This Mexican Black Bean Hummus recipe is a great marriage of my favorite foods… Indian and Mexican. Since we eat traditional hummus almost daily, I thought, “why not mix my favorite food cultures together with one of our favorite foods?” Thus, my Mexican Black Bean Hummus was born.
Mexican Black Bean Hummus Breakdown
This Mexican Black Bean Hummus uses black beans in place of garbanzo beans while keeping the traditional tahini and cumin (a common spice in both Mexican and Indian cuisines). You’ll find lime juice in place of lemon juice along with roasted red pepper and cilantro. Let’s check it out.
Mexican Black Bean Hummus Ingredients
This black bean hummus recipe includes garlic, juice from 2 limes, red pepper, 2 cans (30 oz) of black beans, extra-virgin olive oil, ground cumin, cilantro, salt, water, and tahini.
Roast the Red Pepper
Clean & Cut the Red Pepper
Begin by roasting the peppers. However, you can use store-bought jarred roasted peppers for convenience. Preheat the oven (or toaster oven) to 450˚F (232˚C). Clean and remove all labels and stickers from the pepper. Cut the pepper in half (top to bottom) and remove the stem, membranes, and seeds.
Bake the Red Pepper
Place each pepper half on a foil-lined pan with skin side up. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the pepper skin turns blistered and black.
Cool & Remove Pepper Skin
Once charred, remove the pepper halves with tongs and place them in a plastic bag or bowl. Seal the bag or cover the bowl with plastic and allow the peppers to sit for 20 minutes to soften the skin. Then, pull the charred skin off each pepper (eat the skin or discard it) and set peppers aside.
Soak Garlic in Lime Juice
In a small bowl, add 3-4 minced garlic cloves and cover with ¼ cup lime juice (juice from 2 limes). Set the garlic aside to soak for about 10 minutes. Soaking the garlic in lime juice cuts the bitterness of the garlic and adds garlic flavor to the juice.
Rinse & Drain the Black Beans
In a colander, add black beans from 2 cans (30 ounces). Rinse and drain the beans. Then, set them aside.
Combine & Process the Ingredients
Add all but Tahini
In the bowl of a blender or food processor, add drained beans, ¼ cup (53 g) of olive oil, 1½ teaspoons (3-4 g) of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon (6 grams) of salt, roasted red pepper (½ of a whole pepper) and 4 tablespoons (59 milliliters) of water. Pour the garlic and lime juice in a small strainer and strain the lime juice into the food processor, discard any remaining garlic. Add ¼ cup or handful of fresh cilantro leaves.
TIP: Straining the garlic eliminates the bitterness entirely while adding garlic flavor to the hummus. You can certainly add the garlic if you don’t mind that bit of a bitter bite.
Blend & Add Tahini
Process for 30 seconds or so. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides as needed. Add ¼ cup (60 g) of tahini. Tahini is best added near the end of processing because tahini absorbs liquid. We want the liquid to thin out the beans and not soak into the tahini right away.
Taste & Adjust Ingredients
Process again for another 30 seconds or so. Taste and check the consistency. Add additional tahini, water, lime juice, and/or oil depending on preferred consistency and flavor. Season with additional salt, as needed. Process for another 30 seconds or so until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Add the Final Touches & Serve
Spoon the hummus into a bowl or on a serving platter. You can decorate the hummus by adding a swirl with a spoon. Drizzle on additional olive oil in the swirl perhaps. You can add chopped jalapeno peppers or additional chopped cilantro or red pepper. Serve and enjoy.
View of Mexican Black Bean Hummus
Check it out! Can you spot black specks from the black beans? How about the dark red specks of roasted red pepper or the green specks from the cilantro?
Storing
Cover and store homemade hummus in the fridge for up to a week. For longer storage, spoon the hummus in a quart-size, zip-top bag and freeze for several months. If frozen, allow the hummus to thaw overnight in the fridge.
Serving Suggestions
Serve black bean hummus as a dip with pita chips, crackers, crudité plate with carrots, celery, and radishes, naan or pita. Use it to top your favorite Mexican dishes like you would with guacamole, salsa, or sour cream. The dip also makes a great spread on sandwiches in place of mayonnaise or other spread. I really hope you give homemade hummus a try. Hands down, we prefer it over any store-bought version.
