Description
Black bean skillet dinner is THE MEAL for you if burrito bowls are your thing! It’s a vegetarian meal with spiced up and saucy black beans and all the toppings over a bed of rice. This is the perfect weeknight dinner that makes enough leftovers for lunches or that can be repurposed into tacos another night.
Ingredients
For the lime sour cream:
- Finely grated zest of 1 lime
- 1 garlic clove, grated or minced
- 1 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
For the pickled onions:
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the beans:
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 3 cubanelle peppers (Italian frying peppers) or 1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced (see note below)
- 1 small jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 3 cups (2 15oz cans) black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15oz) can diced tomatoes, with the juices
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more if needed
For serving (all optional):
- 2 cups white or brown rice, cooked according to package instructions (see note below)
- Sliced avocado
- Chopped cilantro
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- To make the lime sour cream: Mix all of the lime sour cream ingredients together in a small bowl; set aside.
- To make the pickled red onions: In a small bowl, squeeze the lime juice over the onions, and sprinkle with sugar and salt. Stir everything together and set aside. Stir occasionally while you make the rest of the meal.
- To make the black beans: Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat then toss in the onions and jalapeño, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and spices and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minutes, until fragrant.
- Mix the black beans, tomatoes, and water into the pan, bring to boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the beans have softened and mixture has thickened.
- To serve: Serve the black beans over the rice (if using) and top with avocado, cilantro, the pickled onions, lime sour cream, and squeeze of lime juice.
Notes
While this recipe doesn’t specifically call for rice, serving the jazzed-up black beans over a bed of it turns this already delicious meal into a vegetarian burrito bowl. And HELLO! Who could possibly turn that down for dinner??
White rice will cook in about 17 to 20 minutes and brown rice, in about 45 to 50 minutes, and both will cook easily in the time it takes you to prep and cook the rest of this black bean skillet dinner. If you have an Instant Pot, the rice will cook in about 7-10 minutes!
If you can find cubanelle peppers (also called Italian frying peppers) go ahead and grab them at the market. Otherwise, I think 1 poblano will do. If you’re standing at the fridge trying to cobble together this meal and don’t have either pepper, a green or red pepper will work too. Or skip the freaking peppers altogether – this meal won’t suffer without them!
adapted from Dinner: Changing the Game by Melissa Clark
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Additional Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Weeknight Dinners
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex
