Recipe Archives | sweet miscellany

Creamy Poblano Sauce | vegetarian recipe via The Sweet Miscellany Blog

Easy to make and packed with flavor, this creamy poblano sauce is the perfect way to add vibrant flavor to any meal. Earthy poblano peppers are charred under a broiler then blended with sour cream, cilantro, and lime zest and juice until super smooth. Salt seasons while a touch of agave syrup balances the tanginess. Whip up a batch to pair with tacos, enchiladas, salads, or tofu scrambles.

If I meal prep one thing these days, it’s usually a really flavorful sauce that I can pair with some basics in order to have a fairly quick and easy meal. This creamy poblano sauce is a recent favorite born out of a craving for all of the great salsas back in Texas! It comes together with just 6 ingredients and can easily go from vegetarian to vegan with one simple ingredient swap. And, you can completely customize the heat level by how many poblano seeds you leave in or remove!

How to Make this Recipe fit Your Needs

This recipe relies on just 6 ingredients: poblano peppers, sour cream, cilantro, limes (both zest and juice), salt, and agave syrup. Here are a few ways to adapt this recipe to fit your dietary needs:

If you’re vegan or dairy free, you can swap a vegan sour cream for the regular sour cream. You can also use a super thick vegan yogurt but you want want to increase the amount of lime juice added to make sure you get the right level of tanginess.
Want a higher protein sauce? Use a full fat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. I recommend going for full fat since the richness really adds to the flavor.
If you’re sensitive to spicy foods, make sure to remove all of the seeds from the inside of the poblano peppers before you blend them into the sauce.

Note on using poblano peppers – you’ll need 3 large poblanos for this recipe. Each poblano was about the size of my hand for reference. You can use 4-5 medium ones instead or 5-6 smaller ones.

Key Steps in Making this Creamy Poblano Sauce

Before they’re blended into the sauce, the poblanos are broiled or charred over a burner on a gas stove until the skin is blistered and blackened. After a short steam, the skin is peeled off and discarded. At this point in the recipe, you get to choose how spicy or mild you want your sauce. Remove all of the seeds for a mild sauce, leave about half of them in for a medium heat level, or go all in for the spiciest version. I prefer a medium heat level!

Place the peeled poblanos in the blender with the remaining ingredients. For this sauce, I prefer a super smooth texture rather than a chunky one. Once the poblano sauce is blended, taste it, then add more salt, agave syrup, or lime juice as needed so that it suits your own taste buds. Store the sauce in an airtight container in the fridge and use it within a week.

Ways to Enjoy Your Creamy Poblano Sauce

Pair it with your favorite tacos or a burrito (try it with these cauliflower ones instead of the pickled jalapeño chimichurri!)
Thin it out with a little water or milk to use as a salad dressing (I think it would be amazing with this roasted sweet potato and black bean quinoa salad)
Use it as a dip for chips, raw veggies, or roasted potato wedges
Spread it onto a sandwich
Dollop onto eggs or a tofu scramble
Drizzle it over enchiladas

Looking for a more traditional tomato based salsa? Try my roasted garden salsa with serrano peppers, garlic, and onion!

Creamy Poblano Sauce

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Author: Courtney West
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 2 cups 1x
Diet: Vegetarian

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Description

Ingredients

Units Scale

3 large poblano peppers
8 ounces sour cream
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, packed
1–2 limes
Sea salt, to taste
1 teaspoon agave syrup, plus more to taste

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Instructions

Turn your broiler on to high. Place the peppers on an unlined baking sheet (the broiler can cause parchment to catch on fire so skip it here). Broil the poblanos, checking and turning them every 3-5 minutes, until the skin is evenly blackened and blistered. Remove the peppers and place them in a bowl. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap to allow them to steam for a minimum of 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, carefully remove the peel and the stems. Depending on how spicy you want the sauce, leave the seeds intact (spiciest), or remove some (medium) or all of them (mild).

Place the peeled peppers in a blender followed by the sour cream, cilantro leaves, the zest and juice of 1 lime, a pinch of salt, and the agave. Blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt, agave, or lime juice as needed.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container and use within a week.

Notes

For a thinner salad dressing consistency, add water, milk or cream to thin it down.
If your poblanos aren’t large, use 4-5 medium ones or 5-6 smaller ones.
Use vegan sour cream or thick vegan yogurt in place of the sour cream for a dairy free option.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10-15 minutes
Category: sauce

Creamy Butter Beans with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Swiss Chard (high protein) | vegan and gluten free recipe via The Sweet Miscellany Blog

These creamy butter beans with sun-dried tomatoes and Swiss chard are an insanely flavorful high protein vegan meal! Blended silken tofu takes the place of cream in this easy butter bean recipe. Sun-dried tomatoes add concentrated pops of tomato flavor while Swiss chard adds fiber and nutrients. This easy vegan meal comes together in about 25 minutes and can be enjoyed with bread, rice, or pasta.

A high protein vegan meal that is packed with flavor, easy to prepare, AND made in just one pan (with the exception of using your blender) is waiting for you at the end of this post! I’m absolutely thrilled with how this butter bean recipe turned out and I am so excited to share it with you. It was inspired by the trending “marry me” recipes but I knew I wanted to incorporate something higher in protein for the cream. Silken tofu to the rescue! Trust me when I say this high protein vegan recipe might have just made its way permanently into my meal rotation.

