Benefits of Sprouting + Sprouted Pinto Bean Dip Recipe
LMents of Style uses affiliate links. By clicking on certain hyperlinks and buying a product, you may help me make a small commission from your purchase. It's links like these that keep this site going. Thank you for your support!
I think Iāve mentioned it before on LMoS, but I LOVE BEANS. All beans. Any kind of beans! I could eat a bowl of them as a meal. Get the picture? Naturally I love bean dip. Chips, salsa, guac, queso, and bean dip? Sounds like my kind of party. Siete (youāve probably heard of their grain free chips and tortillas) released a sprouted bean dip in the last year and it is SO GOOD. Iād gladly pay the $6.99 for a 10.8 oz jar over and over, but the problem is that I have trouble finding it. I use the locater on their website, but the employees at recommended stores look at me like Iām crazy when I ask about it. Iāve never been able to find it at Whole Foods; however, I have found it a couple of times at Erewhon Market! The sad part is they are currently sold out and have been for several weeks.
Rather than complaining, I decided to take matters into my own hands! I started reading up on sprouting and gave my own sprouted bean dip a go. Itās not hard, but it is a labor of love. Youāll robably want to just buy the $6.99 jar when I tell you what it takes, but let me tell you it is worth it! Point being, this isnāt a recipe you can make day of if you want sprouted beans. At the very least, it is a 3 day process.
Okay so WHY sprouted beans?
Beans in their normal state (unsprouted) can be difficult to digest. Because of this, they typically wind up causing bloating and gas. The short answer is that sprouted beans ease digestion and increase food absorption. By sprouting your beans, you increase intake of vitamins and minerals - think vitamin b, c, protein, iron, zinc, fiber, and more! Sprouting also decreases carbs and starch components, basically making it more of a vegetable and less like a legume. I have ulcerative colitis, so anything I can do to ease digestion is good by me!!
Benefits of consuming sprouting beans
easier to digest
absorbs more food nutrients
increases intake of vitamins and minerals
decreases carbs and starches
ManiMe Co Golden Aura Nail Customer Nail Stickers - get $5 off with discount code ELLEMULENOS
HOW TO SPROUT THE BEANS
Wellllll this is the part that takes a day or two. To be specific it took me 3 days.
DAY 1: Soak your beans overnight (for at least 8 hours.) This is something you should be doing when you cook dry beans regardless! They will double by taking on the water. This makes them softer, creamier, and allows them to cook in a shorter period of time.
I used a 32 oz mason jar as my container. They make specific sprouting jars/lids/stands, but I just used what I had on hand. Youāll want the jar about 3/4 full with water which usually comes out to about 2-3 times the bean to water ration. To be specific I used 3/4 cup of organic dry pinto beans and put in about 2 cups of water. I rinsed them, then placed them in my mason jar. Next I covered the jar with a press and seal / saran rap type of cover and poked several holes in the top. I stored the jar in a hall closet, because it was dark and cool there. You want it to be in a cool temperature, as this is the best environment for beans to sprout.
Note that you can sprout pretty much anything! Youāll need to be careful to store in cool places so you donāt grow mold; however, that shouldnāt come close to happening if you keep an eye on them.
DAY 2: Dump the jar over a strainer and rinse the beans. Place them back in the jar but donāt fill it up with water this time. Place the breathable covering back on top and tilt the jar at an angle with the bean side pointed down. You want them to get air and be able to drain excess water. You can get a stand to do this, but I just tilted it in a bowl I already had by propping the jar up next to a smaller bowl. It worked fine! You still want a cool environment, but I just kept mine on the kitchen counter or on the kitchen table at this point. **I show images of what my setup looked like below!
Repeat the dump, rinse, place upside down step every 3-4 hours during the day. You do this to prevent mold! Youāll do this until you start seeing sprouts. I started to see small sprouts before I went to bed on day 2, but they werenāt on every bean and were very small. And no, I didnāt wake up every 3-4 hours to rinse the beans. That means they were left overnight / no rinsing. They were fine!
DAY 3: Repeat the dump, rinse, place upside down step every 3-4 hours until you have the sprouts you desire! I did this twice on day 3 and was happy with where the beans were at. After this, sprouting is done!! You can either place them into the fridge at this point or move onto cooking.
HOW TO COOK THE BEANS
Thatās right. You still have more work to do after sprouting!
Rinse the sprouted beans off once more, then place them with water in a large pot. Bring it to boil, then cover and let it simmer for 1.5 - 2 hours. I have cooked them using my soup pot and sauce pan (this still looks like a pot IMO but has the long handle) and I prefer my sauce pan!
I used 3/4 cup dry pinto beans before sprouting and used about 3 cups of water to cook*. If you want a round number, I would have used 4 cups of water had I used a full cup of beans! You can add anything you want at this point, but I just added salt at this step to help bring out the flavor of the beans. I knew I wanted to work on the actual flavor when after cooking / when I was making the dip. I just used 6 ish sprinkles of salt. I did 3 when I first started cooking and 3 more about halfway through cooking. If you want an actual measurement, I probably used a total of 3 tsp while cooking - 1.5 tsp at the beginning and 1.5 tsp halfway through.
