If you've never thought of combining the flavours of pizza and beans together, you won't be the only one, but you will be at surprised just how good they are! I've used a mix of two types of white bean, cooked in a flavour-packed pizza-style sauce, then finished with a generous sprinkling of grated mozzarella and cheddar. The cheese melts into the most delicious golden topping, adding plenty of gooey, cheesy goodness to every bite. Scooping up mouthfuls with any bread you like guarantees a satisfying cheese pull.
Beans are high in fibre and protein, so swapping pizza dough for them will level-up your dietary intake for the day. This recipe is also budget-friendly and takes just 5 minutes to prep and cooks in 15, making it a super speedy lunch or dinner for the whole family. Even little ones from 6 months + can enjoy this meal, with a few tweaks >
Watch How to Make Pizza Beans
FAQ's for my Pizza Beans Recipe
- White beans. I use one tin of cannellini beans, and one tin of haricot beans (also known as Great Northern or Navy beans). It's perfectly fine to just use two tins of one type of either bean however.
- Tinned crushed tomatoes. If you can't get these or have passata already in your cupboard, just go ahead and use that.
- Grated cheese. In the UK you should easily be able to find bags of grated mozzarella and cheddar mix in supermarkets. If you're in the US and or somewhere else elsewhere you can't find this shredded cheese mix, I recommend you buy shredded mozzarella and then either buy shredded cheddar too or grate some yourself. About a 60-40 split, using a little more mozzarella than cheddar. If you're thinking of only using mozzarella, you can do, but I have tested it this way and I find the cheesy layer has more flavour when it's a mix of the two cheeses.
- Other Ingredients. You'll also need 3 large cloves of garlic (or 6 small), 150ml / ⅔ cup vegetable stock plus 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil.
I would stick to white beans, because their flavour is milder than say kidney or black beans. I do think though butter beans maybe not work as well because they're larger. You can definitely use two cans of just the cannellini beans or the haricot (Great Northern Beans /Navy beans US) instead of using one kind of each.
I would go with one of your favourite types of bread. Crusty bread or garlic bread work great. I've served it with pitta bread too and that was also a good pairing.
You can store any Pizza Beans leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days (cook day + 2). Leftovers can also be frozen, just defrost for 24 hours in the fridge before reheating. When ready to cook, add a little water and reheat in the microwave, until steaming hot all the way through.
To be honest, I haven't tested increasing the quantity of this recipe before. Because the bean to cheese ratio works so well as is, if you double or treble the recipe it's going give you a thicker layer of beans and a thicker of cheese. If you do try increasing the quantity of these Pizza Beans, please let me know in the comments below how it went!
These Pizza Beans are egg, soy, nut and gluten-free (serve with a gluten-free bread). They are also suitable for vegetarians. They are NOT suitable for those on diary-free diets or vegans.
Adapting My Pizza Beans For Your Family
Eating together is beneficial for families of all ages and stages, for a multitude of reasons; nutritional, behavioural, psychological and for healthy family functioning. This section will show you how to tweak this Pizza Beans recipe for sharing with a weaning baby, toddler or a fussy eater, which will help make it easier to eat together as a family.
Keeping Fussy Eaters Happy
If you have a picky eater who loves pizza, this is a good bean meal to try with them as it has a familiar flavour.
Making My Pizza Beans Suitable for Baby Weaning
Hold off on adding salt and use low salt vegetable stock. Remove little ones serving right before you add the cheese layer and then add salt to taste to the pot, stir well and top with the cheese.
How to Serve to Babies & Toddlers
6 months
Dish theirs up before you add the cheese layer. Use a fork to mash the beans into a paste. They can scoop that up with their hands or you can spread it onto their bread.
9 months
Again, dish theirs up before you add the cheese layer. Either mash as at 6 months or just flatten the beans with the back of a spoon.
12 months
Serve as is alongside bread.
I've also added these notes to the bottom of the recipe so you have them to hand when you come to cook.
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Pizza Beans
Special Equipment
Ingredients
- 400 g haricot beans (Great Northern Beans US), drained
- 400 g cannellini beans, drained
- 3 large garlic cloves, crushed
- 150 ml veg stock
- 400 g tinned crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon basil
- 180 g grated / shredded mozzarella & cheddar cheese mix
See below for Baby & Toddler tweaks
Instructions
- Add everything apart from the cheese to a shallow, wide-bottomed shallow casserole dish or large frying pan with a lid. Stir well. Bring to the boil over a high heat then reduce heat to med-low and simmer for around 15 minutes, until the sauce has reduced (but don't let it dry out).
- Level out and top with the grated cheese. Put the lid on and continue to cook for 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Alternatively put under the grill/broiler on high for few minutes until cheese is light golden and bubbling.
Notes
Baby & Toddler
6 months - dish theirs up before you add the cheese layer. Use a fork to mash the beans into a paste. They can scoop that up with their hands or you can spread it onto their bread. 9 months - again, dish theirs up before you add the cheese layer. Either mash as at 6 months or just flatten the beans with the back of a spoon. 12 months - serve as is alongside bread.
STORAGE
Nutrition - per serving
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