Black Bean Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust

Looking for a little pizza night diversity? Look no further than this delicious, healthy meatless black bean pizza with whole wheat crust.

We eat a lot of homemade pizza around here. And just between you and me, sometimes I can’t even stand to look at another pepperoni or ham/pineapple pizza. I just can’t.

The kids and Brian could eat those varieties from here to eternity, but me? I need a little diversity in my pizza to be truly happy.

Enter this black bean pizza. It’s so yummy, I can barely speak. Good thing I’m typing instead.

I like incorporating a few meatless meals every now and again into the almighty dinner rotation, so that was the first point in this pizza’s favor.

The other one million points it scored all boiled down to how utterly fantastic it tasted.

It’s kind of like a bean burrito in pizza form. Or a meatless taco in pizza form. Or a bean and cheese quesadilla in pizza form.

Are you getting it?

Divine unadorned by extra add-ons, it becomes absolutely amazing topped with crisp, fresh lettuce, juicy tomatoes and a drizzle of sour cream or ranch.

You could go crazy and throw avocados on there, maybe some sliced jalapenos. I mean, really, go crazy. The sky is the limit.

I loved this enough to unashamedly admit that I hid the leftovers in the back of the refrigerator (so glad that thing is enormous and crowded, better to hide foods I want to hoard for myself) and enjoyed each and every bite the next two days for lunch.

It successfully shocked me out of the pepperoni-pizza-doldrums. I will love it forever more.

One Year Ago: Pumpkin Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread with Vanilla Glaze
Two Years Ago: Monster Cookies
Three Years Ago: Roasted {Brined} Turkey and Gravy – And a Whole Slew of Upcoming Thanksgiving Recipes

Black Bean Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust

Yield: 2 -3 Pizzas

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 12 minutes mins

Total Time: 42 minutes mins

5 stars (3 ratings)

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Ingredients

Pizza Dough:

• 1 ½ cups warm water
• 1 ½ tablespoons instant yeast
• 1 ½ tablespoons sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoons oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 3-4 cups whole wheat flour

Black Bean Mixture:

• 2 cans (15-ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt to taste
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 teaspoons cumin

Toppings:

• 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 4-5 green onions, finely chopped
• 1-2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Chopped tomatoes
• Shredded lettuce
• Sour cream or ranch for drizzling

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Instructions 

• Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (preheating a pizza stone if you have it; if not, flip a rimmed baking sheet upside down and preheat that instead). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (or you can definitely do this the old-fashioned way by hand in a large bowl), combine the water, yeast, sugar, oil and salt. There’s no need to proof the yeast if using instant yeast. If you are using active dry yeast, let the mixture stand for 4-5 minutes until the yeast is foaming. Add the flour gradually until a soft dough forms that isn’t too sticky to the touch (see the note above). Knead for 3-4 minutes. Cover and set aside while preparing the other ingredients.
• For the bean mixture, in a blender or food processor, combine the beans, oil, salt to taste (start with 1/4 teaspoon and add more to taste), cilantro, hot sauce and cumin. Blend until it reaches the desired consistency. I processed mine until fairly smooth.
• Divide the dough into 2-3 pieces, depending on how big you want your pizzas. Press the dough into a large circle or oval or square (it really doesn’t matter) on a piece of greased parchment paper to about 1/4-inch thick. Of course, you can always press into a thicker crust if you’d like. It’s really all about your personal preference.
• Divide the bean mixture evenly among the pressed out pizza dough. It won’t spread as easily as, say, butter, but using the back of a large spoon or an offset spatula, spread it as best you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
• Top the bean mixture with a sprinkle of red bell pepper, green onions and cheese.
• Slide the parchment with the pizza on it onto the preheated baking stone or upside down baking sheet.
• Bake for 8-12 minutes until the crust is golden and toppings are bubbling. Carefully remove the pizza from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes or so before serving. Repeat with the remaining pizza(s).
• If desired, top with tomatoes, lettuce and sour cream (or ranch) – otherwise, you can eat it without the extra toppings. Delicious either way.

Notes

Flour: don’t stress too much about the exact flour amount in the pizza dough recipe. What is most important is to add flour until the dough is soft and smooth. If you have to add more or less than the range I gave, that’s ok, as long as the dough isn’t over sticky (and conversely, isn’t overfloured).

Toppings: you can play around with the toppings, also, and use a variety of cheeses (Monterey jack would be lovely) as well as whatever else your little heart desires to put on this delicious pizza.

Baking the Pizza: if you don’t have a pizza stone and don’t want to use a rimmed baking sheet as a substitution, you can just bake the pizza on a baking sheet without preheating it. The crust won’t get quite the same beautiful crispness but the pizza will still bake up just fine.

Author: Mel

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Method: Bake

Recommended Products

Pizza/Baking Stone

Bosch Universal Stand Mixer

Breville Food Processor

Recipe Source: adapted from Whitney T. (a lovely MKC reader who sent the recipe to me, thanks, Whitney!)

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