Quick Black Beans

Ingredients

Beans

• 2 16oz cans of black beans

Sauce

• 2 lime, juiced
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp hot sauce (optional, I usually use El Yucateo Black Label Reserve to add a mild heat and a bit of smokiness)
• ½ Tbsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp smoked paprika
• ⅛ tsp MSG
• ⅛ tsp fine grained sea salt (¼ tsp if not adding a salty hot sauce)

Improved Sauce

If you have an extra minute or two, some additional spices work well:

• ¼ tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp ancho chili power

Recipe

1. Drain beans.
2. Combine sauce ingredients and whisk into a sauce.
3. Combine drained beans and sauce in small sauce pan.
4. Heat beans on medium heat until simmering, reduce to low and simmer uncovered for ~10 minutes or until sauce is thickened (depending on heat may take a few minutes less)

Notes

MSG is key to this recipe.

I've never made this with dry beans because it's intended to be a quick 10-15 minute base for a meal or a side. About 285g of dry black beans should be equivalent to about two cans of beans. If using rehydrated beans, some extra liquid may be needed.

Low Salt version can be made by using no-salt-added black beans and optionally dropping the sea salt.

Sources

Inspired many years ago by Home-EC 101's Black Bean Burrito Recipe.

'Asked whether it is a good thing that the course of our civilization being largely directed by gigantic immortal, belligerent, unsleeping multiheaded tax-avoiding parakeets whose unnatural lusts can never be sated, Dr. Larkey declined to comment, noting that "corporations have the rights of personhood in this country" and that "it is not my place to criticize the law".'

Last Modified: October 29, 2023