Inside: Charro Beans is an authentic Mexican recipe that is mainly consumed in the northern part of Mexico and is commonly served alongside carne asada.
Para leer en Español, Haz Click Aqui.
What are Charro Beans and how do you make them?
Charro beans is a Mexican style soup, consisting of pinto beans submerged in a broth full of amazing flavors. The flavors come from many different types of meat like beef franks, chorizo, ham, and bacon.
In some parts of Mexico they add pork rinds and beer to change the flavor up a little bit.
Even though the most popular way to make this is as a thin soup, there are some other variations in which you can add corn starch to thicken it up a little bit.
If you choose to do that, it ends up looking more like chili con carne, which is a popular dish here in the United States.
Charro beans are an excellent option to go along with any type of grilled meat and also tacos. Just like I love eating pozole on cold days (which we have a lot of here in Colorado), I also love enjoying charro beans on those days as well.
You can add some heat to it by including chipotle peppers or jalapeños together with the tomato, onion, and cilantro.
One tip that I will give you in order to make this recipe a little bit easier is to cook the pinto beans in your slow cooker. Since you are starting with uncooked beans, you have to cook them separately first before adding the rest of the ingredients.
If you do this in the slow cooker, it will still take some time (around 3 hours), but it is easier than having to cook them over the stove and making sure that the water doesn’t evaporate.
It will also allow you to get started on the other parts of the recipe without worrying about the beans.
Charro beans is just one of many great authentic Mexican recipes that you can find on my site. If you are following along, here are some of my other favorites:
- Pozole
- Guacamole
- Flautas
- Tostadas
- Polaca Style Chicken
- Veracruz Style Fried Tilapia
- Tuna Stuffed Avocados
PRODUCTS USED TO MAKE CHARRO BEANS
Slow Cooker: You don’t have to use a slow cooker to make these, but you definitely can. I love this slow cooker – it works perfectly and I use it many times per week.
Food Chopper: When you are going to chop up a lot of vegetables like you do for the pico de gallo that you serve with these charro beans, it is helpful to have a food chopper like this one on hand. It seriously makes everything so much easier!
Pinto Beans: You are going to need a lot of pinto beans to make this recipe. You can find bags of them anywhere, including online. When I make Charro Beans, I tend to make a lot of extra beans so that I can eat them in other recipes throughout the week. Here is a 25 pound bag if you are looking to stock up.
Serving Bowls: There is something about charro beans that always makes me want to serve them in these rustic looking, wooden bowls. I don’t know if it makes them taste better, but it sure seems to! You can get some of my favorites here. They are especially great if you are serving these at a Mexican themed party.
I really hope that you will try this recipe out and be sure to let me know how it turns out in the comments below!
Charro Beans - Authentic Mexican Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 oz uncooked pinto beans
- 5 slices bacon cut into smaller pieces
- 3 beef franks cut into cubes
- 1 cup ham cut into cubes
- 1 pound Mexican chorizo
- 2 tomatoes diced
- 1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped
- 1/2 onion diced
- jalapeño if desired
- 1 more chipotle peppers depending on how spicy you want it
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- pepper oregano, paprika, cumin, and salt to taste.
Instructions
To Cook the Pinto Beans - Stove top
- Add the rinsed beans to a large pot with plenty of water, salt, and a small piece of onion.
- Let boil for about 1.5 hours, checking often to make sure that there is still enough water.
To Cook the Pinto Beans - Slow Cooker
- Add the rinsed beans to a slow cooker with plenty of water, salt, and a small piece of onion.
- Turn the slow cooker on to high and heat for 3 hours.
To Make The Charro Beans
- Add the bacon to a large pot and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the chorizo and continue cooking until cooked through.
- After about 5 minutes, add the ham, the beef franks, and the seasonings (including the garlic).
- Next, add the tomatoes, the cilantro, the onion, the jalapeno, and the chipotle pepper and cook for 5 additional minutes.
- Finally, add the cooked pinto beans and the water that they were cooked in and let boil for about 15 minutes so that all of the flavors can combine.
- If you want to thicken your charro beans, you can combine 2 tablespoons of corn starch with 1/4 cup of cold water and mix well before adding it to the pot.
