with the toppings. Trust me, doing those two things above, will result in a really delicious meatzza base.
Then, of course, all that is left to do is decide on toppings. I never add meat toppings, because you have all that protein in the base, but feel free to add some if you want.
For the pizza sauce, there are a couple of things you can use. Make up a batch of my amazing Syn Free Pizza Sauce or if you want a more BBQ style pizza use this Syn Free BBQ Sauce instead of regular pizza sauce. But if you are rushed for time and have neither of those available. In the recipe below I give you my cheat's version Pizza Sauce, which is just as delicious as the former two.
Low Syn Meatzza
This recipe is dairy free, gluten free, Slimming World and Weight Watchers friendly
- Extra Easy - 1 HEa and 0.5 syns per serving
- Original/SP - 1 HEa and 0.5 syns per serving
- WW Smart Points - 9
- Dairy Free/Paleo - omit cheese
- Gluten Free - ensure starch you use is free of gluten
Ingredients
- For the base:
- 600g of extra lean ground beef (mince)
- 1 tablespoon of tapioca, arrowroot or cornstarch (1.5 syns)
- ½ tsp of sea salt
- ¼ tsp of garlic powder
- ¼ tsp of onion powder
- ¼ tsp of chilli powder
- ¼ tsp each of dried basil and parsley
- pinch of black pepper
- spray oil
- For the sauce
- ¾ cup (180ml) of crushed tomatoes (or passata)
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- ½ tablespoon of sukrin: 1 (or other sweetener of choice) - this is optional but it cuts some of the acidity from the tomatoes
- ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon of onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon of oregano
- fresh basil leaves chopped
- For the toppings:
- 150g (5.5 oz) of mozzarella, grated
- ½ small red onion, finely sliced
- ⅓ of a red bell pepper sliced,
- ⅓ of a yellow bell pepper sliced
- 3 mushrooms, thinly sliced
- (or use your own toppings of choice)
- fresh basil, chopped
- fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 232c (450f)
- Add to a bowl, all the ingredient for the base and mix just till combine.
- Grease dish with spray oil
- Add meat mixture to dish and flatten firmly all across the dish, so it is an equal thickness.
- Using a fork, pierce all over the base.
- Place in the oven and bake for 10 mins.
- In a bowl mix together the ingredients for the sauce.
- Once base has cooked for 10 minutes, you will notice juices will have released from the base, but do not pour it all out (most gets absorbed back into the base as it continues to cook and stops the base from drying out, only remove some if it looks excess, it will depend on the quality of the ground beef you are using)
- Spread the sauce on top,
- Add ⅔ of the mozzarella, then add all toppings as suggested or toppings of your choice.
- Top with the remaining ⅓ of mozzarella and place back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Then place under the broil (grill) for a couple of mins, just till the top is lovely and golden (keep an eye on it as this stage, as it will brown on top very quickly)
- Sprinkle with fresh chopped Italian parsley and basil
- Slice with a pizza cutter and carefully transfer to a plate of board.
- Serve with a mixed salad and enjoy!!!
Notes
Healthy Extra A servings of cheese can vary from the UK to the USA, so adjust accordingly.
Nutritional information is an estimate and is to be used for informational purposes only.
Ingredients can vary greatly from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information.
All images and content on Slimming Eats are copyright protected.
If you wish to share this recipe, then please do so by using the share buttons provided. Do not screenshot or post recipe or content in full
Nutrition Information
Yield 3 Serving Size 1 serving (⅓ of meatzza)Amount Per Serving Calories 442Total Fat 18.6gSaturated Fat 9.3gCholesterol 155mgSodium 965mgCarbohydrates 14.2gFiber 2.7gSugar 4.9gProtein 56.7g
Joanne says
Just had this for tea.
Thoroughly enjoyed it. Delicious!!!!!!
Parker says
Just made this for my family. Simple to make and very filling. Will make again and try different toppings. I was a hit with my lot!!!!
Dani says
Do you put the mince straight in the oven uncooked or do you have to brown it in a pan on the hob first? Surely mice can't be cooked fully after only 10 minutes in the oven?
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
you put it in uncooked, you are cooking it at a high temp, and finishing it off with the toppings, it's more than sufficient timing, otherwise, it will be overcooked and extremely dry. Hope that helps 🙂
Chris says
Can this be made with ground chicken/turkey? My OH won't eat red meat
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
You can certainly try, ground turkey or chicken can tend to be a little dry though, so you might want to add something like grated courgette/zucchini into the mix to keep it moist.
Aly says
Hello. Can this be frozen?
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
It's best eaten once cooked, but there is nothing in the ingredients that can't be frozen 🙂
Suzanne says
Delicious but so,filling had some leftover not as good cold lol we added extra chilli to ours 🙂
Jean says
I have made this and it was Devine. I do add grated uncooked potato that has the starch squeezed out and 1/4cup of stock. I find this keeps it moist and makes it go a little further. Also at times make the base into meat balls and then top. Thanks for posting this.xx