How to Make the Creamiest Butter Beans

I found that the trick to getting super creamy butter beans while keeping them higher in protein was to use silken tofu as the “cream” and incorporating the liquid of one of the cans of beans. It makes such a luscious and creamy sauce! Here’s everything you need to make these creamy butter beans with sun-dried tomatoes and Swiss chard:

Silken Tofu — forms the base of our “cream”. The silky texture lends itself well to being blended into a smooth, creamy sauce.
Nutritional Yeast, Lemon Juice, and Sugar — flavors the tofu cream sauce, keeping it from being bland.
Olive Oil — adds a touch of richness to the tofu cream and helps sauté the aromatics for the butter beans.
Shallot and Garlic — these both build a flavor base for the butter beans.
Dried Basil, Dried Oregano, and Crushed Red Pepper Flakes — this trio packs a flavor punch and gives this recipe an Italian vibe.
Oil-Packed Sun-dried Tomatoes — adds a concentrated tomato flavor that is sweet and tangy. I prefer using the julienned oil-packed ones to keep prep short.
Canned Butter Beans — also called commonly known as “Lima beans”, you’ll need 2 cans of these for the recipe. You’ll drain one but keep the liquid of the second can.
Swiss Chard — I know a lot of the “marry me” recipes use spinach but I went with its earthier cousin Swiss chard. It pairs so well with the sun-dried tomatoes and packs a nutritional punch.
Grated Vegan or Regular Parmesan — you’ll stir this in with the tofu cream at the end of cooking to give the dish a lovely nutty and cheesy flavor. Want to make your own vegan parm? Try mine!
Fresh Basil — while optional, adding some fresh basil on top adds a gorgeous pop of color and its fresh anise-like flavor complements and enhances all of the other flavors in the dish.
Sea Salt — seasons everything while enhancing flavors. Check to see if your cooked butter beans are already salted or not and let this guide how much you add.

Notes on using Swiss Chard — both the leaves and stems of Swiss chard are edible but they have different cooking times. To keep the cooking time on the shorter side for this recipe, I left the stems out. If you want to use the stems, chop them and add them with the shallot. Or, save them for another use like Amanda’s spicy pickled chard stems.

Making the Tofu Cream Sauce

This high protein vegan meal relies on this super quick and easy tofu cream sauce. The key is to use silken tofu and a blender. Depending on your store, the silken tofu may be in the refrigerated section or it might be in a shelf stable package with the other Asian foods. I used a 10.8-ounce shelf stable package and it ended up being the perfect amount for the entire recipe. If yours comes in a package bigger than that, try to use just 10-12 ounces of it. To make the tofu cream sauce, add the silken tofu to a blender along with the nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, sugar, and olive oil. Blend until smooth and creamy.

Tips for Making the BEST Butter Beans

Blend the tofu cream until super smooth and creamy. This is quickest in an upright blender but can also be done with an immersion blender.
Everything moves fairly quickly during the cooking process of this easy vegan meal so make sure you have all of your ingredients ready!
Drain only ONE can of the butter beans. You’ll use the liquid of the other one during the cooking process.
Use chopped oil-packed sundried tomatoes and pre-peeled or pre-minced garlic to keep prep time even shorter.
I highly recommend garnishing these creamy butter beans with some basil. It adds a gorgeous and fresh pop of flavor.

More High Protein Plant-Based Meals

If you’re looking for higher protein meals that are either vegetarian or vegan, I recommend my tofu ricotta stuffed shells with spinach or my veggie sushi bowl with spicy mayo.

Creamy Butter Beans with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Swiss Chard (high protein)

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No reviews

Author: Courtney West
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 3–4 servings 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 10.8–ounce package silken tofu
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons + 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Sea salt, to taste
1 small shallot, minced
2–3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
2 cans butter beans, 1 can with liquid and 1 can drained
1 bunch Swiss chard, stems removed and leaves chopped
1/3 cup grated parmesan, plus extra for garnish
2–3 tablespoons fresh basil, torn or chopped
Bread, optional for serving

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Instructions

Heat a large skillet over medium. While the skillet comes to temperature, make the tofu cream. Add the silken tofu (no need to drain) to a blender along with the nutritional yeast, lemon juice, sugar, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Blend until very smooth. Taste, then season with more salt if needed.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the hot skillet. When the oil is shimmering, add the shallot and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring every 30 seconds or so, until the shallot is translucent and just beginning to caramelize, about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, dried oregano, dried basil, and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly to keep the garlic from burning. Stir in the sundried tomatoes and the butter beans. Cook for about 5 minutes to allow the flavors to meld, stirring regularly, then add the chopped chard leaves. Cook until they are just wilted, about 2-3 minutes then remove the skillet from the heat.

Stir in all of the tofu cream and the grated parmesan. Garnish with basil and additional parmesan if desired. Serve with bread for dipping and scooping.

Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 5 days. Reheat leftovers with a splash or two of water or milk on the stove or in the microwave.

Notes

I used a 10.8-ounce shelf stable package and it ended up being the perfect amount for the entire recipe. If yours comes in a package bigger than that, try to use just 10-12 ounces of it.
If you do not need this recipe to be high protein, you can substitute 1 cup of plant-based cream for the tofu cream to shave down the number of ingredients and the overall prep time.
I prefer enjoying these butter beans with bread but you can also enjoy them with rice or pasta.
If you can’t find canned butter beans, you can use 2 cans of cannellini beans instead.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Category: main