Smoky Black Bean and Corn Tacos
Warm tortillas piled with smoky paprika-spiced black beans, sweet charred corn, and a bright lime-cilantro avocado mash. A light, savory taco that comes together on the stovetop in under twenty minutes.
- Total
- 15 min
- Prep 8 · Cook 7
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Blooming spices · Sautéing
- Savory
- Quick
- Mexican
- Light
- Spicy
- Stovetop
Instructions
-
Drain the black beans and pat them dry. Finely dice the red onion. Pick the cilantro leaves and chop them. Cut the lime in half.
~4 min
Drying beans prevents steaming so they char and brown in the hot pan.
-
Scoop the avocado flesh into a small bowl, add half the chopped cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice, and a pinch of the salt. Mash with a fork until roughly smooth but still a little chunky.
~2 min
-
Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the red onion and cook until softened and lightly golden, about 2 minutes.
~2 min
Cooking onion over medium-high heat softens it and builds a lightly golden, sweeter base.
Sautéing Keep the onion moving in a single layer over medium-high heat until softened and lightly golden, about 2 minutes; crowding the pan steams it instead of browning.
-
Add the smoked paprika, paprika, and ground cumin to the pan and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the black beans and corn with the remaining salt and cook, stirring, until heated through and lightly charred in spots, about 3 minutes. Squeeze in the rest of the lime juice and stir.
~3 min
Blooming spices in hot oil for 30 seconds releases fat-soluble flavor compounds before they can burn.
Blooming the smoked paprika and cumin in the hot oil for just 30 seconds wakes up their flavor; any longer and they turn bitter.
Pat the beans dry before they hit the pan so they brown and char instead of steaming.
Blooming spices Add ground spices to hot oil and stir constantly for about 30 seconds until fragrant; pull the pan off the heat if they darken, as they turn bitter fast.
-
While step 4 cooks
While the beans and corn finish cooking, warm the tortillas directly over the flame or in a dry pan for about 20 seconds per side until pliable and lightly toasted.
~1 min
Dry-pan warming makes tortillas pliable and lightly toasted without added fat.
-
Pile the black bean and corn filling onto the warm tortillas, top with the avocado mash and the remaining cilantro, and eat right away.
~1 min