Homemade Healthy Restaurant Style Bean Dip Recipe

Bean dip has always been one of my favorite foods. For so many years I attempted to make the perfect restaurant style bean dip at home and it never turned out right. It wasn’t until I lived in Honduras that I learned the secret! It’s all in the bean. The small red bean is king in Honduras, and it’s the key to the perfect bean dip, or a.k.a. “frijoles licuados.”

Whenever we have friends over for a meal and bean dip is on the menu, they’ll typically say something along the lines of, “Wow, what’s in that bean dip? That is so good!”

My reply? “Beans and salt!”

Yep, Surprise! It’s that simple. You can do it, too.

Remember, make sure to buy small red beans. To be clear, they are not small kidney beans. We buy ours from azure standard.

Bean Dip Recipe

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients

·      4 cups dry small red beans

·      Filtered water

·      1 tsp raw apple cider vinegar

·      1 tbsp salt

·      1 tbsp of any kind of fat (EV olive oil, beef tallow, or leftover fat from a cooked chicken or roast will do, too)

Instructions

·      About 27 hours before you want to eat this meal, grab a large mixing bowl, add your dry beans and fill the bowl up with water. The beans will double in size so make sure your bowl is large enough! Add the raw apple cider vinegar, stir. Then cover your bowl with a cloth and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

·      After the 24 hours is up, pour out the left-over water and add the beans to a large pot. Cover the beans with 4 inches of water above your beans. Add salt and oil/fat. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 2-3 hours until the beans are fully cooked and smooth.

·      Once the beans are fully cooked, add beans to a container that you're comfortable using an immersion blender with. Add some of the bean water to about hallway up the beans. The height of the beans should be double the height of the water now. Add ½ tsp salt. Blend, and add salt as needed.

·      Enjoy!

Notes:

• If you only have a regular blender, simply let the beans cool before blending. Once blended, heat them up when you’re ready to eat.

• The oil/fat in the recipe helps the beans to have a nice smooth texture. 

• The 24 hour soak with raw ACV is essential. This is the process that breaks down the phytic acids in the beans and makes them more digestible, allowing you to get more nutrients and little to no intestinal discomfort. If you skip soaking them for the full 24 hours, the beans will take much longer to cook and may not turn out with a good texture.