Letter of recommendation: Make a deep skillet of your favorite taco or burrito filling, cover it with cheese and broil the whole lot of it in the oven, then scoop it up with tortilla chips. I hope you’re not asking “Why?” Because I know you heard the part about the lightly charred and gooey cheese on top? Did I mention that you get to eat chips for dinner, which, to be fair, you can do anytime you want (adulthood!) but this actually involves a lot of vegetables (adulthood excellence!).
Did I mention that kids are 200% more likely to eat a pan of beans and vegetables when it’s covered with cheese and comes with a bowl of chips? Because let’s be honest, this was a motivator, just as it was in 2017 when I encouraged us to bake large beans as if they were ziti and scoop it onto garlic bread. I want my kids to eat more beans and lentils so that I get to eat more beans and lentils, but they’re resistant. In the last couple years, I’ve doubled down, cooking lentils as if they were French onion soup, chickpeas as if they were brisket, and black beans as if they were queso fundido as often as I can get away with it. It’s essentially a large pan* of my favorite bean burrito filling and it’s highly flexible. Use the beans you’re craving and the vegetables you have. Add meat, if you’d like it, and more heat, especially if you’re not cooking for my offspring.
* Staub x Smitten Kitchen Braiser Friends, last month I announced that I was partnering with Staub to get them to bring back one of my favorite pans, a squat 4-quart Dutch oven I first bought in 2014 and have since cooked so many things in, it barely leaves my stove. Unfortunately, it sold out in a few hours and I never got to tell you about it over here. But, good news: a restock is expected on or about May 10th. They’re back in stock! You can order yours here.
Podcast! The fifth episode of my new podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, is out and it’s all about grilled cheese sandwiches, especially the kind you dip in tomato soup (Episode 4). You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts and I’ve set up a new podcast tab/page where you can keep up on it here, too. We have new episodes every two Mondays. We’ve been working on this behind the scenes for the last year — I hope you enjoy listening along.
Video
Previously
6 months ago: Olive Oil Brownies
1 year ago: Hash Brown Patties
2 year ago: Snacky Asparagus
3 year agos: Spring Asparagus Galette
4 years ago: Roast Chicken with Schmaltzy Cabbage
5 years ago: Cannellini Aglio e Olio
6 year ago: Fig Newtons and Crispy Tofu Pad Thai
7 years ago: Granola Bark
8 years ago: Caramelized Brown Sugar Oranges with Yogurt and Potato Pizza, Even Better
9 years ago: Why You Should Always Toast Your Nuts (Please!) and Obsessively Good Avocado-Cucumber Salad
10 years ago: Dark Chocolate Coconut Macaroons and Baked Eggs with Spinach and Mushrooms
11 years ago: Spinach and Smashed Egg Toast and Bee Sting Cake
12 years ago: Over-the-Top Mushroom Quiche and Banana Bread Crepe Cake with Butterscotch
13 years ago: Blackberry and Coconut Macaroon Tart
14 years ago: Baked Kale Chips and Almond Macaroon Torte with Chocolate Frosting
15 years ago: Artichoke-Olive Crostini and Chocolate Caramel Crackers
16 years ago: Spring Panzanella and Lemon Yogurt Anything Cake
17 years ago: Arborio Rice Pudding and Gnocchi with a Grater
Black Bean and Vegetable Bake
- 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, diced small
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 fresh jalapeño or habanero pepper, minced
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 to 3 teaspoons ground chili powder (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, or 2 to 3 cans Rotel
- Kosher salt
- 2 (15.5-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- Kosher salt
- 1 cup corn kernels, fresh (from 1 ear), canned and drained, or frozen (no need to thaw)
- 4 ounces baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 lime, halved
- 3/4 cup crumbled cotija cheese
- 6 to 8 ounces (1 1/2 to 2 cups) coarsely grated monterey jack or pepper jack cheese
- Tortilla chips
Meanwhile, heat your oven’s broiler, and if it doesn’t have a broiler, heat it as hot as it goes.
