
Beans, beans, they’re good for your…
Budget.
Oh, I bet you thought I was going to say “heart” like in that infamous childhood song. Well, I thought about it, but I am far too mature for it now.
Especially while writing a post about about adult topics like budgets, vegetables, and being smart with your time.
All while setting a good mature example about what songs to sing of course. “Old McDonald had a farm…”
But, I digress. Back to the beans and this magical dip.

Why magical, you say?
Beans Are A Budget Friendly Protein
We are doing the GAPS diet, which is another way of saying “our food budget is ridiculous.“
While I am not exactly the right person to be talking about reasonable budgets right now, I have seen how much eating more beans and lentils has helped us stretch the fresh foods I buy.
I pay at least $4 per pound on local grass-fed and/or pastured meat. I pay $1-$2 per pound for dried beans that swell up to be 2-3 times the size. Since most of us can’t eat cheese or eggs, and we are a nut-free household, we appreciate the frugal source of protein.
But, while my kids seem to like lentils they aren’t a huge fan of beans so I try to think of creative ways to use them. Such as this dip full of Mexican flavors.
The less stress at the table while everyone is eating nutritiously, the happier I am!

Dips Help The Veggies Go Down
I am blessed with adventurous eaters, but when it comes to simple cut-up vegetables, they aren’t usually big fans. Well, neither am I, to be honest. But, get a dip in there, and *poof* the vegetables disappear.
(At least for the older kids. My two year old just uses the vegetables to shovel in the dip while wondering if Mom forgot to wash the spoons.)
This one has some of my favorite flavors with smoked paprika, cumin, cilantro, and lime juice, plus other Mexican flavors.
Take this dip on the go with you. You’ll never find a protein-packed single serve pouch quite like this…but when you’re in charge of what goes in, you can use beans if you darn well please! 😉 Imagine how easy it would make squeezing some out on crackers or chips – almost like homemade Cheez Whiz. Almost. Give it a try today in a Squooshi pouch.
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The Health Factor
I don’t want to encourage my kids to eat their vegetables with an unhealthy dip. So, we try to keep them as healthy as possible. Usually we do this if I want to get more healthy protein in or avocado cream for healthy fats.
I have no problems with us eating this dip with fresh vegetables as lunch, or even, as I plan to in a few minutes, breakfast. There is protein and there are vegetables, what we basically eat anyway.
You can read about bean’s health benefits here.
Budgeting Time
In addition to trying to be better about budgeting money, I am trying to be a better budget of time.
While beans should be soaked (we do 24 hours), that takes a few minutes to start, and then a few minutes down the road to cook them. With practically no active prep needed, beans are one of the quickest things to cook.
While this recipe has the extra step of blending, it is still a time friendly dish. As someone who has three little kids, a baby business, and needs to cook everything from scratch, “hello easy dishes!”
Print
Tex-Mex White Bean Dip Recipe
- Yield: 3 1/2 cups 1x
Description
A frugal dip full of Mexican flavors such as paprika, cumin, and lime. We like to eat it with vegetables as a light lunch or snack.
Ingredients
- 3 c. cooked white beans, (using the long-soak method) OR 2 cans
- 1 1/2 – 2 tsp. real salt
- 1 Tbs. smoked paprika (my absolute favorite is the frontier brand)
- 1/2+ tsp. chipotle
- 1 Tbs. cumin
- 1 Tbs. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. coriander
- 2 Tbs. nutritional yeast or 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (optional, we left out this time)
- Juice of 4 limes
- 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!)
- 1/4 loose c. cilantro leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Make sure the beans are well drained, and rinsed if you used canned.
- Put the beans and spices (starting out with the smaller amount of salt and chipotle), and the nutritional yeast or cheese, if using, in the food processor and blend until mostly smooth.
- Add in the lime juice and blend in, followed by the olive oil (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!) and cilantro quickly pulsed in. Extra virgin olive oil doesn’t really take well to being blended (it can get bitter) so once it is in sparingly use the pulse button to incorporate the other ingredients.
- Taste, and adjust salt depending on the service options. I used 2 teaspoons as I was using it as a vegetable dip (tastes a little too salty on it’s own) if you were using it as a chip dip I would definitely recommend not using that much. A good idea is to taste with the food you will be dipping it in and judge the flavor as a whole.
- Add more chipotle if desired to make it spicy. I like to top with a little extra cilantro and another drizzle of olive oil.
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Squooshi is a KS sponsor receiving their complimentary mention in this post.
This turned out pretty good and it was easy to make. I made it for a work party and many people enjoyed the dip! In the essence of time, I used canned beans. I also opted for the nutritional yeast. Definitely a keeper. My 12 year old liked it as well. Win-win!
Glad you all liked it! Thanks for the review!
The “pin” link seems to be broken… It won’t let me pin this great recipe!
Hi Kathy! I looked at the post and don’t see any links that we added for Pinterest – the hover over the image button works on my end. Where are you clicking? Thanks! 🙂 Katie