7 Layer Bean Dip
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Category
Appetizer
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Cusine
Mexican and Tex Mex, Southwestern, TexMex
What do you need?
How to make?
Ingredients
2 cups refried beans, from one 15-ounce can or homemade
1 teaspoon , optional
1 teaspoon chipotle powder, Tabasco chipotle sauce, or adobo sauce, more to taste
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt
1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup chopped green Anaheim chiles
1 avocado, peeled and chopped
1 hot house tomato, cut in half horizontally, seeds and juice gently squeezed out and discarded, chopped
1/3 cup sour cream, or if you can get it Crema Mexicana
1 cup sliced ripe black olives, from a 15-ounce can
Corn tortilla chips, to serve
Directions
Heat the refried beans in a medium sauté pan or cast iron skillet. Stir in enough water to get a creamy, easily dip-able consistency, about 1/4 of a cup.
The taste of refried beans is greatly enhanced by bacon fat; we'll add a teaspoon to canned beans or a tablespoon or more to taste if we are making the beans from scratch.
If you don't have bacon fat, you can cook up a strip of bacon, chop it up fine and add that to the beans.
If you are trying to avoid pork, note that most canned refried beans are made with added lard, so check the ingredients. You can use olive oil instead, to help the consistency of the beans.
Mix in the chipotle chili powder and cumin to taste. Note that the avocados and the sour cream will cool down the spiciness of the beans considerably, so you can afford to be a bit more spicy than you might think.
Stir in salt to taste, depending on how salted your refried beans are to begin with, and depending on how salty the tortilla chips are that you are serving with the dip.
Once the beans are hot and bubbly, spread them over the bottom of a warmed serving dish. Immediately add the shredded cheese so that the heat from the beans helps melt the cheese.
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Top with sliced green onions and olives.
Serve immediately with tortilla chips.