So far during Legume Appreciation Month, I’ve shared breakfast, soup, salad, main dish, and staple food recipes. Today I’m rounding out the menu further with an appetizer, this garlic habanero white bean dip. No, I would not actually suggest eating all of these recipes in one day :). And I know what you’re thinking: where’s the dessert?! Don’t worry – it’s coming soon. I have an awesome recipe ready and I hope it’ll be worth the wait.
When people find out that I run marathons, sometimes their reaction is “oh wow, I could never run 26 miles”. But honestly, I think that the hardest part is just making time for the training. Something I didn’t consider before I started this crazy hobby was that, for example, running 15 miles at a relaxed pace takes the better part of three hours. That’s not to include cooling down and stretching. That is a large chunk of your day! If you have any hope of doing other weekend activities – like, for example, going to your cousin’s wedding – you just have to start early. 6 am on the weekends, for me. I do truly enjoy and look forward to my runs. That said, it probably would have made things just a little easier for me if Vegan MoFo this year didn’t coincide with the thick of my training schedule. C’est la vie! (Side note: running 16 miles and then dancing in heels for hours at a wedding reception… will make your legs hurt the next day. Very much.)
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I have struggled to make as many recipes this month as I wanted to. 6 new posts in 20 days (7 if you count the upcoming dessert) was even harder to do than I was expecting. Next year, I will definitely prepare more posts in advance. It’s gotten to the time of year where I can only photograph recipes on the weekends, as there’s not enough light left for me to cook something after work. I think I forgot about that when I was planning =]. Nevertheless, participating in Vegan MoFo is a great experience, and I’ve still got a few legume recipes left in me before September ends. After that, it’ll probably be a break from beans for a while. Maybe a long while…
This garlic habanero white bean dip is a super simple way to make something delicious out of white beans. And with garlic two ways, you just know it’s gotta be good. It’s a very hands-off recipe, and during this busy month, I am very thankful for that. I threw a head of garlic, the habanero peppers, and an onion all in the toaster oven on the same baking sheet. The only real work was chopping up the parsley and green onions. Everything else was just thrown in a blender together. This is good anywhere hummus is. I’ve provided both oil-free and oil-ful options in the recipe.
I had a few cooked potatoes leftover from the samosa soup, so I added them for good measure. I just love the silkiness that blended potatoes lends to things. However, I developed the recipe not to use them, and you’ll need to season the dip more aggressively if you do add potato. So, I didn’t include it explicitly in the recipe 🙂
Happy Sunday! And to everyone else who is cranking out more posts than usual for Vegan MoFo… godspeed.
Garlic Habanero White Bean Dip
Ingredients
- 1 head of garlic
- 2 habanero peppers (if you're sensitive to heat, only use 1)
- 1 small yellow or white onion (a shallot would also work)
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 and 1/2 cups cooked white beans (I used one can)
- 1 and 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/4 tsp salt plus more to taste
- freshly-ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil plus more as needed to blend (use tahini for oil-free version)
- 1/3 cup finely chopped parsley loosely packed
- 1 bunch green onions or scallions finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Slice off the root part of the head of garlic, so that each clove is exposed. Either rub a bit of oil on the garlic, or wrap it gently in foil. Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat-type liner.
- Slice in half and seed the habanero peppers, and quarter the onion or shallot. Put them on the baking sheet with the garlic, and put the baking sheet in the oven.
- After 15 minutes, turn the onion pieces and habanero peppers. Return to the oven.
- After 30 minutes, remove the onion and peppers. If the garlic is soft, remove it too - otherwise cook it until soft.
- Add the onion and peppers to a blender or food processor. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its paper into the blender, and add the lemon juice. Pulse to combine as much as you can (will depend on the size of your blender).
- Add the beans, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, olive oil or tahini, and blend until the mixture is completely smooth. If it's too thick to blend, add more olive oil or water.
- Toss together the parsley and green onions; add about half of this mixture to the blender and blend to incorporate. Stir in the rest after removing the mixture from the blender.
- This dip is best served after it has chilled for an hour or two, so that the flavors can develop.
Nutrition
I'm Shannon, the writer and photographer of Yup, it's Vegan! I'm a morning person based in Baltimore, USA. My mission is to create healthy plant-based recipes that anyone would enjoy, using seasonal produce with inspiration from global flavors.
Astro says
Where is the second kind of garlic?
MeShell says
This sounds absolutely delicious. I recently tried a hope foods habanero lentil dip that was pretty delicious, so I bet the garlic really kicks it up notch. (kind of funny/weird aside: the ad displayed on the right hand side while I was checking out your website was one for armstrong cheese.)
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Ah… thanks for letting me know about the ad. I’ll have that one blocked. I use Google AdSense and I try to catch the ones for animal products… but it can be pretty random, so sometimes they make it through =/
That dip sounds good too! The earthiness of the lentils would be a nice addition.
Amy @ Parsley In My Teeth says
Wow, I never thought about how long it would take to train for a marathon. My hat’s off to you for pulling off so much! And this dip sounds amazingly delicious Good luck!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Thanks, Amy!
Allison says
The potato addition for extra creaminess is just so smart! I’m always looking for an alternative to chickpea hummus once and a while–I think this is just the thing. Perfect for the upcoming entertaining season too. I’ve never tried a habanero… but I’m going to! Wish me luck 😉
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hummus is amazing, but it’s good to change it up sometimes. 🙂 If you haven’t tried habanero before I would definitely start with only 1 of them and work your way up, they have a spiciness that kind of sneaks up on you!
ameyfm says
i love that you are still mofo-ing even though you’ve “only” done 6 posts so far! It doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing deal… plus, I love your posts. This dip looks great!
I am a yoga person, and that’s so much more flexible for time – I sometimes end up doing hours of yoga practice, but I can also have a nice practice in far less time than that. But I can definitely relate to waking up early to make time for my favorite activity and still have time for the rest of life’s engagements!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Thank you for the encouragement, I appreciate it =] ahh, yeah, I love yoga too, but I have been having trouble making time with it when I’m also running. I should try to do shorter yoga sessions when I have a minute during the day (usually I would go to a class at the studio).
Cheryl says
I love that you combined what’s a classically Italian dish and Latin flavors! This dip is so guilt free and I bet it is offffff the chain with some whole grain crackers. Might have to make it for this weekend’s road trip. Yum!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Ah, that’s exactly what I ate it with! Thank you 🙂
Laura @ the gluten-free treadmill says
Another amazing recipe and the pictures are beautiful! Yum!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Thank you, Laura!
deelightffullyveg says
That looks good 🙂
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Thanks 🙂