Melty, cheesy, savory homemade quinoa pizza bites. This easy recipe is such a popular appetizer or healthy snack!
Pizza night will never be the same.
Bring a batch of these homemade quinoa pizza bites, and you are pretty much guaranteed to be the hit of any party or family dinner.
The healthy pizza appetizer is simple to make and can be vegan, gluten free, egg free, sugar free, flourless, nut free, soy free, and dairy free.
Also try out this Cauliflower Casserole
Vegetarians and non vegetarians both love the addictively delicious pizza balls, so you know they must be good.
And the bites are easily portable, meaning they’re great for potlucks or game day events. Or serve them as a healthy after school snack.
Kids can’t get enough of the bold pizza flavor and melty cheese filling, while parents appreciate the fiber, protein, iron, and Vitamin C packed into each and every bite.
Pizza Bite Ingredients
The recipe calls for the following eight ingredients: quinoa, beans, tomato paste, dried basil, sweetener, salt, garlic, and onion powder.
Use your favorite brand of shredded mozzarella for the cheese filling. Vegan cheese works too; that’s actually vegan cheese in the photos. The cheese is not required and they’re still yummy if you want to leave it out.
I haven’t tried it yet but would love to know if the recipe also works with rice instead of quinoa. Please be sure to report back if you try!
Quinoa Pizza Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked quinoa (here's How to cook quinoa)
- 1 cup canned or cooked pinto beans
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sweetener of choice
- optional shredded mozzarella cheese (vegan brands work too!)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a baking sheet well, then set aside. In a medium bowl, mash the beans completely. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Taste, then add a little more sweetener only if needed. (Mine didn’t need it.) Roll into balls, then break off a piece of the cheese—if using—and push it into the middle before sealing the ball back up. Place the balls onto the baking tray and cook 30 minutes. For a crispy outer shell, feel free to broil a minute at the end.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
More Healthy Meatless Recipes
Or this Cauliflower Pizza Crust
I substituted garbanzo beans for the pinto beans. This is an amazing dish. My husband and I were thinking of variations we could put in here. This was delicious!!!! I love it.
hi! I want to try these this week but I have a problem with pinto beans 😀 so I was wondering if i could use smthing instead of them 🙂
I just made these for my toddler twin boys and they were a hit! I wasn’t sure if I should drain the beans so I did…would they be better not rinsed? Also I used Daiya shreds and just mixed them in with everything, worked great! Thanks!!
Drained is good.
Lord have mercy, these sound soooo good. I’m going to make these very soon. I appreciate these recipes.
i made these with kidney beans because it were the only beans i had at hand and they turned out pretty good. will surely do them again
I made these last night. Fantastic! Loved them. I used black beans as that’s what I had on hand. I also added a bit of parmesan cheese in the bean/quinoa mixture. I’ll definitely be making them again. Thanks Katie …. love all your recipes!
Making these right now!!!
Do you think these could be made a day or two ahead and refrigerated before baking? Or maybe freeze before baking? I want to make them ahead to bring to a get-together this weekend but I’m not sure how they’ll hold up if made in advance.
Whoa. I just put these in the oven and they were MESSY! Super sticky and definitely not in perfect little balls. But I hope that they come out solid… if they don’t, no big deal, because I’ve been licking my fingers and eating fresh mozz this whole time and I can’t complain. I’d eat it with a spoon.
I apologize if someone already asked (or I just missed it in the post): what brand of tomato paste do you use? Do you have a favorite canned tomato brand?
Thanks!
Muir Glen is good, or Whole Foods brand.