Enter your email & we’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from us every week! By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Hurry the Food Up. While these are usually meaty, ours are totally meat free – topped with a delicious black bean mix, homemade guac and feta. Arepas make a great lunch or dinner. They don’t take long to make, and they’re kind of like tacos in that they’re fun to put together, a great meal to make with friends.
Healthy Vegetarian Arepas con queso recipe
Of course, this is a healthy arepas recipe! Simple, healthy food is what we do best, and this is no exception. We have made sure each serving of vegetarian arepas has a good amount of protein and fibre, not much fat or sugar, and a healthy serving of fresh veggies. The protein comes to about 20g per serving, and is mostly supplied by the black beans. Beans are a great source of plant based protein, containing around 15g per cup, as well as other nutrients such as iron, phosphorus, folate and magnesium. They are also super fibrous, and supply part of the 18g fibre per serving that this meal provides. Fibre is important to help regulate your digestion, and to keep you feeling full after eating. 18g fibre makes this a super filling meal that will keep you going for hours! By using low fat feta and only a teaspoon of oil, we manage to keep fat levels fairly low, at 15g each, of which only 3g is saturated (check out these low fat vegetarian recipes for more low fat options!). The majority of that fat will come from the avocados in the guacamole. The fat in avocados is a healthy kind of fat, and avos are generally full of goodness – so don’t be afraid of those 15g! The idea that low/no fat makes for healthy food is pretty outdated, because your body needs a certain amount of fats to function. That’s why we keep saturated fat low, but don’t avoid unsaturated fats entirely! And where better to get your daily fat intake from than creamy dreamy avocados? You could also try eating these black bean arepas as part of a weight loss meal plan. They are filling, healthy and at 486 kcal per serving, a light, but decent sized, meal!
How to make arepas
Easy peasy! The dough is just cornmeal, broth and onion powder, mixed together and left to rest for a while. The black beans are fried up with onions, thyme and cumin, and the guac is just avo, lemon and parsley mashed together. If you fancy, you could make these into stuffed arepas and use the bean mix as your arepas filling. Either shape the dough into patties around a small scoop of filling, or make thicker arepas, slice them in half and fill them like you would a sandwich. We prepared them by shaping the dough into patties and frying until golden, then topping with beans, guac, crumbled feta and cilantro. Couldn’t be easier!
Arepas for everyone
Did you know cornmeal is gluten-free? So this recipe is already gluten-free, as the flatbreads are cornmeal based! And for vegan arepas, just skip the feta or replace it with nutritional yeast or your fave vegan cheese alternative. Once you’ve tried Venezuelan-inspired vegetarian arepas, why not travel up the American continent and try something Mexican-inspired, like these huevos rancheros, or these vegetarian tacos.
