Aguachile beans

This recipe, from our friend Courtney Geilenfeldt of @diningwithcourt, tastes like summer in a bowl. If you're new to aguachile (literally "chile water"), it's typically made with the freshest raw shrimp, lime juice, hot green chiles, cucumbers, and red onion. Courtney's version, which uses tender beans instead of seafood, is a genius spin that's bursting with flavor and texture.

Creator notes Typically aguachile is made with shrimp, but since I used beans in its place, the nori adds a seafood flavor element to the dish. A great vegan hack! It's the perfect dish for hot summer days. Zesty, crisp, and cool, plus minimal effort to get you back to your summer lounging. Pretty enough to be served on a tostada at your summer dinner party, or scooped up with tortilla chips by poolside. – Courtney Geilenfeldt (@diningwithcourt)

What Is Aguachile?

Aguachile is a fresh, spicy Mexican dish from the coastal regions of Sinaloa and Nayarit. The name translates to "chile water," and traditionally it features raw shrimp marinated in lime juice with fresh chiles, cucumber, red onion, and sometimes avocado. It's bright, tangy, spicy, and incredibly refreshing, the perfect antidote to hot weather.

This version keeps all those wonderful flavors and textures but swaps the shrimp for tender beans, making it vegetarian-friendly (and vegan if you skip the seafood element). The genius addition? A sheet of nori blended into the sauce, which adds that subtle umami and ocean-like quality you'd get from seafood. It's a brilliant hack that makes this feel authentic while being completely plant-based.

The Star: Bayo Beans

Let's talk about Bayo beans, the beautiful tan beans that are firm on the outside and creamy on the inside. These beans make the richest, most flavorful dishes, and the full-bodied, golden broth they produce is unlike anything else. When used in aguachile, they provide the perfect textural substitute for shrimp, tender but with enough structure to hold up to the acidic lime marinade.

What makes Bayo beans perfect for this dish is their ability to soak up flavors while maintaining their shape. As they sit in that tangy, spicy green salsa, they absorb all those wonderful flavors, tomatillo, serrano, lime, cilantro, while staying intact and providing satisfying bites. Their mild flavor also makes them the perfect canvas for the bold aguachile sauce.

Our Bayo beans come from Carlos and Ana María Albarrán's certified organic small family farm in the heart of Morelos, Mexico. Their farm has lovingly preserved these precious seeds for generations using time-honored traditional farming methods. These gems are grown using the ancient Milpas technique, where corn, squash, beans, and chiles flourish together in perfect harmony. This method mirrors the revered Three Sisters planting wisdom, creating beautiful natural balance where each plant nurtures the others. While incredibly healthy for the environment, this labor-intensive method requires careful hand harvesting, making these beans an authentic labor of love. Learn more about Carlos and Ana María.

The Green Salsa

The salsa is what makes this dish special. Fresh tomatillos provide tang and body. Serrano chiles bring heat, four of them makes this properly spicy, so adjust to your tolerance. Fresh cilantro adds brightness and that distinctive flavor. Garlic provides depth. And here's the clever part: a sheet of nori blended in adds umami and a subtle ocean-like quality that mimics the seafood element of traditional aguachile.

Fresh lime juice, lots of it, from about 6 limes, provides the acidic punch that's essential to aguachile. This isn't a dish where you can skimp on the lime. That bright acidity is what makes everything sing.

The ice water is a smart addition too. Blenders generate heat as they run, which can turn herbs dark. The ice water keeps everything cool, resulting in a vibrant green salsa that stays bright and beautiful.

The Blending Technique

Here's an important tip: blend on the lowest setting until smooth. Don't go higher than medium. Blending too fast or too long will give your salsa a smoothie-like texture, which you want to avoid. You want it smooth but with some body, not frothy or aerated.

The result should be a bright green, tangy, spicy sauce that's thick enough to coat the beans but still pourable.

