Low Phosphorus Pizza Crust

Making your own pizza at home is a great way to make a more kidney friendly pizza. You will have a lot more control over the sodium content of your pizza as well as whether or not there are any phosphorus additives. Not only that, but you get to pick the toppings that you like!

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Table of Contents

• Phosphorus in pizza crust
• Sodium in pizza crust
• Potassium in Pizza Crust
• Low Phosphorus Pizza Crusts You Can Buy
• Low Phosphorus Low Sodium Pizza Crust Recipe

Phosphorus in pizza crust

The first step to making a kidney friendly pizza is to pick the right crust. If you just randomly pick the first pizza crust you find, there is a really good chance that it will contain a phosphorus additive. Phosphorus additives are often added to pizza crusts in the form of baking powder to help them rise and be less dense.

Phosphorus additives are not good for your cardiovascular system. They are very easily absorbed by the body. People with kidney disease will have more problems removing extra phosphorus from their body, which can cause it to build up.

A kidney friendly pizza crust will have no phosphorus additives. To determine if your crust has phosphorus additives, check the ingredient list for ingredients containing PHOS. You will also want to keep an eye out for baking powder as an ingredient. Baking powder in the US is almost always a phosphorus additive, so if you see it listed, avoid it.

Sodium in pizza crust

Pizza crusts are also often high in sodium. Salt is added to traditional pizza crust to help strengthen the gluten, which in turns helps prevent the crust from tearing or falling apart. Salt is also added to pizza crust for flavor, and the total amount added can vary widely.

Ideally, we recommend choosing a pizza crust with the less sodium than calories, but this is not always possible based on the current available selection of pre-made pizza crust. When preparing pizza with traditional ingredients like crust, tomato sauce, and cheese, the final pizza will often have more sodium than calories, because all of these ingredients will be high in sodium.

To enjoy pizza on a kidney friendly diet, we recommend keeping your portion size to 1-2 slices of pizza, and making lower sodium choices throughout the rest of the day to balance out the higher sodium content of pizza.

Potassium in Pizza Crust

Most pizza crusts are considered low potassium foods, although some pizza crusts do contain potassium additives that can drive up the potassium content.

While most pizza crusts are low in potassium, they are also often low in fiber. Fiber is an important nutrient in managing potassium, because fiber helps prevent constipation. Having constipation issues can make it harder to manage potassium levels, so getting in adequate fiber is an important component of a kidney friendly diet.

Low Phosphorus Pizza Crusts You Can Buy

We found the following pizza crusts with no phosphorus additives (and one of them is also low in sodium!). You’ll just need to keep an eye on the sodium.

365 Whole Foods Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

• Calories: 140
• Protein: 5g
• Carbohydrate: 28g
• Fat: 2g
• Sodium: 25mg
• Phosphorus
  Additives: None
• Potassium: 110mg
• Calcium: 0mg
• Fiber: 3g
• Sugar: 3g

This pizza crust by Whole Foods contains no added phosphates, making it a low phosphorus pizza crust. It is also considered a low sodium crust and a low potassium food. Since it is made with whole grains, it also contains more fiber than other crust options, which is beneficial for people with kidney disease. Click the icon below to check prices and reviews.

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Angelic Bakehouse Flatbread Pizza Crust

• Calories: 160
• Protein: 7g
• Carbohydrate: 29g
• Fat: 3g
• Sodium: 200mg
• Phosphorus
  Additives: None
• Potassium: 100mg
• Calcium: 40mg
• Fiber: 5g
• Sugar: 2g

This whole grain pizza crust from Angelic Bakehouse contains no phosphorus additives and is the highest fiber pizza crust we have found. It is not a low sodium crust, but the amount of sodium is not too excessive. If you are following a low protein diet, keep in mind the protein content of this crust and consider what topping to include to ensure the overall pizza meal fits in your day. Click the icon below to check prices and reviews.

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Bob’s Red Mill Pizza Crust Mix

• Calories: 110
• Protein: 2g
• Carbohydrate: 24g
• Fat: 0g
• Sodium: 180mg
• Phosphorus
  Additives: None
• Potassium: 74mg
• Calcium: 4mg
• Fiber: 2g
• Sugar: 1g

If you are looking for a pizza crust mix (especially one that is gluten free), this mix from Bob’s Red Mill is considered low phosphorus since it contains no phosphorus additives. The nutrition displayed is for the mix only and does not include other ingredients needed to make the crust. The final crust nutrition will vary. Click the icon below to check prices and reviews.

