Mexican bean vegetarian pâté

I love making vegetarian pâté, and this Mexican bean version is one of my favourites yet – so much flavour from just a few simple ingredients.

My go to base for vegetarian pâté is always walnuts with some kind of bean or chickpeas. It gives a fantastic thick, spreadable texture that’s full of protein. I suppose you could experiment with different kinds of nuts too if you fancy it, but for this spicy Mexican bean vegetarian pâté I stuck with my tried and tested combination. This time I used kidney beans, which gave the pâté a slightly pink colour.

I also added garlic, coriander (cilantro), lime juice, and a few of my favourite spices. It has so much flavour!

I could honestly eat this stuff straight from the bowl with a spoon, but if you want to be a bit more creative, you could try using it to make a spicy mushroom wellington, a tasty vegan sandwich, dolloping it on top of a burrito bowl, or smearing it on toasted slices of baguette, like I did. Just brush a few slices of crusty bread lightly with olive oil and pop them under a grill (broiler) or into a hot griddle pan for a couple of minutes. Smear them with the Mexican bean pâté, and serve with an extra squeeze of lime juice – soo yum.

This vegetarian pâté keeps really well in the fridge, so feel free to make a double batch to use for lunches through the week. It’s a relatively healthy lunch option (especially served with a nice big salad on the side), and definitely the kind of thing you’ll look forward to day after day! I might make another batch today, actually – it only takes a couple of minutes.

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Mexican bean vegetarian pâté

Prep Time5 mins

Total Time5 mins

Servings: 4 people

Calories:

Author: Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 70 g walnuts (~ 3/4 cup)
• 400 g tin kidney beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
• 1 small clove garlic, peeled
• Few sprigs fresh coriander (cilantro)
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or a little less, to taste)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• Salt
• Black pepper

Instructions

• Add all the ingredients to a food processor, and blitz thoroughly. Serve lightly chilled.

Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/4 of the batch.

Why not try spreading this Mexican bean vegetarian pâté inside a Mexican torta – one of my favourite sandwiches ever!