These cheesy, saucy pizza beans come together on the stovetop in about 30 minutes. Made with canned white beans, packed with filling fiber and veggies, it’s an easy, nourishing comfort food dinner.

skillet with cheesy white beans in pizza sauce and wooden spoon beside sliced bread and fresh basil
These one pan vegan pizza bean are soooo easy, they make an epic healthy weeknight dinner.

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Oof, the way I love a bean…I will sit down to a big ol’ bowl of beans any chance I get. Seriously. I’ve been known to eat Greek gigante beans straight from the can – without warming them up.

But if you need a little more coaxing, I am pretty sure that these pizza beans will win you over to the bowl of beans life. They’re ridiculously simple, no beans to soak and packed with veggies but so more-ish that you won’t for one second realize you’re eating “health food”. Which is 100% my sneaky dietitian agenda so you fall in love with beans.

White beans like butter beans or cannellini beans are so creamy and easy to love…and we’re using store-bought sauce and canned beans for ease because I think you deserve comfort food even when you don’t have a lot of energy for effort. The cherry tomatoes add a welcome hit of freshness and well, I can’t resist adding kale here, because I try to eat greens every single day.

Serve these pizza beans with some nice crusty sourdough, or garlic bread if you’re feeling extra! And if you don’t love using store-bought vegan cheese, a little drizzle of my cashew alfredo sauce will take them over the top (and it blends up in 5 minutes!).

Oh, and if you got excited at the mention of Greek gigante beans, I have an epic dump and bake gigantes recipe in my cookbook, Plant Magic!

How to make these easy, sauced up butter beans

Smitten Kitchen made pizza beans a thing…but my version takes it one (or two!) steps farther in the direction of pizza. Like, if we’re gonna call them pizza beans let’s use actual pizza sauce! It has a different flavour profile than marinara…and I think it makes a difference.

fresh kale, cherry tomatoes, onion, and bowls of butter beans, vegan cheese shreds and spices
I’ve tested these beans with three different pizza sauces – Mutti, Rao’s and Mezzetta – so I’m pretty confident that the recipe will be delicious no matter what brand you use.

I’m also using more pizza adjacent veggies – tomatoes, onion, garlic and kale – instead of soup veg. You could absolutely customize it to whatever you’ve got in the fridge but I highly recommend using some sort of aromatic like garlic, leeks or shallot to boost flavour.

hand slicing green kale on cutting board with cherry tomatoes
I like Tuscan (lacinato) kale here but use whatever you have on hand. Even spinach!
hand adding kale to skillet with cherry tomatoes and onion
Make sure the onion is cooked down so it’s not crunchy!

Oh, and if you want to nudge it even further in the pizza direction, you could top it with some veggie pepperoni when you broil the cheese.

hand adding white beans to skillet with kale and tomatoes
You want the kale wilted before adding the beans!
hand sprinkling vegan cheese shreds on pizza beans in skillet
I like Daiya parmesan shreds here. But my homemade almond parmesan would work too!

Nutrition Note: each serving of these vegan pizza beans contains about 16 grams of plant-based protein and 14 grams of fiber, before adding any sides like bread (based on 3/4 cup beans per serving)

More white bean dinner recipes:

skillet with cheesy white beans in pizza sauce and wooden spoon beside sliced bread and fresh basil

Vegan Pizza Beans Skillet with Kale

4 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 23 minutes
Total Time: 33 minutes
These cheesy, saucy pizza beans come together on the stovetop in about 30 minutes. Made with canned white beans, packed with filling fiber and veggies, it’s an easy, nourishing comfort food dinner.
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Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ medium yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 small bunch kale, tough stems removed, leaves finely shredded
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 14 ounce cans butter beans, rinsed and drained, or sub your fave white bean
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon oregano
  • 1 14 ounce can pizza sauce
  • 1 cup shredded cheese, I like Daiya parmesan

For serving, optional

  • fresh basil
  • sourdough bread, or garlic bread!
Imperial – Metric

Instructions 

  • Preheat your broiler on high.
  • Warm oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften.
  • Add kale, tomatoes and garlic and cook 3-5 minutes more, stirring often, until onion is tender and glossy, and kale is wilted. Season with salt and oregano.
  • Turn heat down just slightly. Add beans and pizza sauce, stir and simmer for 10 minutes until it looks thick and saucy.
    • Sauce drying out? Add a splash of water as needed.
  • Sprinkle cheese on top and place under broiler until cheesy is bubbly, about 2-4 minutes – watch it closely!
  • Serve over rice, pasta or with some nice sourdough or garlic bread.
Cuisine: American, Italian, Mediterranean
Course: Dinner, Main Course
Author: Desiree Nielsen, RD
pinterest graphic of skillet of cheesy pizza beans beside bowls of white beans, vegan cheese and cherry tomatoes
A quick and easy vegetarian dinner skillet, these dairy free pizza beans are a total crowd pleaser!

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