Heart-Healthy Pizza That Makes You Feel As Good As It Tastes

No, it's not too good to be true, and yes, you read that right: This really is a recipe for a pizza that's heart-healthy. How can such a wonder come to be?

Chef, food writer, and registered dietician Kristen Carli of Camelback Nutrition & Wellness explains: "This heart-healthy pizza recipe is heart-healthy because of the whole wheat crust. Whole grains are high in fiber, which contributes to lowering cholesterol levels. Additionally, this pizza does not have any meat products, as meat is high in saturated fat, which is associated with heart disease."

While it doesn't have any meats, this pizza does have lots of taste. Make it exactly according to the recipe here, and you'll have a happy eaters all around. Add your family's own favorite toppings, and you'll have a recipe they'll ask for again and again. 

"The dough is involved," says Carli, so, "this makes a perfect weekend meal." But don't worry, involved doesn't mean challenging, you just need some free time because you can't rush great dough. What you can do is make the dough ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for a few hours or even a few days — just build in a half hour or so for it to warm before you start stretching it. 

To make this heart-healthy pizza just as shown, you'll need a tablespoon of instant yeast, one and a half cups of warm water, one and a half tablespoons of honey, two tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of salt, two cups of whole wheat flour, one and a half cups of all-purpose flour, eight ounces of white mushrooms, sliced, four cups of spinach, 14 ounces of your preferred pizza sauce, and two cups of shredded mozzarella cheese.

"I love mushrooms and spinach, as they are super tasty served on pizza," says Carli, but she adds: "Feel free to add any other veggies as toppings. Artichoke hearts would make another tasty yet heart-healthy option. And to add spice, feel free to shake a few red chili flakes onto your slice."

The first step to making the heart-healthy pizza dough is placing water, yeast, and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir those three ingredients with a spoon to combine, then stop and allow the mixture to rest to get foamy and bubbly for about five minutes.

Next, add the olive oil, salt, whole wheat flour, and all-purpose flour, and mix using the paddle attachment until it's all well combined.

Now, using the dough hook attachment, continue to mix dough for about six minutes until a smooth ball forms. Remove the dough and transfer it to an oiled bowl. Rotate the dough so that the entire ball is coated in oil, then drape a kitchen towel over bowl, place it somewhere warm, and allow it to rise for an hour.

After an hour as elapsed, punch down the heart-healthy pizza dough ball to clear out the air pockets, and remove it from the bowl. Place the dough on a floured surface and then cut the dough in half using a bench scraper, forming two even-sized balls of dough. Now, let these dough balls rest for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and place a pizza pan in oven so it can start to heat up as well. Next, prepare a little pan with nonstick spray or a bit of olive oil.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough balls out into two 12- to 14-inch rounds, placing each stretched piece of dough on a large sheet of parchment paper. 

Now, in that small pan you prepared, sauté the mushrooms for your heart-healthy pizza for about four minutes. Next, remove them from the pan and set them aside, and in the same pan, add the spinach and cook it until it has wilted down, which will take just two or three minutes. Now, remove the spinach from the pan too and set it aside.

Build the heart-healthy pizza starting off using a spoon to spread about half of the sauce onto each of the dough rounds. Then, top each round with half of the cheese and half of the sautéed spinach and sautéed mushrooms.

Now, grab the pre-heated pan out of the oven and slide the parchment paper onto the pizza pan and bake your first pizza for 12 minutes. Remove the finished pie from oven and repeat with the second pizza. And, of course, you can bake both at the same time if you have the space and the hardware, but know you may need to add a minute or two to the baking time.