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Black Bean Dip with Roasted Squash, Garlic, Pumpkin Seeds & Chipotles

4.85 from 20 reader reviews
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 2.5 cups
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Ingredients

  • ½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
  • 1 small head of garlic
  • 1 small honeynut or butternut squash, halved lengthwise (see notes)
  • ½ cup olive oil, divided
  • sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 cup cooked black beans (drained and rinsed if using canned)
  • 2 chipotles in adobo + 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (or more/less to taste)
  • 2 teaspoons coconut aminos (or 1 teaspoon tamari)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons sweet paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Garnishes

  • olive oil
  • finely diced red onion
  • pumpkin seeds
  • chopped cilantro

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F and grab two small-medium baking sheets. You can line both with parchment paper if you like, but it's not 100% necessary.
  • Spread the pumpkin seeds out on one of the baking sheets and pop it in the oven. Roast the pumpkin seeds until golden brown and toasty-smelling, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool.
  • Cut the top ¼ inch off of the head of garlic, exposing the cloves inside.
  • Set the halved squash, cut sides facing up, on the other baking sheet. Grab a piece of aluminum foil big enough to wrap the bulb of garlic. Set that down on the baking sheet too and place the garlic bulb on top.
  • Drizzle the cut squash and the exposed top of the garlic bulb with 1-2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season both with salt and pepper. Wrap the garlic bulb up tight with the foil and turn the squash over so that the cut side is facing down. Transfer this baking sheet to the oven and roast until squash is tender, about 40 minutes. Let the squash and garlic cool a bit.
  • Once it's cool enough to handle, scoop out the seeds of the squash and discard. Then, scoop out and measure roughly 1 cup of the cooked squash. Remove the bulb of garlic from its foil wrapping.
  • Set up your food processor with the "S" blade. Place the pumpkin seeds in the food processor and pulse until they are coarsely ground. Then, add the 1 cup of cooked squash, black beans, chipotles, adobo, coconut aminos, paprika, cumin, red wine vinegar, plus salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze the bulb of roasted garlic into the food processor (there should be roughly 6 cloves total).
  • Pulse the food processor a few times until you have a slightly dry and chunky paste. Scrape down the sides with a spatula to get everything combined and evenly puréed. Then, with the motor running, slowly drizzle the olive oil into the food processor through the feed tube. Once you have a thick and creamy dip consistency, you're good!
  • Check the dip for seasoning and adjust if necessary (more salt, more chipotles, more vinegar etc). Serve the dip with the suggested garnishes or just as-is!

Equipment

Recipe Notes

  • Any type of cooked squash purée is great as long as you get about 1 cup of purée total. I used a very small honeynut squash that gave me exactly that amount. The only squash that I would not recommend for this are delicata or spaghetti squash.
  • If the squash that you roasted yields more than the one cup of purée that you need, I recommend making my creamy  butternut orzo with the leftovers.
  • Use as much or as little chipotles as you like! I started with one and wound up using four.
  • I think tortilla chips are ideal with this, but cut vegetables, crackers or crostini are also wonderful.
  • My head of garlic yielded six garlic cloves total. This is the appropriate amount! If your head of garlic is huge, roast the whole head and use only six cloves in this dip. Reserve the remaining garlic for salad dressing, pasta sauces, smearing on bread etc!
This creamy black bean dip with roasted squash, garlic, toasted pumpkin seeds and chipotles in adobo is such a crowdpleaser. With only 10 core ingredients, this dip is also naturally vegan and nut free. Perfect for enjoying with tortilla chips, chopped raw vegetables, or even as a spread on a sandwich.