charro beans

Charro beans are the perfect side to any BBQ or Mexican meal. Or
just eat them out of the pot.
CourseMain
CuisineMexican
Keywordcharro beans, mexican pinto beans
Prep Time45minutes minutes
Cook Time1hour hour
Total Time1hour hour 45minutes minutes
Servings6
Calories516kcal
Authorromain | glebekitchen

Ingredients
Cook the beans
 1 lb dried pinto beans or 3 15 oz cans
 1 bay leaf

Cook the charro beans

 1/2 lb bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
 1 white onion - diced
 1 jalapeno seeded and finely diced
 4 tomatoes scorched with a blow torch (see above) or a
15 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes
 2 cloves garlic - crushed
 2 tsp ground cumin
 1/2 tsp Mexican oregano - if you can't get it, leave it out.
Regular oregano is not the same thing.
 1/2 tsp epazote (optional)
 2 tbsp vegetable oil
 1-3 chipotle in adobo minced - depends how spicy you
like it.
 1 handful cilantro chopped
 2 tsp kosher salt - you may need more. Creep up on it.
 2 cups chicken stock - thin to make the beans a bit soupy

Instructions
Cook the beans
 1. I use a pressure cooker. Pressure cook the beans and bay leaf
for 22-25 minutes (check your manual). I use 2 cups of water
per cup of beans. Once you depressurize your cooker, add 1
tsp kosher salt and simmer the beans for another 15 minutes
or so.
You want them tender. Not falling apart, but not toothy
either. Do not discard the water.
2. Alternately you can cook them conventionally. Cover the
beans with 1 inch of water and simmer until tender. This can
take anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours. Add the salt after
about an hour.
Sometimes it even takes longer. Beans are annoying that
way. Do not discard the water.
Make the charro beans
1. Add the oil to a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Fry the bacon until the edges start to get brown. This takes
around 7-8 minutes.
3. Turn the heat to medium low. Add the onion, jalapeño and
cumin. Fry, stirring frequently, until the onions are
translucent and soft, around 10 minutes. When they get
close, add the garlic and stir. Cook another minute or so.
4. While the onions are cooking, seed and dice the tomatoes.
To seed, cut them in half and just squeeze. A few seeds
won't kill you.
5. Add the tomatoes, Mexican oregano and epazote if using. As
the tomatoes release liquid, scrape up any fond that might
have formed in the bottom of the pan. Fond is flavour! Cook
until the tomatoes start to break down, around 10 minutes.
6. Add the tomato bacon mixture to the beans and water. Mix
in the chipotle. Simmer about 30 minutes to let the flavours
combine. You may need to add some or all the chicken
stock. You want soupy. This part is up to you.
7. Add the cilantro. Simmer another 5 minutes. Taste and
adjust for salt. You will probably need to add another tsp
depending on how salty your bacon is.
8. Garnish with a bit more cilantro or some pico. Enjoy!

Notes
If you are using canned beans cut the initial salt in half. Canned
beans are already salted.

Nutrition
Serving: 6servings | Calories: 516kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protei
n: 24g | Fat: 21g | Saturated
Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 1187mg | Potassium: 1444mg
| Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 900IU | Vitamin
C: 20.8mg | Calcium: 110mg | Iron: 5mg