Do you love hosting backyard parties during summer? If so, this easy and healthy fruit pizza recipe should pique your interest. It’s a refreshing summer snack (or dessert) that can be enjoyed by adults and kids alike, and it makes use of the best produce this season has to offer. This fruit pizza is a better alternative to snacks containing sugars and other additives, or conventional pizzas loaded with unhealthy toppings and oozing with grease. It also allows you to save time and money by encouraging you to use ingredients you may already have at home.
How to Make Fruit Pizza
Just like an ordinary pizza, this healthy fruit pizza recipe is served on a crust with cheese. What sets this recipe apart are the ingredients you’ll be using, as they’re healthier compared to toppings found in typical pizzas. If you want to make a delicious fruit pizza to share this summer, try this recipe adapted from Low Carb Yum:1
Cream Cheese Fruit Pizza Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 14 minutes Serving size: 12
Ingredients
For cauliflower crust:
- 2 teaspoons melted organic grass fed butter or Dr. Mercola’s coconut oil
- 2 1/2 cups organic cauliflower, grated (about 1/2 a large head)
- 1 large organic pastured egg, lightly beaten
For topping:
- 8 ounces organic cream cheese
- 1/4 cup powdered monk fruit sweetener
- 1/2 cup organic whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup organic sliced strawberries
- 1/4 cup organic blueberries
Procedure
To make the fruit pizza crust:
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Grate the cauliflower using a box grater until you have 2 cups of cauliflower crumbles. Steam until soft and let cool.
- Mix in the egg. Once combined, pat into a 10-inch round prepared pizza pan.
- Coat lightly with melted butter or Dr. Mercola’s coconut oil and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden. Let cool.
To make the topping:
- Mix the cream cheese and powdered sweetener with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the whipping cream and vanilla and beat until smooth.
- Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cauliflower crust. Top with fresh berries.
This fruit pizza can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. Just like with savory pizzas, there are countless variations you can make for this recipe. If you don’t have strawberries and blueberries, you can use other berries like blackberries or raspberries. Bananas, pineapples2 and kiwifruit3 are great choices, too.
Tips to Remember Before Making a Healthy Fruit Pizza
To ensure your fruit pizza is both tasty and nutrient-rich, take note of the following tips:
- Purchase produce that's organically grown and GMO-free — In the Environmental Working Group's 2019 Dirty Dozen list, strawberries ranked No. 1, meaning they contained the highest amounts of pesticide residues compared to other fruits and vegetables tested,4 so they're best bought organic.
When buying fruits for the topping or cauliflower for the pizza crust, buy organic fruits and vegetables from a farmer you trust or from farmers markets near you to mitigate your exposure to health-damaging pesticides, herbicides and insecticides.
- Opt for grass fed cream cheese — When buying cream cheese for this fruit pizza, look for varieties that have been made using unpasteurized, grass fed milk, instead of milk that came from grain-fed CAFO cows. This ensures that your chosen product not only has delicious flavor, but has added benefits and nutrients because it’s made with grass fed milk.
- Avoid store-bought pizza crusts — Some fruit pizza recipes suggest that you use sugar cookie dough or store-bought crusts made with bread flour. But, it’s better to stay away from these foods since they’re often high in unhealthy carbohydrates and sugar your body doesn’t need.
- Skip the canned fruit — Some canned fruits not only have added sugars or syrup, but the cans are also lined with an endocrine disruptor called bisphenol A (BPA). Medical News Today highlights that BPA may affect the function of hormones in your body, act as a precursor for infertility among women,5 and may increase your risk for cardiovascular diseases6 and some hormonal cancers,7 as well as possibly negatively impact brain development in babies8,9 As mentioned earlier, you’re better off purchasing organically-grown fresh fruits from a trusted farmer or farmers market.
- Monitor your fructose consumption — Always remember that fructose and other natural sugars are present in fruits. Excess intake of sugar, even from healthy fruits, may cause your insulin levels to spike and be a precursor for insulin resistance and diabetes. As such, it’s highly recommended to eat your fruits in moderation. Strive to keep your daily fructose intake from all sources below 25 grams, and even as low as 15 grams if you’re insulin resistant.
If you're planning a delicious picnic with your friends and family this summer, surprise them with this easy and yummy fruit pizza. It's a healthy and refreshing alternative to this popular snack.
+ Sources and References