Charro Beans

Charro beans are a nice alternative to the usual refried beans when making Mexican or Tex Mex dishes. When we eat out, my daughter loves Charro beans, so I wanted to try to make some at home. I searched through a lot of recipes and reviews but didn't find anything I liked exactly as written. So this is the recipe that I came up with. It turned out very tasty and works well as leftovers too. As I started cutting up the tomatoes, I looked down and saw this little smiling guy looking back at me :-)



Ingredients

1 lb dried pinto beans
water
6 oz salt pork or thick bacon diced
2 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped (I used yellow)
2 jalapeno peppers (or more)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions

Sort and rinse beans. Put beans in a large pot and cover with 6 cups water. Soak overnight.

(before soaking)
(after soaking overnight)

Drain beans. Add 6 cups fresh water and bacon. Bring pot to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour. Add tomatoes, onion, peppers, garlic and salt. Cook until tender about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Add water as needed to keep the beans more soupy. (I didn't add too much water, so mine are a little less soupy- but make it however you prefer).

Add more salt if needed. Remove peppers completely or dice them up as a garnish. Add cilantro and serve.

ENJOY!