Quick Weeknight Smoky Beans Recipe
This recipe is quick to make and surprisingly hearty. It’s perfect for a weeknight meal or for meal prep. It freezes well and lasts 5 days in the fridge.
Why I Made This Recipe
We make a version of this recipe a few times a month in my house more in winter, but this is the first time I’ve written down what goes in it. It’s super hearty and relatively low cost. It deserves to be shared with others. It was made with Spanish or Mediterranean ingredients in mind, hence the green olives, smoked paprika, chorizo and garlic.
Ingredients
Core Ingredients: The heart of this recipe. Some of these ingredients can be skipped or changed but some cannot be left out.
- Red Onion – Can be changed for a yellow/brown onion
- Lemon – This brings a brightness to the dish and cannot be skipped.
- Garlic – The minced fresh garlic can be substituted with minced garlic from a jar or about 1 teaspoon powdered garlic.
- Green Olives – This brings a salty and umami flavour to the dish that could be skipped but not recommended.
- Kidney Beans & Black Beans – Beans like chickpeas or white beans would also work well.
- Canned Diced Tomatoes – The tomatoes themselves should not be skipped but in a pinch a plain tomato pasta sauce could work.
- Capsicum – Red or green will work fine.
Additions
Hot sauce or Tomato Sauce (Ketchup) – Both are fine to use as they add sweetness. Any basic hot sauce is fine to use, as it adds more spice and sweetness. I used a chili garlic hot sauce by Cholula but Sriracha would also work.
Chilli Flakes – Brings the spice level up but can be left out.
Feta Cheese – I highly recommend Feta cheese sprinkled on top before you eat it. However Mozzarella or goats cheese would also go nicely and add a creaminess.
Meat or No Meat?
This recipe uses chorizo and bacon but you could use spicy Italian sausages or pancetta for a richness or even regular sausages for a more subtle taste. You could also remove the meat entirely and add sweet potato instead. If you add sweet potato dice it into bite sizes pieces, then roast in the oven with a little olive oil at 180 degrees Celsius for roughly 30 minutes or until golden around the edges. Add them back to bean mix in step 7.
Method
I chopped my vegetables as pictured above. Everything but the olives and jalapeños are chopped into roughly 1cm size cubes. The jalapeños is finely chopped to spread the spice out. Additionally, I chopped my green olives very finely to a consistency that’s almost “paste” like to get the flavour out and to also hide them from my partner. You could chop them into bigger pieces, it won’t hurt.
Should I Blend My Mixuture?
Pictured above is my immersion blender, it’s quick to use and clean up is simple as my immersion blender is dish washer safe. But if you don’t have an immersion blender removing 1/3 to 1/2 of the bean mixture and lightly blending it or putting it in the food processor also works. Blending a portion of the mix will make it thicker and smoother.
Quick Weeknight Smoky Bean Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Red Capsicum diced into 1cm size pieces
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 Red Onion (small) diced into 1cm size pieces
- 1 Lemon juice
- 20 g Green Olives, from Jar very finely diced
- 420 g Canned Kidney Beans
- 420 g Canned Black Beans
- 800 g Canned Tomatoes
- 15 g White Vinegar
- 200 g Chorizo Sausage chopped into rounds
- 40 g Bacon (roughly two rashers) diced
- 15 g Brown Sugar
- 15 g Hot Sauce/ Tomato Sauce (Ketchup) use either depending on spice tolerance
- 6 g Thyme
- 30 g Smoked Paprika
- 15 g Cumin
- 15 g Onion Powder
- 6 g Parsley
- 10 g Salt
- 10 g (Ground) Black Pepper
- 50 g Feta Cheese crumbled on top before eating
- Red Chili Flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Using a deep fry pan or a cast iron pan, cook your diced bacon and rounds of chorizo for 2-3 minutes on Medium-Low heat until cooked through. Then remove all of the meat from the pan.
- Optional: Remove roughly 1/2 the leftover bacon fat/oil from the pan. Skip this step if you don't mind the extra flavour and don't care about cholesterol.
- In the same pan add your onions and minced garlic. Cook for 1 minute on low heat.
- Add in Capsicums and green olives. Cook for roughly 1 minute or until capsicums have slightly softened.
- Add in canned tomatoes, white vinegar, brown sugar, tomato sauce or hot sauce, thyme, smoked paprika, cumin, onion powder, black pepper and salt. Mix everything until combined.
- Drain and rinse black beans and kidney beans and add into your pan.
- Optional: For a smoother and thicker sauce use an immersion blender or regular blender and blend 1/3 to 1/2 of the mixture.
- Add back in the chorizo and bacon and bring the pan up to a low simmering heat. Let simmer for roughly 5-10 minutes on the stove.
- Taste for salt and spices. Sprinkle with feta and chilli flakes if using. Eat over toast or rice.