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.
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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.
The aroma in the house after cooking these beans is heaven. Best beans I’ve ever made.
Everyone in my family loves this recipe. They request it at all our family functions/reunions.
instead of sliced ham i cook my pinto beans with hammocks, once the beans are done i take out the hammocks and chop up and put back in with the remaining ingredients. delicious
Easy and delicious
I add all of the ingredients mentioned above except ham, chorizo & chipotle. Instead I add pork rinds and add jalapeño bits( which have been in vinegar) at the last moment after the beans have simmer with the added ingredients so as to not be too spicy but with an awesome flavor! I add couple of spoonful of Knorr bullion and that gives it the good taste along with some pepper and cumin.