Marinating the Beans

Once you blend the salsa, pour it over the cooked beans and stir to combine. Taste for salt, you may need another pinch. Then, if you have time, let this sit for at least half an hour. This resting time allows the beans to really soak in the flavor of the salsa, becoming more flavorful and delicious.

You can serve it right away if you're in a hurry, but the extra marinating time makes a noticeable difference.

The Fresh Toppings

The toppings aren't just garnish, they're essential to the dish. Thinly sliced cucumber adds crunch and coolness. Thinly sliced red onion provides sharp bite and beautiful color. Sliced avocado adds creaminess and richness that balances the acidity and heat.

Give the vegetables a little pinch of salt to season them before adding to the beans. This brings out their flavors and ensures every element is properly seasoned.

Serving

There are two great ways to serve this: scooped onto tostadas for a more elegant presentation at a dinner party, or served in a bowl with tortilla chips for scooping, perfect for poolside lounging. Either way works beautifully.

The dish is best served cold or at room temperature, making it perfect for summer entertaining. You can prep everything ahead, make the salsa and marinate the beans, slice the vegetables, then just assemble when you're ready to serve.

Perfect for Summer

This is exactly the kind of dish you want when it's hot outside. It's zesty, crisp, cool, refreshing, all the things that make you feel good in the heat. The spice from the serranos actually helps cool you down (thanks to capsaicin), and the lime and cucumber are incredibly refreshing.

Plus, it requires minimal effort and no cooking (beyond the beans, which you can do ahead). It's the kind of recipe that gets you back to your summer lounging as quickly as possible.

A Genius Adaptation

What makes this recipe so clever is how it captures the essence of aguachile, bright, spicy, tangy, fresh, while making it accessible to vegetarians and vegans. The nori trick is brilliant, adding that umami depth without any seafood. And using beans instead of shrimp makes it more substantial and satisfying while being budget-friendly.

It's proof that plant-based versions of classic dishes can be just as exciting and delicious as the originals, sometimes even better.

*A Note On Our Recipes:

Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there eventually.

Aguachile Beans

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Category

Appetizer

Cuisine

Mexican

Typically aguachile is made with shrimp, but since I used beans in its place, the nori adds a seafood flavor element to the dish. A great vegan hack! It's the perfect dish for hot summer days. Zesty, crisp, and cool, plus minimal effort to get you back to your summer lounging. – Courtney Geilenfeldt (@diningwithcourt)

Featured bean: Bayo

Other beans to try: Flor de Junio, Ojo de Cabra, Flor de Mayo

Ingredients

• 2 medium tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and quartered

• 4 serrano chiles, stemmed and chopped

• 1 garlic clove

• ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1 nori/seaweed sheet

• ½ cup ice water (see note)

• 2 cups cooked Primary Beans Bayo beans

• ¾ cup fresh lime juice (about 6 limes)

• ½ English cucumber, or 1 small Persian cucumber, thinly sliced

• ½ red onion, thinly sliced

• ½ ripe avocado, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced

• Tostadas or tortilla chips, for serving

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Directions

1. Make the salsa: In a blender or food processor, add tomatillos, serranos, garlic, cilantro, salt, nori sheet, lime juice, and ½ cup ice water, and blend on lowest setting until smooth. Blending any higher than medium will give your salsa a smoothie-like texture, which you want to avoid.

2. Marinate the beans: To a bowl, add your salsa mixture and cooked beans. Give it all a stir and taste to see if it needs another pinch of salt. I prefer to let this sit for at least a half hour to let the beans really soak in the flavor of the salsa, but of course you can serve right away.

3. Add toppings: Place beans and salsa into a serving bowl. Then add the cucumber, red onion, and avocado. Give the veggies a little pinch of salt to season them.

4. Serve: Serve with tortilla chips, or spoon onto tostadas.

Recipe Note

Blenders radiate heat as they run, which makes any herb turn dark quickly. The ice water helps keep the ingredients cool, resulting in a bright green salsa.

Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry, or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there eventually.