Cooking Pinto Beans

Pinto beans are the most popularly consumed beans in Mexico and United States. They are used in making chili recipe, dips, soups, refried beans, and burrito filling. Not only pinto beans nutrition facts are impressive, but they are easy to cook and excellent for fixing a quick meal.

As with other dried beans, the best way to cook pinto beans involves soaking them overnight. This saves both cooking time and preparation effort. After soaking, deciding the appropriate seasoning is all you need for cooking delicious pinto beans.

In case, you forget to soak beans one night before, you can still cook them without spending much time. For cooking pinto beans without soaking, bring 1 gallon water to a boiling temperature and add cleaned beans. Continue boiling till water quantity reduces to about half.

Again add water and repeat the process of boiling, until the beans are cooked well. Once softened, you can prepare them in any manner to suit your taste buds. Following are some popular methods of making pinto beans dishes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried pinto beans (soak overnight)
• ½ pound salt pork
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 1 clove garlic (crushed)
• ½ tablespoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt to taste
• Water

Directions for Preparation
After soaking pinto beans overnight, drain off water and rinse the soaked beans lightly. Pour enough water to cover the beans and add salt pork, garlic, onion, chili powder, oregano, and cumin. First bring the mixture to a boiling temperature and then, reduce heat to medium low.

Simmer for about 4 hours, or until pinto beans can be mashed easily with a fork. Check seasoning and add more salt, if required. When the mixture thickens, remove from heat. You can serve this with corn bread and chow chow.

Ingredients

• 2 cups pinto beans (soak overnight)
• 1 yellow onion (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon garlic (minced)
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 tablespoons lard or oil
• Salt to taste
• Water

Directions for Preparation
First of all, sort pinto beans and remove dirt and rocks. Consider soaking the beans one night before to reduce preparation time. Drain beans and keep ready for cooking. Heat lard (or oil) in a large and thick pan over medium high heat. Saute onions until softened, add garlic and bay leaf.

Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Pour 6 cups of water and add pinto beans. You can also use vegetable or chicken broth instead of water for better taste. Wait till the mixture boils and reduce heat. Cover lid and simmer till pinto beans are softened. Add salt and serve it with shredded cheese toppings.

Ingredients

• 1 pound pinto beans
• 1 ham hock
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Water

Directions for Preparation
For quick pinto beans recipe, you can use a pressure cooker. In this method, you will need a 6-quart cooker having pressure of about 10 lb.

Add cleaned pinto beans in the cooker and pour water twice the quantity of beans. Add ham hock for seasoning. Put the cooker over high heat and wait until you get 3 hisses per minute. Reduce heat and continue cooking for another 55 - 60 minutes.

Following this, remove from heat and pour cool water over cooker. When there is no pressure left, remove lid and check for doneness. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir well and serve.

So, this is how you can make savory pinto beans dishes. As you see, the recipes are very easy to try out at home. Whether you are cooking canned pinto beans or dried pinto beans, preparation directions are the same. You can also consider slow cooking pinto beans in a crock pot.

Add 3 cups soaked beans, ½ pound bacon, I tablespoon salt, and fill pot with water. Cook for about 8 hours, until beans are softened. The remaining steps of simmering and seasoning remain the same. Whichever way you cook these beans, you will get a delicious dish that complements your meal menu.