Pizza Beans
This recipe for pizza beans is an easy, cheesy white bean tomato bake that’s a one-pan, 30-minute main dish. Bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly and serve with a garlic bread baguette and a side salad for a complete meal. With canned beans, canned tomatoes, and only a little bit of chopping, pizza flavor doesn’t get much easier than this.
Read on for detailed steps, tips, and tricks and to learn all about the racy pasta sauce that inspired this pizza bean recipe. Or just grab your one pan, hit that Jump to Recipe button, and let’s make some pizza beans!
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Ingredients
- Canned white beans for convenience – I use cannellini or Great Northern. When I have time, I soak beans overnight and cook them with some onion and garlic until soft.
- Chopped tomatoes – buy fire-roasted tomatoes for a bit more flavor. Or amp up the tomato flavor with a bit of tomato paste.
- Olives – use Kalamata or another black olive. Pitted olives save even more time!
- Mozzarella – shredded cheese works better than fresh mozzarella because it melts more evenly. Feel free to buy pre-packaged or shred your own.
- Parmesan – it’s always best to grate your own.
Tip from the wise quacker: with canned tomatoes, whole tomatoes are usually the best choice because only good quality tomatoes can be canned whole. In quick and easy recipes, it’s ok to use chopped tomatoes.
Please see the recipe card below for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and variations
Use your favorite pizza recipes for inspiration for these pizza beans
- Lightly cook sliced bell peppers or mushrooms. When soft, add the garlic and proceed with the recipe.
- Feel free to throw in some dried basil, oregano, rosemary, or thyme into the pan when you add the olives.
- Add pepperoni, cooked sausage, or anchovies before you mix in the cheeses.
- Add a handful of greens like spinach or kale when you stir in the mozzarella.
Recipe tips and tricks
Recipe adaptation
These pizza beans were adapted from the cheesy white bean tomato bake recipe with the same name by Ali Slagle in the New York Times cooking app. They’re a quick and easy way I get pizza flavor without making my favorite pizza dough recipe or fussing with the Ooni pizza oven.
I’ve married the ease of the cheesy white bean tomato bake recipe with puttanesca. Although puttanesca means “in the style of a prostitute,” the actual origin is unclear. Perhaps it’s because the sauce, made with tomatoes, garlic, black olives, capers, dried red pepper flakes, and sometimes with anchovies, is just a bit spicy.
Step by step
Step 1: To make pizza beans, cook the garlic and red pepper flakes for a minute over medium low heat until it starts to become fragrant (Panel #1, below). Be careful not to burn the garlic, or it will become bitter.
Step 2: Add the chopped olives and capers and cook for another minute (Panel #2).
Step 3: Add the tomatoes, turn the heat to medium, and cook for about five minutes until the liquid thickens a bit (Panel #3, above).
Step 4: Turn off the heat and stir in the drained white beans (Panel #4).
Step 5: Stir in the mozzarella and sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over top.
Step 6: Bake for ten minutes in a 450 degree oven until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling. Remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle on chopped basil or parsley, and serve your pizza beans immediately.
What to serve with pizza beans:
Check out this collection of recipes I put together for what to serve with pizza. Any of those would go with pizza beans, like:
- crusty white bread like this semolina bread or pretzel bread to sop up the sauce.
- rainbow veggies, raw carrot salad, peach burrata Caprese salad, or rainbow salad bowl.
- drink a medium-bodied Italian red or red table wine. Or have a cocktail like this Aperol Negroni or dry martini.
Recipe FAQs
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days or freeze your pizza beans for three to six months. Reheat in the oven or microwave before serving.
Other related meat-free recipes
If you’re looking for easy meat-free meals and other white bean recipes, check out:
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-heart 💜💜💜💜💜 rating in the recipe card below. Let me know how much you loved it, or any problems you had, in the comments section further down.
Recipe
Pizza Beans
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup pitted black olives, chopped
- 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and coarsely chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt plus more as needed
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper plus more as desired
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes plus more as desired
- 28 ounce canned chopped tomatoes
- 2 cans white beans, rinsed and drained.
- 2 cups (8 ounces or 227 grams)shredded dried mozzarella
- ½ cup Parmesan, grated
- ¼ cup fresh basil or parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Heat the oil in a large, oven-safe saute pan. Then add the the garlic and cook over medium-low heat for one minute.1 tablespoon olive oil, 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Add the olives, capers, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, for one minute.½ cup pitted black olives, chopped, 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and coarsely chopped, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Add the canned tomatoes. Bring to a simmer under medium heat and cook for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes have reduced somewhat.28 ounce canned chopped tomatoes
- Add the beans and stir them into the tomatoes.2 cans white beans, rinsed and drained.
- Turn off the heat and stir the mozzarella into the beans.2 cups (8 ounces or 227 grams)shredded dried mozzarella
- Top with Parmesan and carefully transfer the pan to the oven. Bake for 10 minutes until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling.½ cup Parmesan, grated
- Garnish with the chopped basil or parsley and serve immediately.¼ cup fresh basil or parsley, chopped
Notes
Nutrition
Bored with the recipes you’ve been cooking and baking lately? Get inspiration here:
Have made this version a few times since the last comment, and it’s MUCH better than the original. Alongside some seared kale, it saved our (vegetarian) bacon again tonight, too, when there wasn’t time even to whip up Joe Yonan’s Any Vegetable InstantPot Soup (with plenty of leftovers for tomorrow). Whew! Also, mmmmm!
I’ve seen the recipe from the NYT, really like your addition of olives. What do you think of adding green sliced olives for some saltiness?
Hi Robin – I think that sounds delicious. Please let me know if you try it how it turns out!
I too tried this recipe from the NYT and found it a bit flat, at which point I shrugged and walked away. Totally going to try it again now, though–thanks! 🙂
Hi Catherine. Thanks for the note! I do love how you can get the NYT recipe to the table in 15 minutes, but I’m willing to trade a little bit of chopping for flavor. Would love to hear your thoughts if/when you make this! Joanne