The BEST Charro Beans Recipe (Only 10 Minutes of Prep Work Needed)

This charro beans recipe combines tender pinto beans with tons of meaty goodness and an assortment of spices & veggies. Honestly, this dish tastes like heaven on earth, and it's so quick and easy to put together. In fact, only 10 minutes of prep work is all that's needed to make these savory charro beans!

The Best Charro Beans

I know beans aren't the most exciting thing, but this charro beans recipe will change that.

Seriously, these charro beans are so much more than a basic side dish. I mean, not only are they filled with the most incredible blend of flavors, but they're also loaded with bacon, chorizo, ham, and Cabanossi sausage! That doesn't sound basic at all, does it?

Gah, these beans are just so tasty, hearty, and easy to make. Honestly, making this recipe is about as easy as making a plain ol' canned beans. Plus, since everything comes together in one pot, cleanup is a breeze too - and you know I'm a big fan of that.

Also, making these Mexican charro beans will only require about 10 minutes of hands-on prep work, so you'll have plenty of time to work on the main course for your Mexican feast. I love serving the charro beans with this Mexican chicken casserole, but honestly, they'll go terrific with anything you want!

Ingredients

While you will need quite a few ingredients to make this charro beans recipe, almost all of them are basic kitchen/pantry staples that you probably have on hand already.

Anyway, here's everything you'll need to make these beans:

• 14oz. cooked pinto beans
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 slices bacon, chopped
• 0.75 lb. raw Mexican chorizo
• 2 beef franks, chopped
• ¾ cup ham, chopped
• ½ cup Cabanossi, chopped, optional
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Chopped cilantro, to serve with

Pretty simple stuff, right?

By the way, if you have any pinto beans left over, then I definitely recommend putting them to good use and making this Wendy's chili recipe next! Or you can even use them to make these Mexican pinto beans or baked beans with ground beef.

Ingredient Substitutions And Suggestions

While I think these Mexican charro beans turn out best when made with the ingredients listed above, there's definitely room to switch up some of the ingredients to suit your preferences or possibly save you a trip to the store. So with that said, I'll go over some different things you can do with this recipe.

Experiment With Add Ons

If you want to amp up the flavor of these charro beans, then you can play around with adding additional ingredients. I recommend swapping the diced tomatoes for fire-roasted tomatoes or adding a few chopped-up chipotle peppers for an added smoky flavor. With that said, if you add a chipotle pepper or two, just remember to go easy since they can be overpowering.

By the way, if you love cowboy beans, you can add a few tablespoons of your favorite barbeque sauce to this recipe and give it more of a cowboy bean vibe.

Use Dried Pinto Beans

This recipe calls for cooked beans, which can be either dried pinto beans you cooked ahead of time or canned pinto beans. If using dry pinto beans for this recipe, I recommend cooking them in chicken broth to add some extra flavor.

How To Make Charro Beans

Now it's time for the fun part - it's time to make some charro beans!

As I said before, it's pretty straightforward to make this recipe. You basically just add everything to a pot and let the beans cook together until the veggies are tender and the meat is cooked. Seriously, that's all there is to it.

So, with that said, let's stop wasting time and get cooking!

Step 1: Cook The Meat

First things first, you'll want to grab a large pot - big enough for all of your ingredients - and set it on the stovetop over medium heat. Then, you can cook the onions and bacon together, stirring them occasionally for about 3-4 minutes.

Once you let the onions and bacon cook a little, you can add the Mexican chorizo to the pot and let everything cook for another 5 minutes. Follow this by adding the ham, beef franks, and Cabanossi sausage to the pot along with all of the seasonings - that would be the oregano, cumin, paprika, and garlic.

Now let all of the ingredients in the pot keep on cookin' for another 5 minutes, stirring 'em occasionally to prevent them from burning.

Step 2: Cook The Beans

Once all of the meat has been cooked and is nicely browned, you can go ahead and add the tomatoes and jalapenos to the pot.

Then, after you've got those in there, you'll want to add the cooked pinto beans to the pot along with enough water to cover the beans. By the way, if you have the water - or broth - you used to cook the dried beans in, then you can use that as your liquid.

Anyway, once you've got those ingredients looking good in the pot, you'll want to bring this mixture to a boil and let the beans boil for about 15 minutes.

Step 3: Serve The Beans

After the 15 minutes is up, you can give the charro beans a taste and season them with a little salt and pepper if you think they need a little something extra.

Lastly, I recommend that you serve charro beans warm with a garnish of fresh cilantro.

Enjoy!

How To Store Charro Beans

This recipe for charro beans makes about 6 servings, so it should be plenty for a big family dinner. However, if you're just making this dish for one or two people, this charro beans recipe makes for some perfect leftovers.

Speaking of leftovers, if you store the leftover cooked charro beans in an airtight container, they'll stay good in the fridge for about 3-5 days. 

How To Reheat Charro Beans

When you're ready to enjoy these charro beans again, you'll definitely want to reheat them first.

So, to reheat your cooked beans and meat, I recommend using your stovetop. Simply transfer everything to a saucepot, set it over medium heat and - stirring occasionally - let the beans and meat simmer for a few minutes - until everything reaches your desired temperature.

Wrapping It Up

Well, that's how to make charro beans!

I know I'm biased, but I really think these Mexican pinto beans are one of the tastiest bean recipes I've ever tried. I don't know if it's the perfect balance of savory meats and tender veggies or if it's the seasonings that make this recipe so good, I just know it's always a hit at my house!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this charro beans recipe as much as I/we do.

As always, if you give this recipe a try, be sure to leave a comment below and let us know how it went!

More Mexican Recipes

If you're looking for more easy Mexican-inspired recipes, then we've got you covered! We have a ton more on the blog for you to check out next.

Here are some of our most popular ones:

• Mexican casserole
• Beef enchilada casserole
• Mexican corn casserole
• Fideo soup
• Birria tacos

Oh, and as always, make sure to check us out on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram! We post new recipes on them every day.

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