Test Kitchen Tuesday: Smoky Corn and Black Bean Pizza

Ever since we got over 2Chili’s “I don’t like black beans” knee jerk reaction, meals with black beans have been a hit around our house, which is a good thing – they’re cheap and good for you. Whole Foods pretty much always has their 365 brand of beans priced at five for $5, and since they don’t add salt to their beans, those are almost always stocked in our pantry.

I really stretched the limits with this week’s TKT, and I am happy to report it was a big success. A year ago, I would have never tried to spring this one on him!

The recipe calls for one pound of pizza dough, and I just made my go-to home run, beer-base pizza dough. This time I subbed 1 cup of whole wheat flour in with the unbleached white, and it came out very well and received no complaints. Baby steps, you know.

The hardest part of the recipe was finding pre-made BBQ sauce that didn’t have high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient (or any ingredient). It is do-able, you just have to read the labels closely. BBQ sauce is easy to make at home – I just didn’t plan well enough ahead on that one. Next time!

This was a grill recipe that I converted to an oven recipe. If you don’t want to grill the pizza, bake it in a 350 oven for 25-30 minutes.

Smoky Corn and Black Bean Pizza

Recipe Source: Everyday Health

Servings: 6

Time Required: If grilling: 10-15 minutes; If baking in the oven, 25 minutes

2Chili’s Taster Rating (out of 5): 4.5

Pizza + BBQ sauce is a home run for 2Chili! He gobbled this one up and went back for more.

The Cook’s Taster Rating (out of 5): 4

We know I’m not crazy about BBQ sauce, but, I have to say – this combo was really good! I would have never in a million years come up with this combo as a pizza topping, but it works.

Nutrition Per Slice (From Everyday Health):

Calories: 316, Saturated Fat: 3g, Sodium: 530mg, Dietary Fiber: 4g, Total Fat: 6g, Carbs: 48g, Cholesterol: 13mg, Protein: 14g