Happy 2022!
These past few years have been… a lot. But I’m feeling hopeful for this new year.
I set some goals for myself (I do better with goals than with resolutions, which always seem so much more intense), and I’m really excited to pursue them.
Amongst the goals I set for myself, one was wanting to make an effort to try new dinner recipes this year. I get in dinner ruts a lot, and during those ruts, I tend to default to staples like rice, tofu/beans, and some sort of veggie.
It’s fast and filling, but after a week or two of the same thing over and over and over, it gets pretty boring.
So! In an effort to be more creative in the kitchen, I created THIS. And I don’t really know what to say about it other than it’s really really good.
I actually created this on a whim one night during the holidays when I was by myself, and I was really tickled with my first attempt.
In order to share it with you today, I tweaked the recipe just a bit, and I know we now have a total winner here. I mean LOOK AT THOSE COLORS! How could you not be excited about dinner when it looks like this?!
Let’s take each layer step-by-step, okay?
The Crust
I used a frozen pizza crust for this recipe. It didn’t have any toppings –– it was just the crust.
I don’t typically love frozen pizzas, but when you’re treating them like a flatbread and adding your own ingredients to the top, I dig it.
Feel free to use a fresh pizza crust or make your own if you’re feeling ambitious!
The Sauce
When I originally made this recipe, I knew I wanted some sort of flatbread/pizza situation for dinner, but I didn’t have any traditional pizza sauce.
Enter: Hummus.
I’ve used hummus… a lot on the blog. Like so much. But that’s because:
- I nearly always have it in my fridge.
- It’s a great base upon which you can add fun ingredients to turn it into something new.
So I added a wee bit of salsa and some adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers, and oh boy. So good and delightfully creamy!
It dries out just a bit when you bake it, kind of like regular tomato sauce does. I loved this!
The Toppings
This is where you can get really creative, but I chose to top my flatbread with sautéed bell peppers, green onion, frozen corn, and garlic. And I tossed in a little bit of smoked paprika to really round out the flavors (the “Smoky” portion from the name of this recipe comes from that smoked paprika, as well as the adobo in the sauce).
I like to pre-cook toppings like this because the flatbread crust just isn’t in the oven long enough to cook them all the way through. Plus, you can control how cooked the ingredients are (for example, I like my peppers to have a bit of a bite!) if you pre-cook them.
A few minutes before the flatbread is ready to come out of the oven, toss on some black beans. I don’t like to add them any earlier because they dry out and split. They still taste okay (they might be a little mealy if you really cook them), but they’re definitely not as pretty, you know?
The Toppings for on Top of the Toppings
And, of course, we need to jazz it up even more once it’s out of the oven. Add some cilantro, a drizzle of lime juice, some thinly sliced green onion, and maybe a dash of hot sauce if you’re feeling zany.
The fresh ingredients on top make this flatbread SO special. It’s just a flavor bomb that you never want to stop eating.
And that is that, my friend! I hope you give this flatbread recipe a shot because it really is so tasty and fun.
Not to mention full of veg if you’re doing the whole Veganuary thing.
Yay for flatbreads!
PrintSmoky Pepper, Corn, and Black Bean Flatbread
A colorful, smoky, flavorful, veggie-packed vegan flatbread! Recipe is for two 9-inch flatbreads, but feel free to cut it in half if you just want to make one! Leftovers are honestly bomb, so I’d recommend making two. ?
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 2 9-inch flatbreads
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
SAUCE:
- 5 oz. hummus
- 1/4 cup mild salsa
- 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers*
- salt and pepper, to taste
FLATBREAD:
- 2 9-inch frozen flatbreads/pizza crusts (or your crust of choice)**
TOPPINGS:
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
- 3 green onions, whites and light greens thinly sliced (reserve the dark green parts for later)
- 2 sweet bell peppers (any color), diced
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- salt and pepper, to taste
- a couple handfuls cooked black beans
TO FINISH:
- fresh cilantro
- your reserved dark green parts of the green onion, thinly sliced
- fresh lime juice
- hot sauce
Instructions
- MAKE THE SAUCE: In a small bowl, combine your hummus, salsa, and adobo sauce. Mix well, taste, and add salt and pepper if needed. Set aside.
- PREP THE CRUST AND TOPPINGS: Preheat your oven according to your flatbread instructions.
- Meanwhile, add your oil to a large sauté pan over medium heat. When hot, add your onion and chopped bell pepper. Add a pinch of salt. Cook until the pepper is done to your liking (I like when it’s soft but still has a bit of a bite!).
- Add your frozen corn, garlic, and smoked paprika, and cook for 1-2 more minutes, or until the corn is thawed and the raw garlic flavor has dissipated. Carefully taste and add additional salt and pepper.
- ASSEMBLE: Spread a thin layer of sauce across your two flatbreads. Divide the pepper mixture amongst the two flatbreads.
- Bake according to your package instructions, adding your black beans within the last 2-3 minutes of cooking to warm through.
- FINISH: When your flatbread is done baking, carefully remove it from the oven and top with fresh cilantro, green onion, lime juice, and/or hot sauce. Cut and enjoy!
Notes
* I know. Opening a whole can of chipotles in adobo is annoying if you’re only going to use 2 teaspoons of sauce in this recipe. I KNOW. Two options for you: 1. Use chipotle salsa instead of the mild salsa and skip the adobo sauce all together, or 2. Stick the remaining peppers and sauce in an air-tight container and pop it in the freezer so you can use a little bit whenever you want. I do #2, but you do you!
** I used this!
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