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
This receipr are 2 good
Revelation I love reading your statements. At such a high level.
These are great: kid-friendly and a good way to get extra protein into a vegetarian or vegan meal. I make them with dried oregano because I prefer it to basil, and as a resident of the U.K. I find it easier to get hold of cannellini than pinto beans, but they work just fine.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Hi Katie, do you know if it’s ok to freeze these?
You can!
Made a version of this for dinner tonight. Didn’t have tomato paste so I cooked quinoa in a veggie broth & strained tomato sauce in place of water. & used pinto beans cooked from dry. I wanted a larger volume to I doubled the recipe. I also wanted to add a veggie so I finely diced steamed broccoli, dried it out with a towel, seasoned and tossed with cheddar cheese. Because of this the filling was a lot and I ended up shaping them like a gordita or chubby pupusa. They were delicious but a bit dry, probably because I had to cook them longer. I will try this again following the recipe closer except I will use canned re-fried beans instead to make it a bit more easy/fast.