Sometimes whipping up a quick dip makes for the perfect meal.
When watching primetime football.
When you’re having a game night.
When you feel like being lazy in the kitchen but still need to make some sort of dinner.
If you’re a dip eating kind of person, then I’ve got a recipe for you today:
Slowly but surely, my husband has shifted from being a bean-hater who would say, “Are there beans in this?” with distaste every time I included them in a dish, to someone who doesn’t mind them all that much. In fact, when I put this dip on my kitchen table, he not only said nothing of the dip’s focus on black beans… but he even commented on really being a fan of the dish.
I think that if/when we have children one day, I’ll use similar kitchen tactics of slowly integrating “hated” ingredients into dishes little by little until they come to their senses and realize that things like beans – healthy, delicious beans – are actually not bad.
This dip idea was conceived when queso fresco caught my eye amongst the cheeses at the grocery store. Queso fresco is a soft, quinessential Mexican cheese that tastes like a mild feta. From there, I ran with the idea of a Mexican themed dip and used veggies like avocado, red bell pepper, cilantro, and of course, black beans.
Just chop your veggies and combine them, crumble queso fresco on top, pop it in the oven for a couple of minutes, then serve warm with tortilla chips. BAM — an easy, somewhat lazy, tasty meal!
Queso Fresco Black Bean Dip
Ingredients
- 1 15- oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 6 oz queso fresco
- 1 large tomato
- 1 avocado
- 1/4 red onion
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1 TBSP fresh cilantro
- 2 TSP fresh oregano
- 1/4 TSP salt
- 1/4 TSP pepper
- juice from 1/2 small lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Chop tomato, red onion, cilantro, oregano and red bell pepper. Slice avocado into small chunks.
- Place black beans, tomato, cilantro, oregano, red onion, pepper and avocado in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour lemon juice on top, and toss to combine evenly.
- Place mixture in a 6x9 or other small baking dish. Crumble the queso fresco cheese evenly on top. Bake in the oven until cheese is melted, around 10 minutes.
- Serve warm with tortilla chips.
Question: Do you like beans? If so, what’s your favorite kind?
I myself loveeee chickpeas!
I wouldn’t say I necessarily love beans but I seem to love any dish that includes them…you won’t find me eating a bowl of beans though, unless there’s a ton of cheese on top lol
Hope you had fun with Gina yesterday! Your pics looked gorg xo
I agree, as much as I like beans, I don’t necessarily just eat em on their own. Black beans with cheddar cheese = yum!
Yes, had a great time hiking with Gina!!
I’ve never had this kind of cheese before, but now I want to try it out!
Check it out the next time you’re food shopping 🙂
Oh I love dips!!! I feel so bad for my hubby because dips could be a meal for me and not so much for him. This just got pinned for my next mom and daughters weekend.
Awesome! See it’s funny you say that – when I would make appetizers as a meal at first with my hubby, he’d say that he thought he’d still be hungry…but would wind up getting full! They’re more filling than we think sometimes 😉
I wish I had everything on hand to make this right now – definitely adding the ingredients to my grocery list because this looks delicious!!!
Thanks, Kim! Hope that you try it out.
This dip recipe sounds and looks divine. Black beans are probably my favorite bean. I love how versatile they are. I mean you can eat them for any course throughout the day.
You’re so right about black beans being versatile. Love em!
I love everything about this! Holy yum! Queso fresco is such a great addition to a mexi recipe. I actually found some habanero cheese recently. That stuff is spicy!
Oh my gosh, I bought habanero cheddar recently and couldn’t eat it because I’m such a baby with spicy foods haha I need like a gulp of water after every little bite so that my mouth isn’t on fire!