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Spicy Vegan Queso Dip
Several days ago, I posted a poll on my personal Facebook asking friends to choose a traditionally non-vegan dish that they'd like to see me make a vegan version of. Of course, I ended up with a bunch of people voting for queso, which I expected to be the most challenging of the options - but I ended up really liking the final product I came up with!
This "queso" recipe has tons of spicy flavor from onion, garlic, jalapeno and red bell peppers. Pureed white beans serve as a thick and creamy base, with lots of added seasonings to give the dish a "cheesy" flavor. I hope you all like this as much as I did!
Start by preparing the vegetables. Drain and rinse two cans of white beans; you can use navy beans, canellini beans, or any all-white bean you like (we'll use tumeric to turn the white beans into that classic, golden yellow cheese color). Separately, drain and rinse hald a can of black beans. Mince a small onion, half a red bell pepper, a jalapeno, and two cloves of garlic.
Add the white beans to a small saucepan with 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring the beans to a simmer.
While the white beans are heating up, add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a skillet on medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, and garlic as well as a pinch of salt and pepper. Saute the vegetables until they become tender.
Add chili powder, cumin, chipotle powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and tumeric to the veggies. Remove them from the heat.
Take the beans off of the heat and blend them using a stick blender until they are very smooth and creamy. You can also use a regular blender or food processor, but you may have to do it in batches so the scalding hot beans don't splash up and burn you!
Add the veggies and spices to the blended bean mixture. Add in a big pinch of salt, more pepper, a dash of hot sauce, the black beans, a can of diced tomato with chiles, a splash of vinegar, and some nutritional yeast.
Stir everything together to combine. The mixture should be the consistency of warm queso. If it's too thick, add just a splash more water. If it's too thin, you can thicken it with a cornstarch slurry (equal parts cold water and cornstarch mixed together, then added to the queso). Taste and adjust for seasoning if necessary.
Serve hot with tortilla chips and enjoy a far healthier, but equally as delicious version of queso!
Recipe:
Total time: 30 minutes | Serves: 8
Ingredients:
2 15 oz cans of white beans, rinsed and drained (great northern, navy, canellini)
1 small onion, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
1/2 a 15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
3 tsp tumeric
1 1/2 tbs nutritional yeast
1 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp vinegar
1 can of tomatoes with green chiles
Salt & Pepper
2 tbs cornstarch (or more, or less, as needed)
1. Add the white beans to a small saucepan with 1 1/2 cups of water and bring to a gentle simmer.
2. While the white beans are heating up, add two tablespoons of olive oil to a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, red bell pepper, jalapeno, and garlic to the pan with a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Saute the vegetables for 6-8 minutes until they become tender.
4. Add the chili powder, chipotle powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, and tumeric to the vegetables and then turn off the heat.
5. Use an immersion (stick) blender to blend the white beans with the water until very smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add more water a few tablespoons at a time.
6. Add the vegetables and spices to the blended bean mixture. Also add in the black beans, nutritional yeast, hot sauce, vinegar, tomatoes with green chiles, and more salt and pepper.
7. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. The mixture should be the consistency of warm queso. If it's too thin, add a cornstarch slurry:
-Combine 2 tbs cornstarch with2 tbs cold water in a small cup or bowl.
- Whisk the cornstarch and water mixture into the queso.
-Return the queso to the heat for just another minute or two and it will thicken up quickly.