Who doesn’t love a good bean dip, let alone, a good layered bean dip? It is the ultimate party snack, but unfortunately, most layered bean dip recipes out there are absolutely loaded in fat and calories, making them a no-no when trying to live a lean and clean lifestyle. If this has you feeling a little down, turn that frown upside down, because today I have created one of the best layered bean dips I have ever tried. This vegan 5 layer bean dip is so amazingly good, you’ll need to pry yourself away from it. With organic no-fry pureed black beans, fresh guacamole, pico de gallo, chopped spinach and vegan sour cream, this cleaned up dip won’t leave you missing anything from the traditional recipe, except the fat and calories.
What makes this particular 5 layer dip so good is the fact that every ingredient used is fresh. The vibrant pico de gallo above? All freshly made, and it truthfully took no more than 10 minutes to make with the help of my Ninja Master Prep Chopper. The only thing I hand cut was the tomatoes, and that is just because I don’t think tomatoes dice up as well in the Ninja as they do by hand.
Recipe: Lean and Clean Pico de Gallo
Summary: A deliciously simple pico de gallo
Ingredients
- 2 large tomatoes or roughly 20 cherry tomatoes
- 3/4 cup cilantro; rinsed
- 1 small white onion
- 1 lime
- 1 jalapeno
- Kosher sea salt; to taste
Instructions
- Coarsely chop tomatoes by hand.
- Add in to a medium size mixing bowl
- Finely chop cilantro, onion and jalapeno together
- Add into mixing bowl with tomatoes
- Pour juice of 1 lime over the mixture; mix well.
- Season with kosher sea salt to taste
- Cover and refrigerate until ready to use
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
This creamy guacamole took the amount of time it takes to mash 4 avocados with a potato masher, sprinkle some sea salt, and add in some of that just made pico de gallo. So, basically 5 minutes to make your own amazingly delicious, preservative free guacamole. You can’t really justify the convenience of buying the store bought stuff when it’s just as simple to make, and far healthier for you.
Recipe: Simple Guacamole
Summary: A simple, easy to make guacamole
Ingredients
- 4 ripe avocados
- 1/4 of a lime
- 1/2 a cup of prepared Pico de Gallo
- Kosher sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Cut avocados in half and remove the pits.
- Scoop avocado out into large mixing bowl
- Sprinkle juice of lime wedge over the top
- Coarsely mash with a potato masher
- Add in Pico de Gallo; mixing thoroughly
- Season with sea salt to taste
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Now, you may be asking yourself “what in the world is vegan sour cream?” Well, vegan sour cream is a cashew-based sour cream alternative. It has a wonderfully rich and creamy texture that provides a mildly sour bite like traditional sour cream, but doesn’t contain any dairy, thickening agents or artificial flavoring like some commercially produced sour cream. I won’t lie to you and say that I didn’t have my doubts, but I have to say, this vegan sour cream is really quite good and super simple to make. It ended up rounding out the flavors of this particular dish incredibly well, and I am definitely excited to try it out in other recipes down the road.
Recipe: Vegan Sour Cream
Summary: An easy to make, cashew based sour cream alternative.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup water + additional if mix is too thick
Instructions
- In a small pan, bring 1 inch of water to a boil
- Add in 1 cup of cashews and remove from heat
- Soak cashews in water for 30 minutes
- Drain cashews and add to food processor
- Add in lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and salt
- Add in 1/4 cup cool water
- Blend until cashew mixture is completely smooth
- Add a little more water if mix is too thick
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
This recipe will make about 1 1/4 cups
While I couldn’t get a picture to do these any justice (in my defense, beans aren’t the prettiest things to photograph), these no-fry refried style organic black beans turned out to be even better then traditional refried beans. No soaking, no lard, and no cooking what-so-ever, these no-fry black beans are so simple to make its’ ridiculous. Just 1 can of organic black beans, a food processor, lime juice, sea salt, half a tsp. of olive oil and cumin. That’s it. You couldn’t get any healthier, cleaner or simpler with this recipe, and I promise you that they taste just as good as the original, if not in fact better.
Recipe: No-Fry Refried Organic Black Beans
Summary: A healthy and quick alternative to traditional refried beans
Ingredients
- 1 can organic black beans; drained and rinsed
- 1/2 lime; juiced
- 1 tsp. cumin
- Kosher sea salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp. olive oil
Instructions
- In food processor, combine all ingredients
- Blend until desired consistency is reached
- Add salt to taste
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
I arranged my dip in individual sized glass dishes as shown above, starting with the No-Fry Black Beans and finishing with the Pico de Gallo and some fresh sliced green onions. I served mine with the blue corn organic gluten free tortilla chips featured above, but you could also serve this with celery sticks for an even lower calorie option.