Bean Bruschetta

Bean Bruschetta is a super simple, delicious, and healthy snack! Serve it as an appetizer, or plate up larger portions and enjoy as a salad.

Check out the full post to see:

1. Beans, which – in and of them themselves – are quite fun
2. A short ~1-minute video on making this Bean Bruschetta recipe
3. Nutrition facts for this Bean Bruschetta, as well as a comparison to a 100% tomato recipe – to give you an idea of all the great nutrition beans can help add to dishes
4. Ideas for other spins on this recipe

On another note, I’ve noticed that many food blogs have (very) long intros to their recipe posts. I tend to keep it short because I figure you probably just want to see the recipe, and then I include more info – like nutrition facts – after the post for those who are interested. Would you like longer intros…? If so, trust me, I can go on and on and ON about beans, so that shouldn’t be a problem. But for now, keeping it short and sweet, and also ad free – my gift to you. Thanks for reading! 🙂

I hope you enjoy this Bean Bruschetta and would love to hear what you think in the comments!

Bean Bruschetta Nutrition Facts

I created these nutrition facts for this Bean Bruschetta in Nutritionist Pro. Numbers may vary with factors such as slightly different ingredients or brands. Note that this does not include crackers or greens, just the bean bruschetta mix.

Maybe you’re looking at these nutrition facts thinking, “Well, that’s nice, but how does this compare to a bruschetta made with only tomatoes?” Funny you should ask! Because I just so happened to decide it would be helpful to run that in Nutritionist Pro as well so we could make that comparison.

What About Compared to Tomato Bruschetta?

For these nutrition facts, instead of 1 and 1/2 cups each of beans and tomatoes, I entered 3 cups of tomatoes and no beans. So, what are some of the main differences we see?

In 1 serving of bean Bruschetta, there are about 5.8 grams of dietary fiber and 8.8 grams of protein. In the Tomato Bruschetta, there are only 1.1 grams of fiber and 3.8 grams of protein. There is a little bit more vitamin A and C in the Tomato Bruschetta, but the Bean Bruschetta has more iron and is likely going to better help keep you full.

Please know that this is not anti-tomato! I love tomatoes (which is part of why the original recipe includes them), and they’re helping bring great things, like vitamin C that helps increase our body’s ability to absorb the iron in beans. The point of these nutrition facts is rather to demonstrate how much fiber and protein the beans are bringing to this recipe. Anyway, just food for thought!

The moral of the story: adding beans to your favorite dishes is an easy way to incorporate them without having to really learn brand new recipes, all while majorly boosting nutrition. For example, what about adding beans or other pulses (e.g., chickpeas, black-eyed peas) to your Waldorf Salad? Or perhaps to a smoothie? Or shoot, even to a brownie! Or make simple swaps, like sometimes using a pulse pasta instead of a wheat pasta.

Spins on Bean Bruschetta

Try this recipe with different shapes, sizes, and colors of beans, and it will feel unique every time! Want to use a white bean but don’t have great northern beans on hand? Navy beans work well. Plus, they are smaller than great northern beans so will bring a different mouthfeel – and potentially stay on smaller crackers better. In general, white beans tend to be milder and will take on the flavor of the other ingredients and the sauce. Beans like pinto beans or red kidney beans, on the other hand, will be earthier.

I also really like this bruschetta with lentils! The lentils are smaller, so they fit a bit better on a cracker. That being said, the creaminess of the beans is also delightful. Really, you can’t lose with pulses.