Your whole food, plant-based life.

Simple Vegan Garlic Acocado Bean Dip

This recipe contains cooked beans. It is part of our transitional (part cooked part raw) collection.

I am constantly trying to figure out ways to get more beans in our diet. Why more beans? They are nutritional powerhouses. And because they fit in both the protein and vegetable group, they do double duty! Not only do you get wonderful protein, iron and zinc, you also get powerful nutrients from the vegetable side. Fiber, potassium and folate not to mention phytonutrients!

Vegan White Bean Avocado Garlic Dip

It is recommended that you have three servings a beans a day. It might seem like a lot, but just 1/4 cup of this spread counts for one serving. If you are eating the whole bean, 1/2 a cup is a serving.

This white bean spread is one of my favorites. It is flavor-filled and you can use it in many different ways. We put it in wraps with veggies, dip veggies into it, and spread it on crackers. The avocado addition was my daughters suggestion and it took it over the top. It is a simple recipe packed with healthy ingredients and no oil!

Soaking Beans

I am a big fan of cooking your own beans. Not only is it much cheaper, but the taste and texture of the beans is divine! Canned beans just can’t stand up to beans you cook yourself.

Beans should be soaked before cooking. Lately I have been seeing people recommend using the soaking water when you cook the beans because it is supposed to taste better. I do not recommend this for these reasons:

  1. Phytates and tannins reduce your ability to get nutrients from the beans. Get rid of the water and you get rid of many of the unwanted phytates and tannins.
  2. You can remove 30% of raffinose and stachyoise which are gas producing.
  3. They will be more digestible because you are retaining resistible starch which helps support the production of healthy bacteria in the large intestine.

 

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11 Comments

  1. Yvonne wrote on July 8, 2016

    A Bean Post (Smile).

    I used to get severe bloating and lots of pain whenever I ate Beans, especially kidney and pinto, exceptions were lentils, garbanzos and black beans. Soaking didn’t help.

    However, I learned through my nutritionist that by sprouting them, it changes their chemical composition, enhances enzymatic activity and makes them easier on the digestive tract. Therefore, I eat sprouted organic lentils, azuki and garbanzos very sparingly in raw salads, soups, chilies and stews.

    If the food you love, loves you, go for it!

    Reply
  2. Cindy wrote on June 16, 2016

    Hi Susan

    Love your website by the way! I was wondering what white beans do I purchase? I have seen many at the store.

    Reply
    • Susan wrote on June 17, 2016

      Hi, Cindy, You can use any white beans in this recipe. Cheers!

      Reply
  3. Catherine Bell wrote on June 9, 2016

    I love this recipe and shared with my Facebook friends!!

    Reply
    • camil wrote on June 10, 2016

      I am going to replicate it asap. you design and create great recipes and mouth watering and elegant and classy

      Reply
  4. Jo-Anne wrote on June 9, 2016

    I made this delicious recipe for supper and served it in lettuce cups. I was hungry for something quick and hardy when I got home. When you posted the recipe for bean and broccoli soup I took your advice and made a big batch of beans and froze some. I recently bought “The Vegetarian Flavor Bible” so I could
    substitute ingredients in recipes to accommodate family and friends’ food sensitivities. I had to sprinkle pine nuts on the dip instead of walnuts.
    I enjoyed your recent interview with Jennifer Cornbleet. I also find my tastes naturally moving away from the rich raw desserts. Dessert has moved to the top of our personal food pyramid.
    I think this dip would go well with a kale and arugula salad.
    Thank you, Susan, again and again.

    Reply
  5. nina elle wrote on June 9, 2016

    Sounds down right delicious! And easy. How long do you soak the beans, and how much dry white bean makes1.5 cups cooked? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Susan wrote on June 10, 2016

      Hi, Mina, I soak my beans for about 8-10 hours before cooking. And beans usually double in volume. Cheers!

      Reply
    • Mary Houston-Harvey wrote on June 10, 2016

      I love most of your recipes. I always have to alter them a bit…I practice Biological Medicine for the last 25 years. Before that I had my own nutrition show for 15 years….Beans are not healthy…ever…In Ayurveda they call them Tamasic…poisonous…For anyone trying to get healthy forget it…They are extremely acidic…Indian Cuisine does use more easily digestible lentils…and the Chinese use sprouted Mung…However in moderation…Cooked beans like these can make someone very prone to disease…Sorry you are wrote about this…Also about using Agave….Agave is a toxic left over from the manufacturing of Tequila…It is actually worse than sugar….You have wonderful recipes, are very creative however because you have such a big footprint on the net and live foods world you should be more careful what you recommend.

      Reply
      • Susan wrote on June 10, 2016

        Hi, Mary, Thank you for your comment. First, I am surprised that you haven’t noticed that we no longer use agave. This blog has been around for almost 8 years. There was a time when many thought that agave was a good substitute. But much information has come out that doesn’t support that so we discontinued using it. Even when we did, we used it sparingly.

        About the beans. I guess we can agree to disagree. I believe that beans are a healthy part of a vegan diet and there is an amazing amount of scientifically backed studies that support this. Here are some videos and information on the health of beans: http://nutritionfacts.org/?fwp_search=beans&fwp_content_type=video

        Reply
        • Miriam wrote on June 17, 2016

          I always think it’s funny when health nuts argue about what’s healthiest. If most people would only shift their diets in the direction of more vegetable and unprocessed foods and less sugar, they would all feel so much better, beans or raw or none of the above.

          Reply

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