The boys have been going gaga for these gluten-free Pizza Muffins. They eat them for breakfast, in their lunches, and as a healthy after school snack. Since I’ve been cutting back on my sugar intake I’m a big fan of these pizza muffins too. For me, they’re sort of like a savory cupcake. Cute and little, with adorable decorations on top –everything I want a cupcake to be, without the sugar.
In order to make the adorable miniature pepperoni slices that top these Pizza Muffins, I stacked up pieces of pepperoni and pressed down on them with the small side of a metal funnel. Works like magic!
Although my boys are now teenagers, I think they would have loved cutting out the tiny pieces of pepperoni and decorating the tops of these muffins with me when they were small children. Those were the fun types of projects we used to do together. Now when we’re in the kitchen, rather than collaborating on one dish together, we make separate dishes and collaborate on making one big meal. My favorite time with the boys is still kitchen time. I love watching them cook (and clean), and seeing them take pride in everything they make!
Pizza Muffins
Ingredients
- 1½ cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup tomato sauce, plus ¼ cup for topping
- ½ cup cheddar cheese, plus ½ cup for topping
- ½ cup parmesan cheese, plus ½ cup for topping
- 2 ounces pepperoni, plus 2 ounces for topping
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine almond flour, salt, and baking soda
- Pulse in eggs and sauce until combined
- Pulse in cheeses and pepperoni
- Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners
- Scoop a heaping ¼ cup of batter into each cup
- Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes
- Remove from oven; place 1 teaspoon sauce on top of each muffin
- Sprinkle cheese over sauce
- Sprinkle pepperoni over cheese
- Place back in oven and bake for 15 more minutes
- Cool for 1 hour
- Serve
I based this recipe on one from Pamela Salzman, a private chef in Southern California. I haven’t tried it, but I’ll bet this grain-free Pizza Muffin recipe would be incredible with various vegetable fillings and toppings such as mushrooms, spinach, or zucchini. If you experiment, please let us know what changes you make to the recipe and if you have to adapt any of the other ingredients. When you include vegetables it may be best to saute them first, otherwise they will be very wet.
I tried making these Pizza Muffins with more tomato sauce on top and preferred them with the one teaspoon indicated in the recipe. I found they became a tad soggy when I increased the tomato sauce to two teaspoons.
I haven’t tried making these Pizza Muffins dairy-free as my boys can eat cheese. If you do play with the recipe and remove the cheese please tell us how it goes! How will you customize this recipe to make your very own pizza muffin?
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Lori says
The top of it is good, but the inside is dry and has no taste. What happened?
Elana says
Lori, thanks for your comment! This generally happens when either your oven temperature is off or the recommended brands of almond flour are not used. For more on the almond flours that I recommend go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/ingredients/almond-flour/
Enjoy!
Elana
Evelyn says
I used Bob’s Red Mill super-fine almond flour for this recipe and put in 3/4 cup of tomato sauce, and it came out moist and delicious. Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Elana says
Evelyn, you’re very welcome! I’m so happy to hear these muffins are wonderful :-)
Karen Whyte says
I found that the mixture sticks to the cases. Any suggestions?
Elana says
Karen, if you use the paper liners that I link to in the instructions portion of the recipe the muffins will pop right out :-)
Nitha says
May I substitute the almond flour with coconut flour?
Elana says
Nitha, unfortunately that won’t work. For more on that please go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-baking-almond-flour-vs-coconut-flour/
Enjoy!
Elana
Lisa says
I made these grain-free pizza muffins tonight and let me tell you they are amazing!! We are more of Italian sausage family so I swapped out the meat. I also added fresh spainsh to the top of the cupcake batter and it turned out perfect. Thanks Elana for the awesome recipe!
Elana says
Lisa, thanks for letting me know these pizza muffins were amazing :-)
Keri says
Do you have any idea what the nutritional values are for one muffin (calories, etc.)?
Elana says
Keri, thanks for your comment! For more on that please go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/nutrition-information/
Have a lovely day!
Elana
Chele says
Could NOT find on the page ?
Elana says
Chele, thanks for your comment! If you read through the page it will tell you how to get that! Have a wonderful day :-)
Julie says
These look lovely – how would you replace some of the almonds with coconut flour and tapioca starch? i’d like to get the fat (even though it’s ‘good’ fat) down…
Elana says
Julie, thanks for your comment! I haven’t tried that so not sure. For more information on almond flour vs coconut flour please go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-baking-almond-flour-vs-coconut-flour/
Enjoy!
Elana
Rebecca Richmond says
What about a quark replacement for the cheese? Any idea?
Elana says
Rebecca, I haven’t tried that so not sure if it will work :-)
Aly says
Anyone try making these without the cheese? How were they? We’re dairy-free and we don’t use Daiya substitutes.
Elana says
Aly, I haven’t tried that but if you do I hope you’ll let us know how it goes :-)
Cindy says
These are fantastic! I did make some changes. I do not have any health issues other than wanting to lose weight so some of my changes won’t be appropriate for everyone. There is only me so I made 1/4 of the recipe. So easy to divide! I hate having to divide an egg. I used pre-cut mini pepperoni so didn’t have to cut them. Also didn’t bother with the food processor, lazy didn’t want to wash it. So the cheese and pepperoni stayed in shreds and pieces. I added Italian seasoning to the tomato sauce. I used mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar. I also made 4 muffins instead of the 3 that 1/4 the recipe would make. I baked them for 17 minutes and then spread the topping cheese on them and put them back in the oven for 3 or 4 minutes for the cheese to melt,( I did this so I could put more sauce on without the top getting soggy) then put on 2 teaspoons tomato sauce and the mini pepperoni and baked an additional 8 or 9 minutes for everything to finish. Absolutely wonderful. I love your recipes! Thank You for everything.
Elana says
Cindy, You’re welcome! I’m so happy to hear these were absolutely wonderful!
June M. Freeman says
What I love about your recipes is they often only use a food processor and I just keep adding and pulsing! So easy! Thanks.
Elana says
Thanks June! Easy is the name of the game here :-)
colleen says
Love these muffins! We are dairy free so I omit the cheese except for a bit of Dayia (dairy free) mozzarella “cheese” on top – and they disappear from the breakfast table. This one is a winner!
Elana says
Colleen, so glad to hear that this was a winner!