Mexican Pinto Beans
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These Vegan Mexican Pinto Beans are better than any you can buy in the store and all you have to do is put them on the stove and forget about em.
If you’re like me, making beans from scratch has always sounded like a tedious and hard task. Soaking, sorting, boiling…hours of work. But take everything you’ve ever heard and throw it out the window. These Mexican Pinto Beans are better than any you can buy in the store and all you have to do is put them on the stove and forget about em.
A lot of recipes out there recommend soaking your beans overnight before cooking them. I have made these soaked and not soaked, and let me tell you…they tasted exactly the same both ways. So why add on 8 hours of waiting?
I like making these on a Sunday and then I have beans for the entire week. It takes about 2 hours for the beans to cook fully. A small amount of time to wait for the most flavorful beans you have ever had!
Mexican Pinto Beans
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dry pinto beans
- 6 cups + 2 cups water
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
- salt to taste
- cilantro for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Add beans to a large pot. Sort through the beans and remove any rocks. Cover with 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low for 1 hour.
- Add remaining water, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder and cayenne pepper and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat, covered, for an additional 1-1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Taste beans to make sure they are cooked through. Add salt and adjust seasonings as needed. Top with cilantro and enjoy.
When it says “add remaining water,” (the +2 cups) how much should I multiply this by after step 1 if cooking for many more people?
If you are increasing the recipe you will want to increase all of the ingredients, not just the water. So, double everything to double the recipe.
This is one of my favorite recipes. I am a vegan and I eat beans all the time. I found this to be the perfect recipe for simple, tasty beans I put together the spices ahead of time in little Ziploc‘s so every time I wanna make beans I can just grab the baggie and pour in the spices. I’ve been using this recipe for a couple of years!
Can i use canned pinto beans?
Yes – just omit the water since the beans are already cooked.
I’m excited in trying this recipe for July 4th. I make pinto beans all the time, I always use bacon in mine. My granddaughter and a couple of others coming are Vegetarian, so, I needed a recipe with new ideas. Loved all the reviews and all the suggestions that were given to your recipe. Thank you!
Thanks Corla – I hope you all enjoy them!
Wonderful tasting and exceptionally easy and perfectly vegan. So thrilled to have found this simplicity.
Should the beans have a lot of liquid left in the pot when done cooking ? Mine do. The flavor is great.
Very good recipe! I made it with dried beans that I had precooked and had frozen, so I was able to throw this together as a quick weeknight meal. Now I’m making again but adding in rice made from chickpeas & red lentil along with some sauteed onion, bell pepper and mushrooms. I replaced the water with veggie broth. This recipe is a keeper, eating plant based to overcome RA. Thanks for posting it!
Do you charge the time of cooking if you soaked the pinto beans?
Soaking draws out the indigestible raffinose from beans that causes gas or other digestive discomfort! Soaking is especially helpful for people with IBS, SIBO, etc.
My husband makes these often and they are the best.
thanks so much for this!
this feels like a dumb question, but can i apply it to dry black beans, too? do you have any dry black bean recipes?
Not a dumb question – you can definitely sub dry black beans!
Really great recipe! replaced the cayenne pepper with a can of rotel.
Yum – rotel sounds like a great swap. So glad you liked this!
A very easy recipe with tasty results. I did double the spices (omited cumin due to not liking the smell or taste of that spice). I also added some chopped onions, bellpeppers, garlic and a de-seeded jalapeno during the last 45min of cooking. Very delicious. Cheers.
Hi Rema – Those sound like great adds! So glad you enjoyed!
The reason traditionally for soaking beans is to make it easier on the stomach to digest them. I think if they’re cooked in a pressure cooker it isn’t an issue.
I’d like to make this recipe for a birthday party but wondered if I made them the day before could I just reheat on the stove? And the texture would still be nice,
Thanks! Looks like a great simple recipe,
Yes you can. We had these multiple times over the week for lunches and dinners.
Totally agree with Carmen – you can definitely reheat these with no texture issues 🙂
I doubled the spices and used chicken broth, so tasty! New favorite meal. Thank you! Also, I threw this in the instant pot for 25 minutes, with the water up to the halfway mark. Worked perfectly and a didn’t have to wait for my tasty treat.
Made these today — really delicious! I ended up doubling the spice mixture, as they seemed a bit bland with the stated amount. I’m snacking on them as I type this. 😉 But the plan is to have these in corn tortillas with cotija cheese for my lunches at work this week. Thank you for the recipe!
Great recipe! I cook the beans in vegetable broth instead of water then throw it over rice mixed with sauteed spinach.
My family DEVOURS this dish. If I knew how to cook like this in college I wouldn’t have been so thin lol
Thank you!
Thinking of adding a jalapeño to the recipe, any thoughts on it?
Do it!
Followed the recipe step for step. Best pinto beans ever. THANK YOU!!!!!
You’re welcome! So glad you liked it!
This recipe is very good. Will make again. Also they freeze well. I added the cooked beans to other mexican dishes and it improved them.
This recipe is so amazing and perfect for any Mexican recipe to replace meat. Also great over rice with guacamole! Thanks!!
Yay! I love the idea of just having this with rice and guac – throw a few chips on the side and you have a simple meal. Move over Chipotle. lol
This looks great can’t wait to try it. Was wondering if it would work in a crock pot as well?
My apologies if this is a dumb question, but I don’t really cook. On the package it says to soak them first, so should I do that or just put them in straight from the bag?
You should be able to put them in straight from the bag! That’s how this recipe makes it so much easier; it takes out all those extra steps.
Yes – just add them straight in. I always like to sort through them first to make sure there aren’t any rocks mixed in – which can happen with dry beans. Other than that, you can cook them straight out of the bag.
I suggest rinsing them as well as picking through to sort out any rocks. Just put them in a sieve or colander and run water over them, sifting through them as you would lettuce you are washing. Gets rid of any dust or dirt the beans may have acquired.
Excellent recipe! Thank you!
You can bring the beans to a boil for 5 minutes, turn off the heat, and put the lid on. Let them sit for one hour. That’s a quick soak. Make sure you rinse them afterwards.
Rene it looks simply perfect! On the main menu for this week! Thank you, Angelia
I used veggie broth in placenof the water and this was really good!
It was fine but it would help the less experienced to have a minimum of salt to start with.
Hi Birt – Salt is a fickle friend. Everyone’s tastebuds are different when it comes to salt (which is why you will rarely see me list an actual measurement for salt in my recipes). I stick to the taste as you go method. You can always add more salt at the end, but you can never take it back. 🙂
I made this exactly by the recipe. I was very pleased with the results. Delicious! I look forward to trying more of your recipes.
Awesome! So glad you liked it!
Make in a crockpot?