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Cappello’s Grain Free Pizza Crust

• Calories: 240
• Protein: 4g
• Carbohydrate: 19g
• Fat: 16g
• Sodium: 430mg
• Phosphorus
  Additives: None
• Potassium: 101mg
• Calcium: 31mg
• Fiber: 3g
• Sugar: 1g

This crust from Cappello’s is another low phosphorus, gluten free option for pizza crusts. This crust also contains a decent amount of fiber, but it is much higher in sodium than some of the other options. Click the icon below to check prices and reviews.

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Target Good and Gather Organic Pizza Crust

• Calories: 150
• Protein: 5g
• Carbohydrate: 26g
• Fat: 3g
• Sodium: 40mg
• Phosphorus
  Additives: None
• Potassium: 60mg
• Calcium: 10mg
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 2g

Target makes a low phosphorus pizza crust that is also considered low in sodium. This crust is not whole grain though, so be sure to include some high fiber foods with your meal to ensure you are meeting your fiber goals for the day. Click the icon below to check prices and reviews.

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Great Value Pizza Crust

• Calories: 150
• Protein: 9g
• Carbohydrate: 25g
• Fat: 2g
• Sodium: 200mg
• Phosphorus
  Additives: None
• Potassium: 100mg
• Calcium: 10mg
• Fiber: 0g
• Sugar: 1g

Walmart makes a low phosphorus pizza crust. It is a bit high in sodium and reportedly contains 9g of protein per serving – which is the highest of any of our crusts here. Be sure to account for the protein when making your pizza to ensure it fits with your daily goals. This crust contains no fiber, so be sure to include high fiber vegetables and fruits with your meals to ensure you meat your fiber goals. Click the link below to check prices and reviews.

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Kroger Ready to Bake Pizza Crust

• Calories: 170
• Protein: 4g
• Carbohydrate: 31g
• Fat: 2.5g
• Sodium: 360mg
• Phosphorus
  Additives: None
• Potassium: 130mg
• Calcium: 0mg
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 4g

Kroger makes a ready to bake pizza crust that contains no added phosphates. This pizza crust is unfortunately quite high in sodium, so be sure to account for that when making your pizza.

Pillsbury Ready to Bake Pizza Crust

• Calories: 160
• Protein: 5g
• Carbohydrate: 32g
• Fat: 2g
• Sodium: 380mg
• Phosphorus
  Additives: None
• Potassium: 220mg
• Calcium: 0mg
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 4g

Pillsbury makes a ready to bake pizza crust that contains no added phosphates. This pizza crust is unfortunately quite high in sodium, so be sure to account for that when making your pizza. This crust is also much higher in potassium that other pizza crusts on this list, so keep that in mind as well. Click the link below to check prices and reviews.

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Low Phosphorus Low Sodium Pizza Crust Recipe

If you’re willing to make your own pizza crust at home, you can easily make your own low phosphorus, low sodium pizza crust.

Most recipes for homemade pizza crust use yeast to help make the dough rise. Choosing a yeast based recipe means you will not be adding any phosphorus additives to your dough. If you select a recipe that uses baking powder instead of yeast, you will just need to make your own kidney friendly baking powder using baking soda and cream of tartar.

Once you settle on a recipe, you may also want to adjust the salt content. Some recipes may call for a lot of salt, and you may want to use less so that you have more wiggle room with your toppings.

For example, I analyzed the nutrition for this well-reviewed pizza crust recipe using cronometer. Surprisingly, the original recipe wasn’t too terribly high in sodium. The recipe makes enough dough for two 12” pizzas and I assumed you could get 4 servings out of each pizza. Based on that, each serving had 246 calories and 294mg of sodium.

If I cut down on the amount of salt from 1 full teaspoon to ¾ of a teaspoon, the sodium content per serving dropped down to 222mg, which would now make it a low sodium pizza crust. You could even cut down to ½ teaspoon and that would make each serving 149mg of sodium. I show the full nutrition for each version of the recipe below: