10/20/17

Borracho Beans

Savory, saucy pinto beans cooked low and slow with pork, spices and beer. THE PERFECT side dish recipe for your next Mexican feast!

JUMP TO RECIPE

The development of this recipe was sponsored by Hurst's Beans. As always, all opinions are my own.

What in the WORLD are borracho beans?? That’s what I asked myself one night when I was scrolling through Pinterest and came across a photo of a pot of beans that caught my eye. A few internet searches later and I discovered three things:

  1. ‘Borracho’ is Spanish for ‘drunk’.
  2. Borracho Beans are pinto beans cooked low and slow with pork, Mexican spices and… BEER!
  3. I had to make some. Immediately.
Borracho Beans! Savory, saucy pinto beans cooked low and slow with pork, spices and beer. THE PERFECT side dish recipe for your next Mexican feast!

Y’all know how much I love dried beans but you may not know that I also really, seriously, absolutely, dearly love beer. With all the microbreweries and IPAs popping up all over the place, beer has become the new “it” thing in libations but I loved beer long before it was cool.

It’s 8:32 on a cool October morning and my mouth is watering just thinking about how crisp and refreshing an ice-cold beer is on a hot afternoon!

I am absolutely in love with this recipe! I served these with yellow rice and 3-Ingredient Chicken Tacos then froze a big container of the leftovers to pull out the next time we have a crowd over for Crock Pot Carnitas.

Borracho Beans! Savory, saucy pinto beans cooked low and slow with pork, spices and beer. THE PERFECT side dish recipe for your next Mexican feast!

I can’t get over the layers of flavor in these beans. SERIOUSLY.

I looked at a dozen or so recipes to orient myself with the basics (pintos, tomatoes, chilies, jalapenos, onion, some sort of cured pork, Mexican spices and BEER) then crafted my recipe.

The two most important ingredients being the beans and the beer, I, of course, grabbed my Hurst’s Pinto Beans with the smoky ham seasoning packet because Hurst’s beans never, ever disappoint and I picked up a 6-pack of dark Mexican beer.

Borracho Beans! Savory, saucy pinto beans cooked low and slow with pork, spices and beer. THE PERFECT side dish recipe for your next Mexican feast!

If you can’t find Hurst’s Pinto Beans with Ham Flavor in your local grocery store, ask for them! My grocery store now carries all sorts of products they didn’t have before simply because I asked for them. https://hurstbeans.com/products/hursts-pinto-ham-beens

Just ask the cashier who to talk to to request a product and s/he will point you in the right direction. My store has a list at the Customer Service desk where they notate products their customers' request. 

Easy peasy!

Borracho Beans! Savory, saucy pinto beans cooked low and slow with pork, spices and beer. THE PERFECT side dish recipe for your next Mexican feast!

NOTES ABOUT MAKING BORRACHO BEANS

  • Serve these with fresh diced onion, cilantro and/or jalapenos. I like to set out a few bowls with each for folks to add what they like.
  • If you can’t find the Hurst’s Pinto Beans order them online or substitute with 2 cups dried pinto beans then use 1 ½ teaspoons salt plus 1 teaspoon liquid smoke in place of the seasoning packet.
  • Use a good Mexican beer in this if you can. I used Dos Equis Ambar beer in this batch.
  • You could use bacon instead of ham hocks in this recipe too. Just dice and fry bacon until crisp before adding to the pot.

Recipe for Borracho Beans

Borracho Beans! Savory, saucy pinto beans cooked low and slow with pork, spices and beer. THE PERFECT side dish recipe for your next Mexican feast!

WHAT TO SERVE WITH BORRACHO BEANS

  • Mexican Restaurant-Style Rice -A simple recipe with just a few ingredients just like the rice at our favorite Mexican restaurant!
  • Crock Pot Carnitas - Delicious tender, crispy pork roast or boston butt slow cooked then chopped perfect for tacos, burritos, quesadillas or just eating on its own!
  • 3-Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos - A super simple slow cooker recipe with chicken breasts, taco seasoning and butter (no salsa!)
  • Taco Rice with Queso - A one-pan skillet meal with ground beef and Mexican style rice drenched in an easy queso sauce.
  • Mexican Street Corn - An easy recipe for Esquites served off the cob as a side dish or warm salad with Mexican crumbling cheese, a creamy spread, fresh cilantro and chili powder. 
Borracho Beans

Borracho Beans

Yield: 16 Servings
Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 2 H & 30 MTotal time: 2 H & 40 M
Mexican Borracho Beans cooked low and slow with pinto beans, pork, spices and beer. THE PERFECT side dish recipe for your next Mexican feast!

Ingredients

  • 1 20-oz. bag Hurst’s Pinto Beans with Ham Flavor Packet
  • 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 12-oz bottle of beer
  • 1 10-oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies (such as Rotel)
  • 1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced (or more to taste)
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 5 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 2-3 ham hocks
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

Instructions

  1. Remove seasoning packet from beans; set aside. Add beans and next seven ingredients (through ham hocks) to large pot or Dutch oven, stir well then heat until boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer beans for one hour.
  2. Add seasoning packet from beans, cumin and chili powder to pot, stir well, cover pot then continue cooking for one hour or until beans are tender.
  3. Remove ham hocks from pot and set aside to cool. Increase temperature of beans to medium/medium-low and continue cooking UNCOVERED for 30-45 minutes or until sauce is thick and reduced.
  4. Meanwhile, remove meat from ham hocks, shred or cut into small pieces then stir into beans.

Notes

  • Serve these with fresh diced onion, cilantro and/or jalapenos. I like to set out a few bowls with each for folks to add what they like.
  • If you can’t find the Hurst’s Pinto Beans order them online or substitute with 2 cups dried pinto beans then use 1 ½ teaspoons salt plus 1 teaspoon liquid smoke in place of the seasoning packet.
  • Use a good Mexican beer in this if you can. I used Dos Equis Ambar beer in this batch.
  • You could use bacon instead of ham hocks in this recipe too. Just dice and fry bacon until crisp before adding to the pot.
drunken, drunk, borracho, beans, beer, mexican, spanish, pintos, pinto beans, dried beans, ham, ham hocks, best, easy, recipe, cinco de mayo, how to, authentic
side dish
mexican
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15 comments:

  1. Girl, nobody can work magic with beans like you. NOBODY. Every bean recipe you post makes me think beans are my favorite food! And they're not! But I believe they are because you make them look so amazing and get SO excited by them. They should crown you Miss "Pot o Beans" LOL

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  2. Do the beans need to be presoaked overnight beforehand? This recipe looks wonderful!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you!! It really is delicious! No need to soak the beans overnight. I rarely do! I like the beans to absorb all the flavors from cooking liquid so I prefer to cook them all the way the day of vs. soaking them the night before.

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  3. Can you taste the beer? I don't like the taste but these look AMAZING!

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    Replies
    1. Not at all. At least not in a way you'd imagine. I intentionally created this recipe to use only a little beer (though I think I'll make a note above that you can use more beer / less broth if you like beer like I do). What you taste is a mildly roasted back note that has a hint of chocolate. It's PERFECT with all the Mexican flavors!

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  4. Hi,
    This looks so delicious.Can you cook this recipe in a slow cooker? And if so, what would be the time adjustment?
    Thank you so much.
    Julie

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    Replies
    1. I'm sure they'd be great in a slow cooker. Follow 1st paragraph but cook in slow cooker for 4 hours on high. Follow 2nd paragraph, cooking for 2 hours or until beans are tender. Then follow the recipe the same. Good luck!

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  5. I hope you are able to answer right away. I want to make this recipe right now to go with street tacos I am having tonight. I only have Guinness, Coors, or Stella Artois. Will any of these work well with this recipe? My thought is Guinness but not sure

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    Replies
    1. All of those would work just fine but I'd go with the Guinness since it has so much more body and the coffee/chocolate undertones in there would be amazing with the Mexican flavors!

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  6. After i found this amazing recipe, i make them at least once a month. They are really good, i add an extra can of stewed tomatoes, and have tried different beers.

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  7. I don't think I could call myself a great cook if ever I added a "packet of ham flavoring" to anything!
    I'll definitely find a work around as I LOVE Borracho beans!

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  8. This is almost the exact same recipe I use for boracho beans. I add andouille sausage also. Gives it a nice kick.
    We use Goya ham flavor packets along with the ham hocks.

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Hi there! While I’m not able to respond to every comment, I try hard to answer any questions that haven’t been addressed in the post, recipe or in other comments.

I can tell you now 1) I have no idea if you can substitute Minute Rice or brown rice in my recipes because I’ve never used them and 2) If I know how to convert a recipe to a Crock Pot version, I will make a note about it (otherwise, I don’t know).

And though I may not respond to them all, I do read each and every comment and I LOVE to hear from you guys! Thanks, y’all! - Mandy