This creamy white bean dip is an easy and versatile recipe you can make in a blender or food processor in 10 minutes.
It’s excellent as an appetizer or snack with veggie sticks, warm pita bread, or pita chips, but it’s also delicious as a spread in a sandwich, wrap, or crunchy crostini.
Our white bean dip recipe is luxurious, creamy, wholesome, and delicious. Bring it to your next potluck, barbecue, or game night!
Table of Contents
Dietary Note: This recipe is suitable for a vegetarian and gluten-free diet. Make it vegan with dairy-free yogurt.
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What is white bean dip?
Our creamy white bean dip is a dip or spread similar to hummus but made with white beans instead of chickpeas.
Our recipe yields an ultra-creamy, smooth, and light dip.
Here, we’ll share all the tips and secrets to making the creamiest and tastiest dip.
Similar recipes: roasted red pepper hummus, avocado spread, lentil hummus.
Ingredients for white bean dip
Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
White beans
You can use canned white beans or dry white beans that you previously soaked for 8 hours and cooked for 1 to 2 hours or until tender.
Any white bean type works, such as cannellini beans, navy beans, great northern beans, or Lima beans.
We use cannellini beans. Here’s our guide on how to cook white beans, should you need it.
White bean water (aquafaba)
White bean water, or aquafaba, is the liquid found in a can of white beans or the leftover liquid from cooking dry beans at home.
Adding some liquid to your white bean dip recipe makes it more creamy, flavorful, and airy.
We learned this trick from some of the best hummus makers, and we can’t recommend it enough.
Tahini
Tahini adds a rich, velvety texture and creamy consistency to the dip. It also has a beautiful nutty flavor.
We recommend using tahini made from 100% hulled sesame seeds, light in color and with a pourable consistency for best results.
Avoid dark, gritty, and pasty tahini, as it’s often bitter.
Greek yogurt
Thick Greek-style yogurt adds richness and makes the dip more luxurious.
You can use 0% or fat-free Greek yogurt or a fatter one; that’s up to you.
For vegans: Substitute a Greek-style non-dairy yogurt. We tried a soy-based one, and it worked wonderfully.
Lemon
Freshly squeezed lemon juice adds freshness and citrusy notes.
Olive oil
A good quality extra virgin olive oil improves the texture and flavor of the dip.
Garlic (optional)
Garlic is optional. We recommend against adding multiple garlic cloves as the raw garlic flavor intensifies as the bean dip sits in the fridge.
Cumin (optional)
Cumin is optional.
Salt and pepper
Choose sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper to make the dip spicy.
Garnish
- Extra virgin olive oil.
- Chopped herbs like fresh parsley, dill, fresh rosemary, chives, green onions, etc.
- Grated lemon zest (optional).
How to make a creamy white bean dip
US cups + grams measurements in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
Add the white bean liquid (aquafaba), drained white beans, fresh lemon juice, garlic (if using), salt, and black pepper to a food processor.
Blend for 3 minutes.
Add tahini, Greek yogurt, and cumin (if using).
Blend for 2 minutes.
Now add the olive oil and, if necessary, some water to reach your desired consistency.
Blend for 2 more minutes.
Taste and adjust for salt before transferring to a serving bowl with fresh herbs.
Serving suggestions
This white bean dip recipe is perfect for appetizers, snacks, picnics and potlucks, barbeques, and game nights.
Serve it as a dip
Serve white bean dip with:
- Pita bread
- Focaccia
- Falafel
- Chickpea fritters
- Lentil patties
- Crackers
- Pita chips
- Veggies (carrot sticks, celery sticks, bell pepper, and cucumber)
Or serve it as a spread
- On crostini, topped with sumac onions, roasted peppers, tomato confit, shaved asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, and more.
- In a sandwich
- In a focaccia sandwich
- In a wrap
Or as pasta sauce
Cook the pasta al dente and toss it with a generous dollop of white bean dip.
Add some whole white beans for extra texture, plenty of parsley, and a drizzle of high-quality olive oil.
In less than 15 minutes, you’ll have a quick, wholesome, and delicious family dinner on the table.
Variations
White bean dip with red beet
You can easily vary this bean dip by following the same recipe and adding one ready-to-eat peeled and cooked red beet.
Other vegetables that you can easily add are:
Storage & Make Ahead
Make ahead: White bean dip is an excellent recipe for meal prep. It keeps well for days and is easy to store. You can make it beforehand and bring it to picnics, potlucks, and barbecues.
Refrigerator: Keek the dip in an airtight container in the fridge for three days.
Freezer: We don’t recommend freezing this recipe.
Tips
Use soft white beans: Sometimes, canned white beans can be as hard as a bullet, which is not ideal when making a creamy white bean dip recipe. If that’s the case with your beans, we recommend boiling them in their canning liquid for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender.
Don’t forget the bean liquid or aquafaba: That’s the liquid in a can of beans (or the liquid leftover from cooking your dry beans). The best hummus makers use it to make dips that are light, fluffy, and packed with flavor. It works beautifully in this recipe, so don’t forget to add some.
Cook your beans: To cook your dry white beans, soak them first in plenty of water for 12 hours or overnight.
Rinse them and add them to a large pot, cover with water by about 5 inches (12 cm), add a teaspoon of baking soda, and simmer until very tender (about 1 to 2 hours, depending on the size and age of the beans). Add two teaspoons of salt 30 minutes after they start boiling.
More white bean recipes
- White bean salad
- Tuscan white bean soup
- Spaghetti aglio e olio with cannellini
- Creamy kale soup
- Piyaz (Turkish white bean salad)
More dips and spreads
Are you looking for a quick snack idea or inspiration for an appetizer board? These dip recipes are easy to make and with few ingredients:
Dips and Spreads
Hummus
Dips and Spreads
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Dips and Spreads
Baba Ganoush Recipe
Dips and Spreads
Lentil hummus
White Bean Dip
Equipment
- Food processor or standing blender
Ingredients
- 2 cans (15 ounces each) white beans or 3 cups cooked white beans / you can use Navy beans, Cannellini, Lima, or Great Northern beans
- ¼ cup aquafaba the liquid in a can or the cooking liquid of white beans / substitute water
- ½ cup fat-free Greek yogurt substitute non-dairy Greek-style yogurt
- ¼ cup tahini from 100% hulled sesame seeds, light in color, and of pourable consistency
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt + 2 twists black pepper
- 1 clove garlic optional
- ¼ teaspoon cumin optional
- 1 pinch dill substitute parsley, chives, spring onions
Instructions
- To a food processor, add ¼ cup aquafaba, 2 cans (15 ounces each) white beans (drained), 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 clove garlic (if using), ½ teaspoon salt, and 2 twists black pepper.Blend for 3 minutes.
- Add ½ cup fat-free Greek yogurt, ¼ cup tahini, and ¼ teaspoon cumin (if using). Blend for 2 minutes.
- Add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, and, if necessary add more water to reach your desired consistency.Blend for 2 more minutes, then taste and adjust for salt before serving in a bowl with 1 pinch dill or other fresh herbs.
Notes
Nutrition
If you liked this white bean dip, you might also like:
Just made this quick and easy recipe for lunch. We put it on homemade bread and added microgreens, tomatoes and spinach. Yum. Thank you
Fantastic, Teale – that sounds like a delicious (and beautiful!) lunch idea. Well done!
Thank you so much for your feedback. All the best,
Louise
I love your recipes and am wondering what you would suggest I use instead of tahini ( allergies here !). Many thanks ! I can’t wait to continue to follow and make your recipes !
Hi Jan, thanks so much for your kind comment! Tell me, what kind of foods are you trying to avoid?
When we’re out of tahini, we’ve used these:
– Greek yogurt (or vegan greek yogurt)
– Other nut butters (cashew butter or sunflower seed butter)
If you use yogurt, you might wanna add extra lemon juice for an added tangy flavor.
I hope this helps. Let me know.
Kindest, Louise