Simple Bean Dip
Sometimes you're having people over at your house and you want to go all sorts of wild and crazy and make lots of your favorite foods. Maybe you make some Strawberry Short(cup)cakes so that you know you won't end up eating all 36 of them yourself. Maybe you throw together some Grilled Pizzas because who doesn't love pizza? And maybe some Baked Eggplant and Spinach makes it into the mix just so that it looks like you do understand the world of healthy foods.
Other times you're having people over at your house and you're like, "You know what? I already cleaned for you people. You will eat something effortless and YOU WILL LIKE IT."
This is for when the house is clean and that's quite enough, thank you very much.
Simple Bean Dip
We've already established that there is pretty much always an open bottle of salsa or six in our house. There's also always refried beans and cheese. Throw them together and you have this.
It's a definite step up from the bean dip you can buy in a jar in that you get to control the heat and spices and ingredients such. Even so, it's very barely any work at all. You can most definitely throw it together in less than five minutes.
Start with some refried beans. I like the fat free ones.
One of these days I'll post instructions on how to make refried beans from scratch, but for now? Let's stick with lazy. There is no shame in the freakishly shaped canned refried beans.
Add some cheese.
Oh, and there is some salsa in there, too.
Add some spices. Mix it all up and heat it over medium heat in a saucepan and TA-DAH!
Simple Bean Dip
1 can refried beans
1/2 cup salsa
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
Optional: If you want some heat, throw in some hot sauce, jalapeño peppers, pepper flakes, or whatever strikes your fancy.
I'm sorry to get all fancy and complicated with the directions again. I hope you can bear with me for this.
Step 1: Dump everything into a medium saucepan.
Step 2: Turn the heat up to medium.
Step 3: Stir, stir, stir.
Step 4: There is no Step 4. You're done.
Garnish with some extra cheese and sour cream, if you're feeling fancy. If not, that's OK, too. It's Simple Bean Dip. There's no need to get complicated if you aren't feeling it.
Recipe
Reader Comments (5)
I will be making this today. The only question is whether I tell the menfolk or eat it all myself.
I make this all the time for a quick party appetizer. But I put a layer of cream cheese down in a bowl or plate, then put the other ingredients on top in layers and nuke it. The cream cheese makes it extra yummy.
YUM!
@Suzanne Sounds similar to something I grew up with.. layer of cream cheese in a 9×9 dish, 1 can of wolf branch chili, covered in shredded cheese, nuke until heated & bubbly. Mmmm!
Thats so funny you posted this today. I made something VERY similar as a snack for everyone that came over today. AND it took less time to make than my husband explaining (simple) game rules to everyone.
i love that you aren't above canned beans