Charro Beans
161kcal8.4g protein7.9g fat10.7g carbs*Estimates computed from the ingredient list; cost uses average US supermarket prices. Not a substitute for packaging measurements or your receipt.
Contains gluten
Restrictions
ContainsglutenIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.
Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.
Ingredients
Servings:
| ¾ cup |  pinto beans (dried, sorted and rinsed) |
| 5 cup | water |
| 3 slice |  bacon (chopped) |
| 1 unit |  onion (diced) |
| 3 clove |  garlic (minced) |
| 1 unit |  jalapeño (minced, seeds in) |
| 1 unit |  tomato (diced) |
| ½ cup |  beer (Mexican lager) |
| ½ tsp |  cumin (ground) |
| 1 unit |  bay leaf |
| 1 ½ tsp | salt |
| ¼ tsp |  black pepper (ground) |
| ¼ cup |  cilantro (chopped) |
Optional
Not counted above. The dish works without them.
| 3 oz |  chorizo (crumbled) |
| 1 unit |  smoked ham hock |
| 1 unit |  serrano chili (sliced) |
| ½ tsp |  Mexican oregano (crumbled) |
| 1 unit |  lime (wedges) |
Steps
- Rest10 minhot water, off heat, or 8 h cold soakpinto beans covered by 2 in of just-boiled water — a soak is optional insurance, not a requirement; it mostly buys back 20–30 min of simmer and evens out beans of different ages so they finish together
- Simmer90 minbare simmer, lid ajardrained beans + water + bay leaf + half the salt, topping up with hot water to keep them covered. Salt from the start is fine and seasons the interior; acid is not — no tomato, no beer, no lime yet. Cook until a bean crushes to paste against the roof of your mouth with no chalky core
- Fry8 minmedium-low, cold pan startbacon, starting cold so the fat renders out before the meat browns — you want the rendered fat as the cooking medium and the bacon crisp, not seized and leathery
- Saute6 minmedium, in the bacon fat+ onion + jalapeño, until the onion is translucent and the edges just gold; add chorizo here if using and break it up so it fries rather than steams
- Saute2 minmedium+ garlic + cumin + oregano, only until fragrant — garlic in hot fat goes from sweet to acrid in about 90 seconds, and there is no fixing it after
- Deglaze4 minmedium-high+ beer + tomato, scraping the fond off the pan bottom and letting the raw alcohol boil off; the tomato should collapse and lose its bright red edge
- Simmer25 minlow, uncoveredtender beans + the whole skillet, scraped in with its fat + remaining salt + black pepper. Now the acid is harmless — the skins are already soft. Uncovered so the broth reduces and takes on body from the starch the beans have shed; charro beans are soupy, but the liquid should coat a spoon, not run off it
- Season2 minoff heat+ cilantro stirred in at the last moment so it stays green and grassy, then taste for salt — beans absorb it as they sit and will read flat if you seasoned only at the start. Lime at the table