This tasty vegan pizza features a tangy garlic white bean sauce, baked until smooth underneath and crumbly on top, with rich roasted tomato slices and a thin crispy base.

Simple ingredients mean no trips to specialist shops and you probably already have most of the items needed in your kitchen cupboards and fridge.

Hummus will always be my one true love, but I also adore white bean dip with lots of lemon and garlic. Of course, at some point, that meant I had to try uniting white bean dip with my other true love: pizza.

Boy was it a success. After baking, the flavors of the sauce intensify, and the top has a light crumbly texture similar to baked feta. Although this is a pretty healthy pizza, if you’re looking for something even lighter and quicker, but with similar flavors, you can check out my Tortilla Pizza with White Bean Purée, Tomatoes & Rocket.

This pizza is dead easy to make and easy to customize – I often make it alongside my potato pizza when I have the time. Yes, I know, potato on pizza, carb on carb. Trust me, it works (even more so if you hide caramelized onions under the potato slices….)

If you’re like me and like to make a few different types of pizza at once and are looking for some inspiration, you could always check out my EPIC vegan pizza list (and yes, the capital letters were necessary – it’s that good).

How to make the white bean sauce

Super easy! Just chuck the white beans, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and blitz to a creamy dreamy sauce. Stir in the salt, black pepper, and chopped rosemary. Ready.

If you have the time, the sauce could definitely benefit from an hour in the fridge to develop the flavors more, and as such could be a great make-ahead option, but it’s not essential.

To get the sauce really creamy and smooth your best bet is definitely a food processor. In a pinch, you can use a high-powered blender, but do NOT add any extra water or oil unless absolutely unavoidably necessary.

Just be patient and push the ingredients towards the middle of the blender with a spoon (not while the blender is running obviously….).

As this is basically one of my favorite dips on pizza, if you have any left over, then yup, feel free to use it as a dip or vegan spread, but leave it in the fridge for an hour as I mentioned before. I like it with thin and soft socca, on soda bread, or with some raw carrots and sliced peppers to dip in it.

The perfect thin and crispy pizza crust

This is pretty much the way I cook every pizza base that I’m using fresh dough with, and it never fails me. Basically roll out your dough thinly, transfer to a large tray lined with baking paper (none too gently, I like stretched out uneven pizza dough as it gets bubbly and thin in places like the pizza from high-quality Italian restaurants).

Then lash on your sauce and toppings. In this case the white bean sauce and sliced tomatoes.

Place the tray on the bottom of an oven that has been preheated to the highest temperature with the convection setting turned off. Note that on the bottom of the oven means sitting on the actual base of the oven, not on a lower shelf. Allow to bake for four minutes.

Open the oven quickly and transfer the tray to the middle of the oven. Let bake for 11 more minutes. Remove from the oven. Done! This method yields a thin but crispy crust, no soggy limp bits.

Alternative toppings

I’ve kept things really simple with this recipe as I love the tangy white bean sauce and really want its flavoring to shine through, but you can, of course, add extra toppings. I recommend spinach, rocket, fresh basil, olives, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced onion, sliced pepperoncini or another mildly spiced pepper…. The only limit is your imagination.

Well, your imagination and good taste. Do let me know in the comments if you try out this easy white bean sauce and what toppings you put on it, or tag me on Instagram (@the_fiery_vegetarian) if you make it!

If you liked this recipe (admit it: you loved it!) then check out some of my more recent creations:

• Easy vegan Dal Makhani
• Irish Barmbrack with Whiskey
• Roasted Pear, Pepper & Tomato Soup
• Easy Soft Salted Chocolate Flapjacks
• Quick Herbed Tomato Bread

Yield: 2 pizzas

Easy White Bean Sauce Pizza (Vegan)

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This tangy vegan white bean sauce is creamy and garlicky and comes together in a matter of minutes. Lash it thickly on your pizza and add some ripe sliced tomatoes and sink your teeth into the crumbly feta-like top into the smooth bed of sauce underneath....

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 19 minutes

Total Time 29 minutes

Ingredients

• Fresh pizza dough from 350g dry ingredients (enough for two pizzas)
• 400g cooked white beans (cannellini or butter beans)
• 30 ml lemon juice (about half a lemon)
• 60ml olive oil (1/4 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp chopped dried rosemary
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 150g ripe large cherry tomatoes on the vine

Instructions

1. Mix up your pizza dough according to the package's instructions, or use your favorite fresh pizza dough recipe, and preheat the oven to its highest temperature with the convection fan option turned off.
2. Put the beans, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy with no lumps.
3. Mix in the salt, black pepper and dried rosemary.
4. Slice the tomatoes.
5. Divide the dough in two and roll out thinly on a lightly floured surface. Place on separate baking paper-lined trays.
6. Divide the white bean sauce between the two pizzas and spread with the back of a spoon. Place the sliced tomatoes on top. Sprinkle more black pepper over the top if desired.
7. Bake each pizza at the bottom of the oven for four minutes and near the middle for 11, e.g. put one on the bottom for four minutes, then swap to the middle and place the second pizza on the bottom for four minutes. Then move the second pizza to near the middle of the oven after four minutes. The first pizza will then be done seven minutes later, and the second 11 minutes later.

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

4 slices
Amount Per Serving Calories 437 Total Fat 21g Saturated Fat 4g Trans Fat 0g Unsaturated Fat 16g Cholesterol 8mg Sodium 311mg Carbohydrates 53g Fiber 9g Sugar 7g Protein 16g