If your skillet isn’t ovenproof, pour mixture into a baking dish. Mix jack and cotija cheeses and sprinkle mixture over the beans. [The smaller amount of jack cheese covers the pan less thickly than shown here, and allows more sauce to bubble through. The larger amount is never unwelcome.] Transfer to broiler and cook until cheese is melted and browned on top. Eat right away with tortilla chips, hot sauce of your choice, and if you’re me, a squeeze of juice from the second half of the lime.
Do ahead: While the whole dish reheats well in a 350°F oven, if you’re planning to eat it later, I’d wait to put the cheese on until right before you serve it because cheese is at its most stretchy/gooey the first time it melts.
Ooh! Ooh! Suggestion for chips! You could also bake your own: before you prepare the vegetables, cut corn or flour tortillas into wedges, oil them a bit, place them on sheet pans, and slip the pans into the oven as soon as you turn it on. Watch (and smell) them like a hawk as you slice & dice, then pull the pans as soon as they’re to your liking. Salt & lime-juice them immediately and slide onto cooling racks.
I can’t wait to make this dip! It’s an immediate GIMME for me.
What temp do you bake the tortillas at to go with Deb’s delicious sounding black bean and veggie bake…which btw, I’m making tonight! :)
The temperature increases – in other words, it’s not static – because the chips bake while your oven heats. :) For me, it’s a way to harness the heat from zero to the right baking temp for the dip. It’s why I mentioned that you must watch and smell the baking progress of the chips instead of relying on X minutes at X degrees.
Can’t wait to make this tomorrow!
Struggling here. Recipe looks great but I can’t find the nutritional breakdown. Have I missed something obvious? Thanks.
Deb doesn’t do nutritional breakdowns. I copy paste her recipes into chatgpt. Based on 8 servings:
Total Calories: 250
Total Fat: Approximately 14-16 grams
Protein: Approximately 9-11 grams
Fiber: Approximately 6-8 grams
Don’t trust ChatGPT for nutritional information. It’s not looking it up in a database, just guessing probabilistically.
Thanks for the tip!
In general, it’s a good idea to not trust ChatGPT for any information, and always double-check it – Large Language Models are not made to be tools for providing correct information, they’re made to be tools for creating texts that look believably like texts written by humans. They do work on probability, and have a large database of previous texts, so sometimes the facts they come up with will be correct, but sometimes they won’t be, and they will state them all with the same confidence – because, again, their purpose is a believable text, not a *correct* text.
Kinda like using a dishwasher for cooking – sometimes, under certain circumstances, you might end up with alright food, but sometimes you won’t, because that’s simply not what this tool was made for.
I used a calorie tracking app and it shows: 329 cals, 34g carbs, 16g protein, 15g fat.
Fiber? Super important
This looks delicious! I look forward to trying. Must say though…. I don’t know if you have any control over the ads that appear with your e-mails, but the top one was linen shirts, ok, but the bottom one, right under the pic of your cookbooks, was a picture of a large dead rodent and an article on how to get rid of rodents “magically”. Most unappetizing.
What’s an alternative for Jack and Cotija cheese if i’ll be sourcing from a supermarket in Germany? :)
Feta for cotija- any mild soft cheese for jack-
Feta would probably work instead of cotija and mozzarella, provolone or fontina for the Monterey Jack cheese.
What a great dish I tried this dish with my Beans from JJT Beans. They are instant dehydrated beans so no need for rinsing of the black beans. My family loved this dish. I will keep this recipe. Thanks again for the great idea!
I used refried beans. Pretty good!
Yay, Deb! So excited to see a new recipe pop up so soon after the last one. We’ve missed you! (Though not as much as we might’ve if we didn’t have the delightful podcast to listen to. Looooving you and Kenji together–this is a dream come true!)
Jalapeno and habanero are two totally different levels of heat and then to suggest adding dried chillis? You’re all over the place.
The idea is to add “totally different levels of [both] heat” and flavor, probably.
