Roasted Garlic and White Bean Dip With Rosemary

By Sarah Jampel

Roasted Garlic and White Bean Dip With Rosemary
Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
5(2,399)
Comments
Read comments

The idea of adding a whole head of garlic to a dip might scare you, but compared to its bracing raw counterpart, roasted garlic is sweet and mellow. This dip is garnished with a sprig of sizzled rosemary that's for more than just looks: Frying the herb infuses the olive oil with its fragrance. Spoon the remainder over your finished bowl for a hit of rosemary you wouldn’t get with just the minced leaves, then scoop it up with warm pita, cucumber spears, and carrot sticks.

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:8 to 10 servings (2½ cups)
  • 1head garlic
  • 1teaspoon, plus 5 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2(15-ounce) cans white beans, like cannellini, Great Northern or navy beans, drained and rinsed
  • 3tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
  • 1tablespoon roughly chopped fresh rosemary leaves, plus 1 full sprig
  • ¼teaspoon black pepper
  • 1pinch of cayenne, plus more for garnish (optional)
  • 1tablespoon hot water
  • 1¼teaspoons kosher salt
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)

117 calories; 2 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 287 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Roast the garlic: Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel off most of the garlic's outermost skin but leave the whole head intact. Trim about ¼ inch off the top of the garlic to expose the cloves. Place the garlic on a large piece of aluminum foil, then drizzle 1 teaspoon olive oil over the exposed cloves and close the foil into a pouch. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until you can pierce the center of the head with a knife. Let cool slightly.

  2. Step 2

    Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the bowl of a food processor. Add the white beans, 4 tablespoons olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary leaves, black pepper, cayenne (if using), hot water and salt. Purée until smooth, then taste for salt, pepper, rosemary and lemon juice. Adjust as necessary. Transfer to a serving dish.

  3. Step 3

    Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the remaining rosemary sprig — it should sizzle. Cook until brown and crisp, flipping once, about 1 minute per side, then transfer to the top of the dip as a garnish. Pour or spoon the remaining olive oil, now infused with rosemary, over the top of the dip. Sprinkle with cayenne for a little additional heat.

Tip
  • The roasted garlic can be made up to 2 weeks in advance. Wrap well and store in the refrigerator.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

5 out of 5
2,399 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Debby

I’ve made this twice now. The first time I followed the directions exactly. The second time I didn’t want to use my oven (waste of energy if you’re not also cooking other things), so I used a Cook’s Illustrated tip for mellowing garlic. I separated the garlic cloves but left the peels on and toasted them in a pan on the stove over medium heat until brown on at least one side then cooled and peeled them. I think I actually preferred this to the roasted garlic.

Erin

I read a cooking note that said the roasted garlic did not give this dip enough of a punch and suggested adding some raw garlic. I’m a garlic lover, so i decided to throw in a clove of raw garlic along with the entire bulb of roasted garlic...what harm could that do? Well, as it turns out i really shouldn't have done that. It tasted really sharp and overpowering. I would recommend following this recipe EXACTLY and tasting before deciding whether or not to add more garlic.

ERH

I’d never roasted garlic before, but it was so easy (and strangely satisfying) to pop the roasted cloves out of their skins that I may consider it for other recipes. This dip was quite tasty fresh out of the food processor, but the flavors really came together after a day or two in the fridge. I served this with pita chips and sliced vegetables originally, and ate the leftovers on top of crusty toasted bread with avocado and hot sauce. A great, smoothly flavorful alternative to hummus!

ESK

Delicious! Made this with dried beans that I cooked in the instant pot with bay leaves, garlic, dried rosemary and salt to further amp up the flavors. Ended up needing to add a bit more olive oil and perhaps an additional quarter cup of water to keep it from being too thick, but I may have added too many beans converting from canned to dried.

Love Hales

I made this. Admittedly I didn’t measure the rosemary exactly, but I do usually have a pretty good eyeball. I read a comment that talked about chopping it more finely than corsely, so I did that. I’ll need to make this again and not chop it finely and measure it, as the taste of rosemary was very overwhelming. A friend said it tasted like she was eating potpourri. My bad, but let my mistake be your warning. :)

Makes ALOT

I essentially scaled this recipe to 2/5ths. I essentially got two cups of dip which is too much for us to get through.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.