High Protein Pizza: Base, Toppings and Grams per Slice

A high protein pizza needs protein in the base and the topping as well as the cheese. A pizza with a Greek yogurt dough, 60 g of roasted chicken and 56 g of mozzarella has 53.8 g of protein. Cut in four, that’s 13.5 g a slice. Chain and frozen slices in the USDA records hold 7.8–13.5 g.

How much protein is in a slice of pizza?

The weight of the slice explains most of the spread. A thin 48 g slice has 7.8 g and a 117 g hand-sized one has 13.5 g, so the two aren’t comparable until you divide by calories.

Slice (record)	Weight	Protein	Energy	Protein per 100 kcal	Share of energy from protein
Frozen cheese pizza, thin crust	69 g	8.2 g	181 kcal	4.5 g	18.1%
Domino’s 14” cheese, crunchy thin crust	70 g	8.6 g	209 kcal	4.1 g	16.6%
Little Caesars 14” cheese, thin crust	48 g	7.8 g	148 kcal	5.3 g	21.0%
Papa John’s 14” cheese, original crust	117 g	13.5 g	304 kcal	4.4 g	17.7%

These are chain and frozen-product records from the 2018 SR Legacy release, so the recipes on sale today may differ. Per 100 kcal they sit in a narrow band, 4.1–5.3 g. A takeaway pizza is built around the dough and cheese, and that’s what the number reflects.

One of the four clears a bar worth knowing about. At 21.0%, the thin Little Caesars record would pass the British test for a high protein claim, which asks for 20% of energy from protein. The other three land between 16.6% and 18.1%. That record has more protein per gram, 16.2 g per 100 g against 11.5–12.3 g in the other three, and the ratio says nothing about how much you eat.

When you log a slice, log its weight if you can. A “slice” runs from 48 g to 117 g across these four records, which is more than double.

What makes a high protein pizza base?

Protein in the dough itself. Plain flour dough gets about 11.4% of its energy from protein, so the toppings have to supply the rest. A dough made with Greek yogurt reaches 19.4%.

Here is the arithmetic on raw ingredients, with all-purpose flour as the baseline. Water adds no protein or calories, so I left it out.

Base	Protein	Energy	Protein per 100 kcal	Share of energy from protein
Flour 100 g, plain dough	10.3 g	364 kcal	2.8 g	11.4%
Flour 100 g + plain nonfat Greek yogurt 100 g	20.6 g	425 kcal	4.9 g	19.4%
Flour 100 g + Greek yogurt 150 g	25.8 g	456 kcal	5.7 g	22.6%
Flour tortilla, 10 inch (72 g)	5.9 g	220 kcal	2.7 g	10.7%

Under the British claims rule, “high protein” needs at least 20% of energy from protein and “source of protein” needs 12%. Equal parts flour and yogurt by weight just misses the 20% line, at 19.4%. Going to 150 g of yogurt per 100 g of flour clears it, if the dough still holds together in your hands. Mine gets sticky past equal parts, so I dust the bench and don’t hang around. Yogurt in the batter does the same job outside pizza, as in high protein banana bread.

The quick route is a flour tortilla. Thin base, no kneading, 220 kcal. Its protein share is the same as plain dough, so the toppings must carry it. If you would rather buy the base, high protein bread explains what the claim on a loaf means, and a high protein zucchini slice drops the flour for eggs and cottage cheese.

Which toppings add the most protein per calorie?

Lean meat and fish, then cottage cheese, then mozzarella. Per 100 kcal, roasted chicken breast gives 18.8 g of protein and drained light tuna 21.1 g. Mozzarella gives 8.1 g.

Topping (record)	Protein per 100 g	Energy per 100 g	Protein per 100 kcal
Tuna, light, canned in water, drained	19.0 g	90 kcal	21.1 g
Chicken breast, roasted	31.0 g	165 kcal	18.8 g
Cottage cheese, lowfat 2%	11.0 g	84 kcal	13.1 g
Mozzarella, low moisture, part-skim	23.8 g	295 kcal	8.1 g
Pizza sauce, canned	2.2 g	54 kcal	4.0 g

I keep the mozzarella, since without it you’ve made a flatbread. I don’t drop it. I use a smaller amount of mozzarella than a takeaway slice would carry and let the chicken fill the protein gap. A second 28 g of mozzarella adds 6.7 g of protein and 83 kcal, but 60 g more chicken adds 18.6 g for 99 kcal.

What does a whole high protein pizza look like in grams?

One 4-slice pizza with the yogurt dough gives 53.8 g of protein for 721 kcal. Each ingredient has its own record, starting with the flour.

Ingredient (state)	Grams	Protein	Energy
Flour, all-purpose, raw	100 g	10.3 g	364 kcal
Greek yogurt, plain, nonfat	100 g	10.3 g	61 kcal
Pizza sauce, canned	60 g	1.3 g	32 kcal
Mozzarella, low moisture, part-skim	56 g	13.3 g	165 kcal
Chicken breast, roasted	60 g	18.6 g	99 kcal
Total, whole pizza		53.8 g	721 kcal
One quarter		13.5 g	180 kcal

Swap the yogurt dough for plain dough and the pizza has 43.5 g of protein and 660 kcal, or 10.9 g and 165 kcal a quarter. Put the same toppings on a 10-inch flour tortilla and you get 39.1 g and 516 kcal for the whole thing, which I’d cut in two.

A quarter of the yogurt-dough pizza has 13.5 g of protein for 180 kcal. The frozen slice has 8.2 g for 181 kcal. Calories match, and the home quarter has about 65% more protein.

Weigh the chicken cooked. Raw breast has 22.5 g of protein per 100 g, against 31.0 g for roasted, so 60 g of cooked chicken logged as raw shows 13.5 g. The pizza really holds 18.6 g. That 5.1 g slip is half of the 10.3 g the yogurt adds to the dough.

Sodium is lower at home. The home pizza adds up to about 664 mg, or 166 mg a quarter. A Domino’s slice record carries 628 mg per 100 g, which is about 440 mg for its 70 g slice. The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines put the daily limit at under 2,300 mg.

How do I fit pizza into a protein target?

The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines give 1.2–1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight, which is 84–112 g at 70 kg (how much protein you should eat a day walks through it). A quarter of the home pizza covers 12–16% of that range. Two quarters cover 24–32%.

To turn a quarter into a share of your own day, enter your weight in the protein calculator, which works on that 1.2–1.6 g per kg range with a 60 g minimum.

I wrote this for adults. If kidney disease is in the picture, your doctor’s figure comes before any slice count.

For the takeaway slice I’d pick the chain’s own listing in Calsa, which carries the numbers the chain publishes, and keep the homemade pizza as a recipe built from its ingredients.