Roasted Garlic White Bean Dip

This dip is a great healthy alternative to dips full of mayo or sour cream. Because it uses beans for the base and roasted garlic to add tons of flavor, it doesn't need all of the fat. A little healthy olive oil is all it takes. This dip is very similar to a hummus but uses great northern beans instead of chick peas and I left out the tahini. It works well with vegetables, crackers, or pita bread.

I used parsley in this recipe since I was making it for the shower and I knew some people weren't a fan of cilantro but you could use cilantro to bump up the flavor even more. I also used curly parsley for this because its what we had but I would recommend using flat-leaf parsley.

Roasted Garlic White Bean Dip
Recipe adapted from Amy at She Wears Many Hats

2 cans Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley or cilantro
1 head garlic
2-3 T olive oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel off most of the paper skin of the garlic and slice off the top of the garlic. Place the garlic on a large square of aluminum foil and pour about 1 T of olive oil over the top of the garlic. Wrap loosely with foil, place on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes until the cloves are brown, soft and fragrant. Set aside and let cool for about 30 minutes.

Add rinsed beans to food processor, add herbs, cayenne, salt and pepper and pulse several times. Slowly stream in remaining olive oil with motor running until the dip is uniform and relatively smooth. Transfer to a serving dish and serve with vegetables, crackers, or pita bread.