This refried bean dip is creamy, cheesy, and easy to make! Serve it warm with tortilla chips for a delicious party appetizer or game day snack.
This bean dip recipe is the ultimate party appetizer! It’s creamy, it’s cheesy, and it’s perfect for scooping up with tortilla chips. Just make sure to hit up the snack table right after it comes out of the oven. This bean dip disappears QUICK!
And I haven’t told you the best part yet: this bean dip recipe is easy to make. It calls for refried beans (you can use canned or homemade), so instead of blending the dip in a food processor, you can simply stir it together in a bowl.
Spread it in a baking dish, sprinkle it with cheese, and bake until the top is melty and bubbly. From there, just add your favorite garnishes and dig in!
Bean Dip Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this bean dip recipe:
- Refried beans – Canned and homemade refried beans both work well here! You’ll need 2 cups homemade or 1 (16-ounce) can refried pinto beans.
- Sour cream – It adds richness to the dip and perfects its creamy texture. If you don’t keep sour cream on hand, feel free to substitute plain Greek yogurt.
- Canned diced green chiles – They add delicious tangy flavor.
- Taco seasoning – Use store-bought or make homemade taco seasoning with spices like chili powder, cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder. Note whether or not your taco seasoning is salted. If it is, you may not need to add much salt to the dip.
- Shredded cheese – For topping! I like to use shredded cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, or a Mexican cheese blend.
- And a lime wedge – Squeeze it over the dip before serving for a pop of bright flavor.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Bean Dip
This refried bean dip is so simple to make!
First, mix together the dip ingredients. Place the refried beans, sour cream, green chiles, and taco seasoning in a medium bowl, and stir to combine.
Next, taste the dip. Does it need more taco seasoning or salt? If it does, add some. Continue tasting and adjusting until you love the flavor. The amount of salt and spices you need will depend on the potency of your taco seasoning and whether or not your seasoning and refried beans are salted.
Get ahead! Stir together the refried beans, sour cream, green chiles, and taco seasoning up to 2 days in advance, and store the mixture in an airtight container in the fridge.
With this step out of the way, you’ll be able to easily bake off the bean dip just before serving.
Then, bake the dip. Evenly spread it in an 8-inch cast-iron skillet or baking dish. Top with the cheese, leaving a bit of the dip exposed around the edges.
Bake at 375°F until the cheese is melted and the dip is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.
Let the dip cool for 5 minutes before garnishing it, squeezing it with lime juice, and serving.
Bean Dip Serving Suggestions
I love this refried bean dip with fresh garnishes on top! Before serving, load it up with any of the following:
- Halved cherry tomatoes or diced plum tomatoes
- Thinly sliced green onions
- Thinly sliced jalapeños or serranos
- Sliced or diced avocado
- Chopped fresh cilantro
I also love to add one tangy, salty topping for extra depth of flavor. Cotija cheese is my favorite, but pickled jalapeños or even black olives would be fun too.
Enjoy with tortilla chips!
More Favorite Dip Recipes
If you love this easy bean dip recipe, try one of these party dips next:
- Best Guacamole
- Corn Dip
- Jalapeño Popper Dip
- French Onion Dip
- Avocado Salsa
- Or any of these 35 Best Party Dip Recipes!
Best Bean Dip
Ingredients
- Avocado oil, for the pan
- 1 (16-ounce) can refried beans, or 2 cups Homemade Refried Beans
- ½ cup sour cream or whole milk Greek yogurt
- 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles, drained
- 1 to 2 teaspoons taco seasoning
- Sea salt
- ⅔ cup grated cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend
- Lime wedge, for squeezing
- Tortilla chips, for serving
Topping options
- Halved cherry tomatoes or diced plum tomatoes
- Thinly sliced green onions
- Thinly sliced jalapeño or serrano peppers
- Sliced or diced avocado
- Cotija cheese
- Chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and oil an 8x8-inch baking dish or 8-inch oven-safe skillet.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the refried beans, sour cream, green chiles, and 1 teaspoon taco seasoning. Taste and add more taco seasoning and salt as desired. (When I make this recipe with unsalted beans and unsalted taco seasoning, I add a heaping ½ teaspoon salt at this point, though you may want less or none if your beans and/or taco seasoning are salted.)
- Transfer the bean dip to the prepared pan and evenly spread it to the edges. Top with the cheese, leaving some dip exposed around the edges. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the dip is bubbling.
- Let cool for 5 minutes, then add desired toppings. Squeeze with lime juice and serve with tortilla chips.
We love this bean dip. The fresh toppings really make it nice to eat. I didn’t have taco mix so used chili powder, garlic powder and oregano instead and it worked great. Tasty! Will definitely make again.
Would this be good for a picnic, in other words, does it need to be hot?
Hey Cecily, we designed this dip to be hot and for the cheese to be melted on top. That said, if you’d like to try serving it cold, I think that would work too! In that case, I’d skip baking the dip. Skip the cheese or just top with grated cheddar before serving.
Easy and delicious!
Creamy, flavorful. Make it you will be happy you did
So glad you loved it, Angela!
This dip is delicious and really easy to make. I used Greek yogurt with traditional refried beans and added chopped black olives to the mix. My toppers were thinly sliced scallions and chopped cilantro. Super with organic blue tortilla chips!
I like your recipes but as I live in Australia I always have to convert the weights & temperatures to metric. It would be fabulous if you could include metric & imperial. I know it’s possible. See recipetineats.com Thanks for some great meals & I will continue to use your website even if you don’t update to metric, it just takes a little longer to prep!
I love a good bean dip and this one works well for me, thank you!
So glad you love it, Sabrina!
Great dip! I also like using feta or goat cheese.
My daughters and I would love this! great idea.
How many chili peppers (the small ones) would you replace the can of chili peppers with? Thanks a lot 🙂
Hi Jacqueline, the canned green chiles are very different (they’re roasted, soft, and have tangy juices). If you don’t have them, I would skip them, add more lime juice to the bean mixture (to taste), and then add however many sliced jalapeños or serranos you want as the topping. Hope that helps!
great reminder of a favorite dip of mine and a key part of my diet (legumes) less the chips, unfortunately, thank you