Make your favorite taco or burrito filling, dump it in a skillet, cover it with cheese, broil until bubbly, and eat it with chips — yes, it’s basically dinner and yes, the kids will eat their vegetables.
Kids are far more likely to eat a pan of beans and veg when it’s covered in melted cheese and served with chips. I’ve used this trick before — think baked beans-as-ziti — and I’m doubling down on it now: cook lentils like French onion soup, make chickpeas like brisket, and black beans like queso fundido whenever possible. This bake is essentially a panful of my favorite bean-burrito filling and it’s extremely flexible: use the beans and vegetables you have, add meat if you like, or turn up the heat if you’re not feeding children.
If you want a smaller batch: halve the recipe and use a 2-quart baking dish or an 8-inch ovenproof skillet. You can also make the full amount and freeze half (freeze before adding cheese), then bake the rest right away.
Black Bean and Vegetable Bake
Servings: 8
Time: 45–50 minutes
Source: Smitten Kitchen
Note: This makes a lot — we usually eat it multiple times. When chips run out, we scoop it into tortillas and keep going.
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced small
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 fresh jalapeño or habanero, minced (adjust to taste)
1 bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2–3 teaspoons ground chili powder, to taste
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes (or 2–3 cans Rotel if you like heat)
Kosher salt (see notes on amount below)
2 (15.5-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup corn kernels (fresh from 1 ear, or canned drained, or frozen)
4 ounces baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 lime, halved
3/4 cup crumbled cotija cheese
6–8 ounces (1½–2 cups) coarsely grated Monterey Jack or pepper jack
Tortilla chips, for serving
Preheat a large ovenproof skillet or sauté pan over medium–high heat. Add the oil and when it’s hot, add the diced onion, garlic, minced jalapeño (or habanero), and bell pepper. Cook until softened, about 4–5 minutes.
Stir in the ground cumin, 2 teaspoons of chili powder, and tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute to toast the spices.
Add the diced tomatoes and simmer 1 minute, then stir in the black beans and simmer 2–3 minutes to warm through. Taste and season with kosher salt — I usually need 2–3 teaspoons (Diamond kosher), but adjust to your palate. If you want more heat, add the remaining 1 teaspoon of chili powder.
Fold in the corn and chopped spinach and cook until the spinach wilts and everything is hot. Squeeze the juice of half a lime over the mixture and taste again; correct seasoning as needed.
Preheat your oven broiler (or set the oven as hot as it goes if you don’t have a broiler). If your skillet is not ovenproof, transfer the bean mixture to a baking dish.
Combine the Monterey Jack (or pepper jack) and cotija cheeses, then sprinkle the cheese mixture evenly over the beans. The smaller amount of jack yields more bubbling sauce; more jack equals gooier cheese coverage — both are delicious.
Broil until the cheese melts and browns in spots. Serve immediately with tortilla chips, hot sauce if you like, and a squeeze of the remaining lime half.
black bean vegetable bake-7
Reheat leftovers covered in a 350°F oven.
If planning to eat later, wait to add and broil the cheese until just before serving — melted cheese is at its peak the first time it melts.
You can freeze half the batch before adding cheese; thaw and finish with fresh cheese and broil when ready to serve.
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