Note - Iāve tried cooking these with more water (5-6 cups for 3/4 cup dry, added an extra 1.5 tsp salt). Not only did I feel the need to add more salt, but it also created a more soupy dip. I donāt drain the beans when I cook with 3 cups of water. I didnāt drain them when trying with more water either, though I did have to measure out the 2 cups to make sure more beans than liquid got in the food processor. The ācooked with more water and saltā version created a soupier and saltier dip. If you must cook with more water, donāt add any extra salt in the cooking process OR just donāt add as much salt in the food processor step.
After they were done cooking, I could have honestly eaten them up right then they were so good!! You can move onto the dip making step at this point or refrigerate until you are ready. I left mine in the fridge for a couple days, as I wasnāt ready to make the dip yet.
Note - Iāve made the dip immediately after cooking and also next day. I think I prefer the next day for dip making or at least after they have had time to cool. This makes for more congealed, less soupy dip. This really only matters if you plan to eat immediately, which typically I do. Hah!
Left: How I angled the beans to drain / breathe / sprout
Right: The sprouted beans, ready to be cooked
HOW TO MAKE THE DIP
I loved (and still love) Fritoās bean dip, but this one is obviously healthier since it is sprouted. My husband says this dip gives Sieteās a run for their money. Try it out and let me know what you think!
INGREDIENTS
2 cups of cooked, sprouted pinto beans, undrained (this is what youāll get from 3/4 cup dry pinto beans)
1 large clove garlic, roasted (about 1 TBS, you can use 2 cloves if they are on the smaller side)
1/4 cup yellow onion, roasted
1/2 medium jalapeƱo, roasted (about 2 tsp, sans seeds)
3/4 medium green bell pepper, roasted (about 1/3 cup)
1/4 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp coconut sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 400 degrees and roast garlic, onion, jalapeƱo, and bell pepper. I roasted the entire/whole bell pepper and jalapeƱo as is, on my pizza stone. I roasted the entire head of garlic by chopping off the top, placing it in foil and sprinkled olive oil and salt over it. I twisted the foil closed and placed it on the pizza stone. I had 1/2 yellow onion in the fridge, so I roasted the entire half in foil, just like the garlic. Note youāll have leftover of all of these if you follow my recipe. Roasted veggies are yummy and great for scrambles, rice bowls, and more! Keep what you donāt use and do something yummy with it.
***You donāt have to roast your veggies, but I prefer it. It makes them blend more smoothly and melds the taste together. I have done it before where I forgot to roast the bell pepper and just threw it into the food processor. It is still good, bu the flavor is brighter and a little bitter, as it becomes more bell pepper forward. Would HIGHLY recommend going forward with the roasting step.
Once your veggies have roasted, place the allotted amount of them in a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients. Process for 1 - 2 minutes until smooth. Do not over process or it will become soupy. It will still taste good, but will not have the more structured texture that bean dip is known for.
Place bean dip in a jar and refrigerate. I personally love it chilled, but it tastes good straight out of the food processor! I placed mine in a couple glass jars and had about 15 oz of bean dip! For reference most of it fit in my Siete queso jar here which is about 10.8 oz. I filled it pretty much all the way to the top. I also filled a 4 oz glass jar to the top too. Both jars were filled more than my Siete products come filled if that helps you visually.
Left: a close up of a sprout!
Right: the cooked beans, ready to be made into a dip
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. It will be perfect for these summer nights at home, not to mention it is super cost effective! I bought a 1.08 lb container of organic pinto beans from Whole Foods for $2.47 and still have most of the container, as I only used 3/4 of a cup! I used less than a dollars worth of beans (about 72 cents worth), the organic bell pepper was $1.99, the organic jalapeƱo was .99, and organic onion was $1.29. I obviously didnāt use 100% of the produce, but just wanted to share, as making it myself cost a fraction of the price that it sells for in store. As you can see, it does take a lot of time, so the price it is selling for is definitely worth it in a pinch.
Note you donāt have to roast the veggies for this recipe, but it makes them have such a wonderful flavor and blend better. It also make them easier for your body to digest just like the sprouted beans. It does have a bit of a kick, but it isnāt too spicy for Nick so I think most people can handle it. If you want, just leave out the cayenne pepper you can. You can also start by adding a pinch and go from there. Remember you can always add more in, but you canāt take it back out.
ALSO now that you know about sprouting, you can sprout most legumes, seeds, or nuts! Read up on other things though, because there is for sure a science. I love black beans, but didnāt use them for this recipe, as I was trying to replicate the Frito / Siete style dips. Additionally, black beans are apparently harder to sprout than pinto beans. The other thing I learned is that if you are going to sprout kidney beans make sure you boil them and donāt eat them raw. I know some people like to grow the sprouts long and eat those alone, so I think it is just referencing the actual sprouts, as youād obviously boil the beans prior to eating them.
Happy sprouting and dipping!! XOXO
Click here to subscribe to my weekly newsletter. I recap the week and share recent posts you might have missed!