Mexican Black Bean Hummus Final Thoughts
Making this hummus is easy and only takes a few minutes once the peppers are roasted. For convenience, you can use jarred roasted red peppers and simply put the minced garlic and lime juice in the hummus instead of soaking the garlic to infuse the lime juice. With those short cuts, this recipe takes 5 minutes. It can be that simple. The flavors are complex. This hummus tastes both like hummus and a Mexican bean dip. The combination is a great blend of two cultures and different cuisines.
Baker’s Perspective
With such an easy recipe, you can leave out ingredients you don’t have or don’t like. I make hummus at least once a week and take short cuts all the time; I make it routinely in 5 minutes for a quick meal accompaniment, dip, or sandwich spread. It’s simple to add more of any ingredient you want to highlight in this recipe. Start with the basic recipe and add more after you taste it. Flavor to your desires!
Taster’s Perspective
What a nice blend of flavors. Black beans are probably the highlighted ingredient in this recipe; however, you can taste a little of each in every bite. If you’re not a cilantro fan, you can leave it out entirely or substitute it with the equal amounts of fresh parsley. The dip has a nice blend of ingredients and go great with raw vegetables and bread. I have even used this hummus as a topping on my lunch salads. It adds so much to simple foods. I highly recommend it; it can be a quick and easy dip to make and enhances so many dishes!
Check out my YouTube video each step of making this hummus. “Mexican Black Bean Hummus: A Fantastic Blend of Indian and Mexican Cuisines”
Black Bean Hummus: Fantastic Blend of Indian and Mexican Cuisines
Ingredients
- 3-4 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ cup (2 small) lime juice
- ½ (½ cup) large red pepper reserve some for toppings
- 2 cans (30 oz) black beans rinsed and drained
- ¼ cup (53 g) extra-virgin olive oil plus more for toppings
- 1½ tsp (3-4 g) ground cumin
- ¼ cup (handful) fresh cilantro reserve some for toppings
- 1 tsp (6 g) salt
- 4 tbsp (59 ml) water
- ¼ cup (60 g) tahini paste
Optional Toppings
- 1-2 jalapenos chopped
Instructions
Roast Red Pepper
- Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 450˚F (232˚C) and line a baking sheet with foil. TIP: For convenience, use store-bought roasted peppers and forego roasting them.
- Clean and remove all labels and stickers from the pepper. Cut the pepper in half (top to bottom) and remove the stem and seeds. Place each pepper half on a foil-lined pan with skin side up.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes until the pepper skin turns blistered and black (charred). Once charred, remove the pepper halves with tongs and place them in a plastic bag or bowl. Seal the bag or cover the bowl with plastic and allow the peppers to sit for 20 minutes to soften the skin. Then, pull the charred skin off each pepper (eat the skin or discard it) and set peppers aside.
Process All Ingredients
- In a small bowl, add garlic cloves and cover with lime juice. Set aside to soak for ~10 minutes.TIP: Soaking the garlic in lemon juice cuts the bitterness of the garlic and adds garlic flavor to the juice.
- Drain and rinse 2 cans of black beans.
- In the bowl of a blender or food processor, add beans, oil, lime juice, cumin, red pepper, salt, cilantro, and water. Use a small strainer to strain out the garlic adding only the lime juice to the food processor, discard any remaining garlic.TIP: Straining the garlic eliminates the bitterness entirely while adding garlic flavor to the hummus. You can certainly add the garlic and forego any soaking if you don’t mind that bit of a bite.
- Process for 30 seconds or so. Use a spatula to scrape down sides as needed and add ¼ cup tahini. Process again for another 30 seconds or so. Taste and check consistency. Add additional tahini, water, lime juice, &/or oil depending on preferred consistency and flavor. Season with additional salt, as needed. Process for another 1-2 minutes until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in any optional mix-ins.TIP: Add tahini near the end because absorbs water and we want the water to thin out the beans and not be soaked into the tahini right away.
- Spoon the hummus into a bowl or on a serving platter. Drizzle additional olive oil over the top and additional reserved toppings like cilantro or chopped pepper. Serve and enjoy.
Video
Notes
Interested in other dips and simple flatbreads? Check these out!
Silky, Smooth Middle Eastern Hummus
Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic Tortillas
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