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.
Mexican bean vegetarian pâté
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!
Lovely meal.
Hi
i have a nut allergy are they necessary or is there an alternative?
regards
The nut + bean combination is what gives it the pate-like texture. You could definitely skip the nuts altogether, as long as you’re happy to end up with more like a bean dip rather than a firm pate. It will be yummy either way :)
This is good. We had it yesterday and everyone loved this vegetarian pate. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Fab! I’m so glad you all enjoyed it! :)
Sounds good! Will try tonight.
I make a vegetarian ‘chopped liver’. I put into a food processor, 5 hardboiled eggs, a cup of chopped walnuts, 2 onions, sliced and sauteed. Any oil left from sauteeing gets added. Whizz in processor, add salt and pepper to taste.
Delicious.
Sounds really interesting! Must try that :)
Brilliant! I have all the ingredients in my pantry so I’m doing this tonight. Thank you!
Thanks Nicola, hope you enjoyed it!
I am drooling over this right now and was just thinking after looking in the supermarket I should make some. I shall take inspiration from you and throw some beans and spices in my blender and give it a whizz. Yum!
Shared xx
Enjoy! :)
This looks yummy, I mostly do variations on hummus, I love your walnut idea
The walnuts make it feel a bit firmer and more substantial, so it’s thicker and more like a pate than hummus :)