Spooky Pizza Pumpkins
Low carb, sugar-free and ready in 20 minutes — golden fathead mini pizzas with olive-and-pepper jack-o’-lantern faces
These spooky pizza pumpkins keep every promise on the cover: low carb, sugar-free, ready in 20 minutes — with 18g protein, 6g net carbs and 240 calories per pizza. Golden fathead rounds are topped with pizza sauce and mozzarella, then given jack-o’-lantern faces from black olive slices and pepper strips, exactly like the platter in the photo.
Per serving: 240 calories, 18g protein and 6g net carbs. Ready in 20 minutes.
Why you’ll love these spooky pizzas
- 18g protein per pizza for just 240 calories
- Low carb and sugar-free — exactly as promised on the cover
- On the table in a genuine 20 minutes
- Each pizza gets its own funny-scary face
- Crisp golden bases — no soggy middle
- The Halloween party plate everyone photographs
Health notes
- Fathead bases: Mozzarella, cream cheese and almond flour — pizza night without the flour crust.
- No-added-sugar pizza sauce: The classic hidden-sugar trap, avoided.
- Olives and peppers: The faces are real vegetables — flavour and fibre, not food colouring.
- Mozzarella topping: Melts into the bubbling blanket that holds the faces on.
- Locked from the cover: The photo supplied the title, claims, time and macros, so they are kept consistent throughout the block.
Key element — par-bake the bases first
Fathead dough topped raw goes soggy under the sauce. Give the rounds 5 minutes alone in the oven first — until just set and pale gold at the edges — then sauce, cheese and faces, and back in until bubbling. That two-stage bake is what keeps every base crisp like the platter in the photo, and the faces go on AFTER the par-bake so the olives sit neatly on the cheese instead of sinking into raw dough.
Ingredients
Fathead bases
- 1½ cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella
- 2 oz cream cheese
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp salt
Toppings and faces
- ½ cup pizza sauce, no added sugar
- 1½ cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella
- 12 black olive slices (eyes), plus extra for mouths
- ½ red bell pepper, cut in thin strips
- ½ green bell pepper, cut in thin strips
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning, for sprinkling
Swaps
- Pepperoni faces: Mini pepperoni rounds as eyes under the cheese’s edge.
- Mummies: Mozzarella strips laid in zigzags with two olive eyes peeking out.
- Ghosts: Provolone slices cut in ghost shapes over the sauce.
- Meaty: Cooked crumbled sausage scattered before the faces go on.
Instructions
| 1 | Make the dough. Heat the oven to 425°F. Melt the mozzarella and cream cheese together (microwave 60–90 seconds, stirring halfway). Knead in the almond flour, egg, baking powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and salt until smooth. |
| 2 | Shape 6 rounds. Divide the dough into 6 balls. Press or roll each into a 4–5 inch round on a parchment-lined tray, slightly thicker at the edges. |
| 3 | Par-bake. Bake the bare rounds for 5 minutes until just set and pale gold at the edges. This is the crisp-base secret — do not skip it. |
| 4 | Sauce and cheese. Spread a spoonful of pizza sauce over each round, leaving a small rim. Blanket with the shredded mozzarella. |
| 5 | Make the faces. Set two olive slices as eyes on each pizza, add an olive mouth and pepper-strip smiles, stems or hair — every pumpkin gets its own face, like the photo. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. |
| 6 | Final bake and serve. Bake for 5–7 more minutes until the cheese is bubbling and golden at the edges. Rest for 2 minutes and serve on a platter. |
Pro tips
- Wet or oiled hands stop fathead dough sticking while you shape.
- Thin sauce layer — too much sauce undoes the crisp par-bake.
- Press the olive faces gently into the cheese so they stay put as it melts.
- No two faces alike — the wonky ones are the charm.
- Reheat in the air fryer for 3 minutes to re-crisp the bases.
Nutrition
| Nutrient | Per serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 240 |
| Protein | 18g |
| Net carbohydrates | 6g |
| Total carbohydrates | 8g |
| Fiber | 2g |
| Total fat | 15g |
| Sodium | 520mg |
Per serving (6 mini pizzas), locked from the cover: 18g protein, 6g net carbs, 240 calories. Exact macros vary slightly with cheese brand and sauce.
Variations
Spider pizzas
A whole olive body with olive-strip legs on each pizza.
Jack-o’-lantern classic
Triangle olive eyes and a zigzag pepper mouth.
Frankenstein
Pesto base, olive hair and pepper stitches.
Plain party minis
Skip the faces after Halloween — same bases, any topping.
Storage
| Method | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator | Up to 3 days | Airtight container with parchment between pizzas |
| Freezer | Up to 1 month | Freeze baked minis in a single layer; thaw before reheating |
| Reheat | — | Air fryer at 375°F for 3 minutes until the bases re-crisp |
