For weeks, I’ve been waiting for the first Sunday of the NFL season. It’s a great excuse to hang out with family, dive into healthy dips like this vegetarian white bean version with Parmesan cheese and sage, and maybe even crack open a beer or two. Of course, the computers are at the ready so that we can check our Fantasy Football stats.
For the second year running, I’m in a Fantasy Football league (called “Knead to Win”…snicker) with seven other food bloggers. My team, the Panfrying Pigskins (that’s what I said) is playing against other food-focused teams, such as Sugar High, Baker’s Dozen and Cookie Crushers. It keeps the whole thing pretty interesting.
This healthy dip takes less than five minutes to make. Truly. Simply throw the cannellini beans (white kidney beans), lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, sage and chives in a food processor or blender and puree away. Done.
Serve it up with your favorite raw veggies, crackers or pieces of whole wheat pita. It also works well as a spread on a whole wheat tortilla, stacked with fresh vegetables. I love having these kinds of dips available for afternoon snacking during the week. It keeps me away from the junk!
Of course, if football isn’t your thing, just curl up with a good book and bowl of this dip. That makes for a pretty great Sunday afternoon, too.
(Congratulations to all of my fellow red-faced runners. This past weekend, many of you met the 5k challenge. Go check out all of the happy, healthy red-faced photos!)
The recipe:
In the bowl of a food processor, combine cannellini beans, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Puree until smooth. Taste and add more cayenne pepper, if desired.
Add sage and pulse to combine. Transfer the dip to a serving bowl.
Serve with pita bread wedges, crackers or crudite.
Other bean dip recipes:

Cookin’ Canuck’s Spicy Black Bean Dip with Roasted Red & Chipotle Peppers
Cookin’ Canuck’s Artichoke Hummus with Hazelnuts & Fresh Mint
The Cozy Apron’s Creamy White Bean & Apple-Smoked Bacon Dip
Sweet Road’s Black Bean & Sweet Potato Dip
From the kitchen of Cookin Canuck. www.cookincanuck.com
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 oz.) cannellini beans, drained & rinsed (I prefer Bush's Beans)
- 1/4 cup (packed) finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage leaves
- 1 tbsp minced chives
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine cannellini beans, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Puree until smooth. Taste and add more cayenne pepper, if desired.
- Add sage and pulse to combine. Transfer the dip to a serving bowl.
- Serve with pita bread wedges, crackers or crudite.





















{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
This looks so fabulous!
Yes! Bean dip with fresh herbs… served with a cold beer!?!?!?!?!?! What a fabulous afternoon snack!
Desperately looking for more ideas to use up all the sage in my garden. This is perfect. What a wonderful blend of flavors. Thanks!
This looks delicious and your photos are perfection. and congrats on running this weekend. I hate that I missed out
What a fantastic combination! We have an incredible abundance of sage in our garden and I am always looking for new recipes. My kids will LOVE dipping carrot sticks in this. Thank you and your photos are just beautiful.
Looks great! I love how easy and healthy it is.
I love this! White beans are one of my favorites and I feel like dips at family functions can be so fatty and lacking in nutrition. This one’s a winner!
I am SUCH a dipper! I could be very happy with this for a whole meal!
What a delicious – and healthy – dip! Love the flavors in here with the beans, olive oil, parm (!) and especially the sage. Lovely recipe to enjoy along with the game.
That looks fabulous!~!~!
Too good.
Nothing like a good simple bean dip – one of my favorite game-time snacks too!
Perfect fall dip! The fam would love to scoop this up during football games. Plus they’d probably never know it’s healthy!
Thanks for noting that I could curl up and like this bowl without the football part! GREG
Sage, love it! (And I buy those same gluten-free crackers; so great with hummus!)
It never occurred to me to go healthy for NFL Sundays…hmmm…
This looks good, though. Maybe I can convince everyone it has tons of mayo and is secretly very very bad for us!
Erin – ekcantcook.blogspot.com
yum, great looking recipe. I love bean dips. I am also very glad that football season is back upon us.
I love white beans with sage, what a great dip!
I could destroy this with a few pita chips! Yum!
I make a very similar dip! Aren’t white beans amazing? The dips always taste so creamy and rich but they’re totally guilt free.
We’re a big football and fantasy football family too, so I’m always looking for healthy football snacks like this one.
a great dip for game day!
I love this! Perfect snack food or sandwich spread!
Happy Tasty Tuesday! This beautiful recipe is a pick for Vegetarian Awareness Week!! http://4virtu.com/2012/09/tasty-tuesday-veggie-recipes-for-vegetarian-awareness-week/ Thanks for sharing!!
1. This looks delicious. I love white bean dips. Isn’t sage gorgeous?
2. Go red faced runners!
3. I know nothing about football.
that is all
Yum. I love sage!
I love healthy dips like this they make the perfect snack.
Football night or not, I love eating some veggies with a healthy dip and this bean dip sounds like a must make! Thanks Dara
Thanks for a new bean dip. I look forward to making this one.
I made this over the weekend and it was a big hit at the party! I couldn’t find fresh sage at the market, so I used parsely and thyme snipped from my sister’s herb garden. This recipe is a keeper.
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