Vegetarian Gluten Free Chili Pizza - Quick and Easy

I'm not for spicey foods but I do enjoy the comfort of a good warm bowl of chili. It's the best when it's slow cooked from dry beans and allowed to absorb all the wonderful seasonings, however I am going to give you my recipe for 10 minute chili which can come in handy after a long day.

A few days ago I made this with a friend and she and I had it with French fries. It made enough that I had leftovers which leads us to the pizza part of this story.

To make 10 minute vegetarian chili, sauté half an onion chopped, and 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic in about 3 tablespoons olive oil. Once the onions are translucent and the garlic is golden dump in one 29 oz can par drained black beans and one 29 oz can par drained pinto beans. You can use other beans instead like kidney or another combination of dark beans of your preference. Add one can puréed tomatoes, the 16 oz size. I typically do all my seasoning to taste but here is a break down of what I like in my chili: 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 3 Tablespoons smoked paprika, 3 Tablespoons Ancho chile powder, 1 tsp prepared gluten free mustard (Dijon, spices, whatever) and salt to taste, sneak up on it, your canned beans are presalted. You can also add a tiny bit of cayenne pepper to raise the heat level to where you like it best.

Simmer on stove till heated through. If you are making a salad or fries as a side let your chili cook on a low heat for the duration. Do not overcook as the beans will just dissolve but it's nice to let the seasoning simmer.

Serve hot with grated cheese, sour cream and diced onions on top.

Now for how chili becomes pizza...

You can use your leftover chili for this or buy a can of chili or use whatever other chili recipe you have. Be careful that any store purchased chili is gluten free, many contain wheat protein for texture.

I made my hush puppy batter and let it sit while I preheated the oven to 400. Letting the batter sit lets it thicken. Generously oil your pizza pan with olive oil, do not use one with holes. Spread batter across pan thinly but make sure you have no holes. Allow edges to be thicker than the center.

Bake in preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes or till the crust looks baked through but has yet to reach the golden stage.

Dice a quarter of an onion and grate 1 cup of cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese. Remove crust from oven and top with layer of chili. Do not go too thick with the chili just spread over the crust to cover leaving edge bare. Top with grated cheese and sprinkle with diced onions.

Return pizza to the oven and bake another 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese on top starts to bubble and gets hints of browning. Your crust on the outer edge should also be showing signs of goldening. As long as the cheese is melted you can remove pizza from the oven at any point if it seems like the crust might be getting too dark.

Resist the temptation to slice the pizza immediately and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes, this will make it easier to slice.

Once sliced the crust should be nice and thin but easy enough to pick up and eat the pieces with your hands... Or a fork if you prefer. :)

I enjoyed this with a nice home prepared vanilla cola. (Hansen's cola with torani vanilla syrup over ice)
Xoxo - Iris