Adjust the recipe to your liking, or don’t even make it if it doesn’t sound appealing, but please don’t be snarky here.
Alan this is simply not the vibe
This might be the best response I’ve ever seen to a rude and snarky comment! Perfect!
This is intentional, so you can use the level of heat you prefer. Chili powders also range significantly in heat levels, hence the range and gradual addition.
I made this recipe because the photos were so beautiful I had to have it for dinner. Great recipe! Thanks so much.
Omg I’m entirely too excited the Deb has published a recipe I’ve been making for years under the name “cheesy Mexican”. It was my riff in your pizza beans and is one of two ways to get my toddlers to eat vegetables. (And clean out the fridge.) I can now say I’ve made it!!!
And pro tip for fellow moms – leftovers of both make great toppings for English muffin pizza. toppings
Am eating this for dinner now. I didn’t have quite enough beans and had to omit the onion and chili for my picky crew, but it still turned out really well. Delicious!
I just cooked up some dried black beans and will give this a try! Does the can of diced tomatoes need to be drained before adding or does the whole thing, liquid and all, get added? Thanks!
Made this tonight and added tomatoes with juices- which is great, Simmering for a bit more than a minute will help reduce liquid without sacrificing flavor.
I make a similar dish but sometimes with maple chipotle sweet potato mash underneath and sometimes with brown rice cooked with salsa… a “tex-mex shepherd’s pie”. Serve topped with green onions, sour cream, and salsa. It is quick, easy, and yummy.
This was delicious. My husband and I had it tonight for Cinco de Mayo. I think there is a discrepancy in the amounts of chili powder. The ingredients list indicated 2-3 tablespoons and the instructions talk about 2-3 teaspoons. I used 1 tablespoon which was just right for us. I also used 3 cans of Rotel which made it a bit runny. I will go with 2 cans next time. Either way we really enjoyed this.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit! Three young kiddos all ate it without complaint :) love how many veggies are in this, and I can see a lot of customization if needed. We were out of cumin, so I subbed a little coriander. And I also went without jalapeño for my littles. We’re all looking forward to having it again – tasty, quick, easy!
Wow, looks great, and the concept is so simple! I will definitely be making and riffing on this.
This is Ali Slagle’s Cheesy Spicy Black Beans Bake
Deb has used this filling before, including in this taco torte recipe published in 2016: https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/02/taco-torte/ She attributed it to its original source. She’s made burritos with that filling too. This bake is another incarnation.
I looked up Ali’s recipe, which was published in 2021, and this is indeed the same concept, but Ali’s version doesn’t include all the extra veggies.
(Dug a little deeper and it looks like Ali’s recipe was originally published in the New York Times in 2020)
I was curious, so I looked up Ali’s recipe. The ingredients list for Ali’s recipe is half as long as Deb’s, and the only common ingredients are olive oil, garlic, black beans, cumin, tomato paste, and salt, which on their own make for a pretty basic black bean recipe. Deb is also excellent about attributing recipes to their original source — she always includes a line on the recipe card noting from where she got or adapted a recipe. I’m curious why you think one white lady might own the concept of melting cheese over black beans.
This is fabulous!!! I can’t wait to make it for a gathering, and again for myself. I had some Rancho Gordo black beans to cook, so I used them instead of canned. So many possibilities of variations, yet excellent just as written. Also, this will please my gluten free friends!
I did this and stuffed poblano peppers with the leftovers. Delicious!
That’s a great idea!!!
This is wonderful: I used queso fresco and put it on rice, mostly because I couldn’t quite refer to it as dinner, if it only came with chips.
What veggies would you replace the peppers and corn with?
Any other vegetable you’d like here would work — it’s totally flexible.
So what if pizza beans but tex mex – got it and am a fan 😍
Yum! NYT has a great recipe for a a pinto bean green Chile bake that’s similar but this incorporates even more veggies! One great shortcut I take from that recipe that I think would work here is to use your favorite jarred salsa in place of the tomatoes/spices.
Just made this (more or less as written) for our weekly several-couple happy hour. It was wonderful — thanks for the delicious recipe!
I made this last night, mostly as written, with the addition of a chopped red bell pepper and 1 lb. of Impossible meat, which I added to the onion and bell pepper and broke up into small chunks. I also used less cheese and a variety based on what was in my fridge, but the browning on top was really nice. Very satisfying and very tasty!
Yum! I am putting half the casserole, without cheese in the freezer as we’re a household of two, but I think we’ll pull it out in a few days. 7 veggies plus cheese and lime juice for the win. Thanks, Deb!
This was absolutely delicious! The second time I made it, I got a little frisky and decided to sauté and shred a few chicken thighs and stir them in to the mixture, and then I treated it as a burrito filling. It was great! Already one of my all-time SK favorites!
Very tasty, easy recipe. I made with two cans of hot Rotel tomatoes and one can of original recipe Rotel, two jalapeño peppers, and topped with jalapeño and habanero Monterey Jack cheese. Even as an adult it was fun to eat with tortilla chips. Will make this again.
Delicious!! My kids are very skeptical of anything containing beans. 4 year old said, “I’m not eating that!” With a little help, she kept scooping until every bit on her plate was gone, declaring, “Well, that was way better than I thought it was going to be.” 7 year old asked for seconds. Big win!!
Because there’s only one of me, I cut the recipe in half, and I still have lots of leftovers. The only change I had to make was to substitute queso fresco for cotija. It was delicious and I will make it again!
Delicious! Made it tonight. Added a handful of fresh cilantro to the dish with the spinach and another handful on top after it came out of the oven + fresh jalapeño slices.
This was great…I did add ground beef just after the onion mixture. Family gobbled it up!
So I made this with minor adjustments, chard instead of spinach because it’s feral in my yard, half black beans half pinto, and added a chopped zucchini because I had one. We ate a third of the results as chip dip, which the kids loved. One third went in a pot with a carton of chicken stock for ten minute soup. The final third is frozen and will join seasoned ground turkey to make a quick chili for baked potatoes. So many delicious meals out of one simple, affordable recipe. Deb, you are a mother’s lifesaver.
I have everything for this in my pantry/fridge/garden right now. It’s 45 minutes until lunch. I have my mission.
Would appreciate the nutrition breakdown
As someone who’s gone through the experience of recovering from an eating disorder, which is a battle that never really stops, I really appreciate that Deb does not include the nutritional breakdown in her posts. That said, I also appreciate that other folks in other situations like to know what it is, but it’s not too terribly difficult to calculate yourself (speaking, again, as someone who used to do so for every single one of my meals and snacks).
In any case, someone else in the comments already calculated it—feel free to scroll up or ctrl + F to find it.
Delicious! Used jalapeño, red bell pepper, medium chili powder. I’d like it spicier, husband was very happy with spice level.
Mixed cheddar and Monterey Jack to use up partial cheese bits. And the cotija.
Made this last night, both my 2.5 year old and I loved it although he is not usually a fan of beans! I prefer my tomato sauce on the sweet side so next time will add a teaspoon or two of sugar and skip the lime juice.
Just took this out from under the broiler, can’t wait to try it! Used feta in place of cotija (couldn’t find it) and added a pound of Impossible burger, looks like another SK winner – thank you!!
This was so delicious! Greater than the sum of its parts. I’ve made it twice in 3 weeks and will continue to keep it in rotation. We ate it in tortillas topped with Greek yogurt.
I made this recipe and it was delicious. My oven proof skillet would not hold the full amount so I had to switch to a larger skillet. I had plenty of leftovers for the two of us.
This looks amazing! I might add lentils to it too. Do you think you could sub kale or other greens besides spinach? Or is a less sturdy green to blend more seamlessly like spinach essential?
Yes, it’s totally flexible. Also check out the French Onion Baked Lentils and Farro.
Made this for dinner last night and it was a huge hit! We finished off the leftovers for lunch today. Will definitely be making this again!