Chilli Bean Cheese Toastie
This Chilli Bean Cheese Toastie is inspired by the flavours of a Tex-Mex chilli but is put together in minutes. The warmly spicy bean, corn, onion, and melting cheese filling is a great contrast to the buttery, crunchy and crispy golden bread. Perfect on its own for lunch or serve with a big mixed salad for an easy, delicious, and nutritious dinner.
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At the beginning of this year, almost out-of-the blue, I developed severe mobility problems. This means it’s extremely painful to either stand or sit for very long at all. Which is not exactly ideal when you have a food blog requiring hours of cooking and photography, plus writing and editing! So my blog has had to take a back seat while I find out what’s happening to my body and come to terms with what the future might hold.
During all this, my partner’s been a real hero. He’s been making most of our main meals, looking after the house, our dog (who also has serious health problems 😞), AND holding down a challenging job. To be honest, it’s a real struggle when he’s not home. But I have to do what I can. In any case, I still have the same great urge to cook and share wonderful food which led to me starting Moorlands Eater in the first place.
So, I’ve been trying to think of meals that don’t take a lot of time to either prep or cook. Ideally, some of the work should be able to be done while sitting down. Due to a reduced appetite, it’s also more important than ever that whatever I make is super-tasty.
Meeting all those criteria is this delicious Chilli Bean Cheese Toastie which has become a regular favourite.
CHILLI BEAN CHEESE TOASTIE
When I came up with this easy but fantastic toastie, I fancied something a little spicy to temp my taste buds. My goal was to create the flavours of a Tex-Mex chilli but with a fraction of the time and effort.
The toasted sandwich filling is based on zero-prep cupboard ingredients. Tinned black beans and sweetcorn, tomato puree, smoked paprika, chilli flakes, ground cumin, and dried oregano.
The only things you need to prep are: red onion (chop it finely so pre-cooking is unnecessary), mature Cheddar cheese (grated), and fresh coriander (roughly chopped). You could also finely chop a small clove of garlic, but I took the quicker option and used garlic granules. Likewise, feel free to replace the chilli flakes with finely chopped fresh chilli.
HOW TO MAKE IT
To make the filling, all you do is mix everything in a bowl. I like to first mash the black beans a little with a fork. But leave them whole if you want. You could also replace them with other beans such as kidney or borlotti. Next, stir in the sweetcorn, red onion, tomato puree, all the spices plus a little salt and a good grind of black pepper. Give it a taste to see if it needs a little more seasoning. I always add a balancing pinch of sugar, but you don’t have to. Now stir in the grated cheese and coriander leaf.
For the bread, try to use the best quality you can and have it medium thick. This is so it’s robust enough to support the generous filling but not so chunky that it goes soggy rather than crisp. While in our house it’s usually homemade bread, since my mobility issues we’ve had to change things a little. Thankfully, in Live Love Loaf we’ve an excellent local bakery where we can buy traditionally made sourdough. It’s their bread you see in this post.
To get a nice and crispy outside, spread a layer of butter on the ‘wrong’ side of each slice of bread. Place the filling on the unbuttered side of one slice and press it down firmly to stop it falling off. Now place another piece of bread on top of the filling, buttered side up.
I make my toasties in a preheated sandwich press or panini maker. If you don’t have anything similar, then use a non-stick frying pan over low-medium heat: you don’t want the outside getting too dark before the filling is hot.
For even cooking, I recommend carefully turning the sandwich a couple of times. If you’re using a frying pan, after the first turn you can use a saucepan lid to lightly press it. What you’re looking for is crispy and deep golden brown on the outside, hot and melting inside. Depending on your appliance, this should take 5 – 8 minutes.
EASY & DELICOUS LUNCH OR DINNER
What I was after in coming up with my Chilli Bean Cheese Toastie was a nod to a good chilli but without the effort. Combine that with melting cheese in a crispy toasted sandwich, and I had a pretty good hunch it would be a winner. But even I was surprised at just how enjoyable it is! The filling is soft and lightly cheesy with plenty of spicy flavour. And it’s a great contrast to the buttery, crunchy and crispy bread.
While it’s perfect on its own for lunch, this sandwich makes a great base for a main meal too. Serve it with a big mixed salad alongside and you have an easy, delicious, and nutritious dinner.
The recipe card at the end serves 2 people generously. But the ingredients can easily be halved to serve 1. The filling will be fine covered in the fridge for a couple of days though, so if there’s just one of you then you could make the full amount to feed you more than once.
If you’ve made my Chilli Bean Cheese Toastie, I’d love to know what you thought. Please do leave a comment and recipe rating.
Chilli Bean Cheese Toastie
This fantastic toasted sandwich is inspired by the flavours of Tex-Mex chilli, but is put together in minutes. The warmly spicy bean, corn, and melting cheese filling is a great contrast to the buttery, crunchy and crispy golden bread. I've used black beans, but you can swap in your favourites e.g. kidney or borlotti beans.
Perfect on its own for lunch or serve with a big mixed salad for an easy, delicious and nutritious dinner.
Filling will keep for 2 days covered in the fridge.
Ingredients
- 80 g cooked black beans (or other beans e.g. kidney, borlotti)
- 50 g sweetcorn tinned or frozen
- 50 g red onion finely chopped
- 2 heaped tsp tomato puree
- 1 tsp garlic granules (or 1 finely chopped clove of garlic)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ - 1 tsp hot or mild chilli flakes (or finely chopped fresh chilli to taste)
- salt and black pepper
- ¼ - ½ tsp sugar (optional)
- 80 g mature Cheddar cheese grated (increase to 100 g if liked)
- 2 rounded tbsp fresh coriander roughly chopped
- 4 slices good quality bread cut medium thick
- butter for spreading
Instructions
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Make the filling.
Put the beans in a bowl and lightly squash with a fork (or leave whole if preferred).
Stir in the sweetcorn, onion, tomato puree and all the spices plus a pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper. Taste and add more spice, salt or pepper if needed and the sugar if liked.
Stir in the grated cheese and the coriander then set aside.
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Preheat a sandwich press (or a non-stick frying pan over low-medium heat).
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Spread a layer of butter on the 'wrong' sides of each slice of bread (i.e. the sides that will be the OUTSIDE of the sandwich).
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Divide the filling between TWO slices of bread, placing it on the unbuttered side. Press down with your hands to firm and stop it falling off.
Place another slice of bread on top of each, buttered side up.
You should now have two sandwiches with the buttered sides on the outside: see images in blog post if this isn't clear.
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Carefully transfer the sandwiches to the sandwich press and put down the lid. Cook until the outside is crispy and deep golden brown and the filling is hot and melting. If necessary, turn occasionally for even cooking. Depending on your appliance and the thickness of the bread, this should take 5 - 8 minutes.
If using a frying pan: transfer the sandwiches to the hot pan and cook the first side until light golden brown. Carefully turn and repeat. Turn once or twice more until the outside is crispy and deep golden brown and the filling is hot and melting. Tip: after the first turn you can use a saucepan lid or similar to lightly press the sandwich.
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Cut in half and serve immediately.
Unheated filling can be covered and stored in the fridge for 2 days.
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