Bean Pizza

Substituting beans for pizza sauce might sound a bit odd, but this pizza is really good, especially for vegans. I was inspired by a black bean pizza recipe in The Vegan Gourmet but decided to use my Bean Soup recipe for the pizza sauce. Soup on pizza? Yes. But the key is to make the soup a little thicker, then thin the leftovers later for soup.

Print Recipe

Bean Pizza

This recipe is very much to taste, so the directions are a little imprecise. Makes as big a pizza as you want. Use my bean soup recipe for the sauce, but make it thick.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword: Beans, Pizza, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: 4 or more slices

Equipment

• Blender

Ingredients

• Homemade or store-bought pizza dough
• 1 batch bean soup, made thick
• 1-2 individual serving containers of guacamole
• pizza toppings See Notes, below.
• cheese Optional

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425F (220C).
• Make bean soup, but when blending the ingredients, use only about 1 cup (250 mL) of water. Let the soup cool slightly. (Save leftovers and, as you reheat it, thin it with a bit of water or vegetable stock.)
• As the soup cooks, chop your pizza toppings and roll out your pizza dough.
• Transfer enough soup to cover your pizza dough to a bowl. Depending on the size of the pizza, you might need ½-1 cup (125-250 mL).
• Mix some guacamole into the soup. I know this sounds really weird, but it will add a lot of richness and flavour to the pizza, especially for the vegan version. One single serving is probably enough, but if you are making a larger pizza you might need more. You want to just see the guacamole swirled into the soup. 
• Spread the topping onto the pizza dough. You need a thicker layer than with tomato sauce; enough that you cannot see the dough after you spread the bean soup onto the pizza. 
• Top the pizza with whatever toppings you prefer. Cheese is optional, but if you are not vegan, you can use cotija or feta cheese, or even grated medium-to-old cheddar. If you are vegan, you can try one of the many options available now for vegan cheese.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges of the crust start to turn golden and the bean topping starts to dry out. 
• Let the pizza sit for a couple of minutes after removing from the oven, then slice and serve.

Notes

• You can use just about any topping you like here, but keep in mind that the sauce has chili powder and cumin so you might want toppings that go with that flavour profile. I like thinly sliced tomatoes, peppers, and olives, but mushrooms and onions would be good too. Whatever you prefer, really.
• If you have a pizza pan, use it in the way you are accustomed. Some pans need parchment to prevent sticking and some do not. 
• I use a pizza stone so I roll out my dough partway on the counter, then transfer it to a sheet of parchment paper on top of a rimless cookie sheet to finish rolling. You could also use a pizza peel (the wooden thing that pizza restaurants use). The key is to have the topped pizza on something it can slide from, parchment and all, onto the stone in the oven. 
• If you don’t have a pizza stone or a pizza pan, you can use parchment on a baking sheet and just put the whole sheet in the oven. 

Pizza image by Mariyana Paskaleva | Dreamstime.com