This Creamy Borracho Beans recipe is perfect for your next family summer cookout. The soft and creamy pinto beans are slowly simmered in a delicious sauce made from beer, bacon, and spices. These beans get their name from the addition of Mexican beer (“borracho” translates to “drunk” in Spanish!)
To make this dish, start by cooking bacon in a pot or Dutch oven. Once it is crispy, transfer it to a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess grease and set it aside. Saute onions and jalapenos before adding garlic, chili powders, dried oregano, salt, and ground cumin. Add cooked pinto beans, canned diced tomatoes, beer, and brown sugar to the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in some freshly chopped cilantro along with the crispy browned bacon before serving.
To make Creamy Borracho Beans you will need the following ingredients:
Place 1 pound of pinto beans into a large bowl. Remove and discard any beans that are shriveled or split. There may be some small stones that may have made their way into the bag too. Cover the beans fully with water (at least 3 inches over the top of the beans) and place on the counter to soak for 8 hours or overnight. Once the beans have doubled in size, drain and rinse under cool water.
Transfer the soaked beans to a large pot or Dutch oven and add 10 cups of water.
Bring the beans to a boil and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 2 - 2 ½ hours.
Drain the cooked beans and transfer them to a large bowl, and set aside. Rinse and dry the pot. Return pot to the stove and heat over medium-high heat.
Add ½ a pound of chopped bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and crispy. Remove the cooked bacon and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Set to one side.
Add the diced onion and jalapeno and saute for 5 minutes, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Add 4 minced cloves of garlic, ½ a teaspoon of ground cumin, 2 teaspoons of chili powder, 1 teaspoon each of ancho chili powder, dried oregano and coarse kosher salt. Cook while stirring for 30 seconds.
Mix the cooked pinto beans, can of diced tomatoes, bottle of beer, and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar into the mixture in the pot. Stir to combine and bring to a low simmer.
Simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in chopped cilantro and crispy bacon and serve immediately.
These Creamy Borracho Beans are a healthy wholesome dish that you can serve up as a midweek meal or at your next cookout. Try them soon and please come back and leave a comment below with your thoughts.
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