- Serve hot as a side dish or on its own.
Delicious! Thank You
Very easy to follow
The link to your wooden bowls says they’re “unavailable” at this time.
Here’s a link I found to the same bowls that worked for me:
https://www.amazon.com/Acacia-Wood-Hand-Carved-Calabash-Bowls/dp/B00KYXEKJK/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=wooden+serving+bowls&qid=1569981654&s=home-garden&sr=1-11
Just had this recipe from a kitchen at a Latino Store. So good!!! Rushed home and fond this recipe!! This is it!
I thought this was a really great recipe! I used three large jalapenos (seeded) and a whole can of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (small can, finely chopped) to bump up the heat and smoky flavor.
I used 1 teaspoon each of the spices and add 1 1\2 teaspoon of cayenne because I was out of jalapenos and serranos. I stick to recipe otherwise and absolutely delicious!
I have been making these for years. Instead of using hot dogs I use smoked sausage and it gives it more flavor.
Just had these as part of my lunch at a wonderful local restaurant, Carnitas Queretero. I decided to look through all my cookbooks for a recipe that resembled what I ate there, and yours is it. I definitely want to try it.
I made these before… and I am back to make them again.
Absolutely delicious.
I am currently making these for my church’s Small Group. I can’t wait for them to try them! This was a very easy to follow recipe. It taste wonderful and my house smells delicious!
I have had charro beans throughout northern Mexico and S. Texas. I’ve never had them with wieners in them. Ham, salt pork, bacon, chorizo or other sausage, but never wieners. But, Colorado, what can I say?
This is the recipe among others of yours that I had printed out and these are the ones that I follow I had a little cumin a little bit more garlic and jalapenos but it all tastes good and my stomach and I appreciate what you do. TU V M
the recipe says nothing about quantity of water? Am I wrong thining a specific amount is not needed. How much water do you all use for this recipe. I love charro beans and would love to try my hand at them. Thank you in advance
Perhaps the author assumes that folks know how to cook dried beans. That may not be true for all who want to try this recipe. When I cook dried beans, I start with the amount of beans that will end up with how many I want. That, depending on the variety of beans, is 2.5-3 times the volume of dried beans I start with. For pinto beans, usually, but it varies depending on how old the beans are (older beans have less water in them, are harder, than newer ones — by older I mean longer since harvest), they will expand to about 3 times.
So, I start with the beans, maybe two cups of them. I don’t soak the beans, that’s just an unnecessary step that provides an opportunity for microbial growth. I put them in a pot and add water. Two cups of beans in the 4 quart pot, I’ll add maybe a quart of water. If the beans are 3 inches deep in the pot, the water will be 3 inches above them. I bring that to a boil, turn it down to a low simmer, and cook for 2-4 hours, depending on how long it takes the beans to become tender. I check periodically, and add water as needed to keep the beans covered. I also put some of the seasonings into the beans initially, add some later. If I am adding tomatoes, those will go in almost at the end. Meats I add early, sausages late. Onion, it depends on the dish I am preparing. If I want the onions to appear as pieces in the final dish, I add them late, if I want them cooked up to thicken the dish, early. Spices go in early. Peppers, same as onions. Garlic, after sauteing briefly, goes in early.
I never use a “slow cooker.” I use a pot, on the gas stove. A simmer level on that is slow cooking, and I much prefer to monitor my cooking rather than just go off and leave it.
One of the best charro beans ever… my family loved them… making them again as I type…. I plan to add to my black beans…. I thought to use smoked sausage next time. This recipe worked well with Easter dinner…which included smoked pull pork… arroz …. tortillas… guacamole … salsa… the beans were the icing on the cake.
what /I meant was am I wrong thinking a specific amout is important to the finished product?
I have tried a similar rerecipe it’s my husband’s recipe that he got from his mom that lives in San Luis Mexico it does have alot of similarities of course mind has alot more heat for my husband I tried your recipe and it’s amazing I loved it so Thank You very much would love to see more of your recipes thanks so much I always get compliments on this recipe.
Delicious. It is a definite upgrade to Taco Tuesday at our house.
Wonderful recipe for charro beans, love the different options for using canned or dry beans and the different ways to cook them. Very easy, very tasty.