Community Pick
Pinto Beans and Rice in a Crock Pot (Or on Stove Top)

photo by Jonathan Melendez





- Ready In:
- 3hrs 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Yields:
-
1 crock pot
ingredients
- 1 (1 lb) bag dried pinto bean
- 1⁄3 cup picante sauce
- 2 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced (kind in jar is okay)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon cumin
- 1⁄2 teaspoon oregano
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 cup cooked white rice
directions
- Rinse beans in colander.
- Put in a crock pot (or large pot).
- Cover with water, plus about 2 inches over top of beans.
- Add all ingredients, except rice.
- Cook on high in crock pot about 3 hours til tender. (Crockpots vary greatly on cooking times. It could take much longer in yours, so the first time allow longer to cook and then you will know how long cooking time will be in the future.).
- (Add water if necessary) May also cook on low overnight.
- Add rice and cook until rice is warm.
- Serve with cornbread.
Questions & Replies

Reviews
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This is an awesome bean recipe. You just throw them in a crockpot and forget them. They smell wonderful cooking and taste even better. I did add a little cornstarch and water to thicken (just personal preference). My husband took one bite and said I should make them when his mother comes to visit. High praise indeed! I will definitely make these over and over again. Thank you for the recipe.
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Note that dried beans cooked with tomatoes from the beginning will be tough - calcium or acid of any kind causes the outside of the bean to stay tough. The way to get around this is to do as some commenters have mentioned - precook the beans by themselves (overnight), then add the other recipe ingredients and cook for the duration mentioned in the recipe. Crockpots don't come to the same high heat as the stovetop. Unsoaked beans cooked only on low may never get tender.
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I have tried other bean recipes and they've been okay. And this is not perfect but I got great taste with that lovely creamy texture. I think 1/2 t. pepper is too much for me. I will take that down to 1/4 t. next time. I love cumin and think I will go up to a full tsp on that. And I used red beans because I didn't have any pintos. I probably dumped closer to 3/4 c picante sauce into the beans. When i read the recipe, a first thought was that I did not think unsoaked beans would cook in 3 hours, so unlike others I did not make the finish time critical and wasn't unhappy. My red beans were tender and yummy after about 5 hours. (they are a smaller bean than the pintos, I'd say.) I used 1 T of Penzey's medium chili powder. I often cut back on recipes that call for chili powder because it is pretty competent chili powder, but this was a whole pound of beans and I thought that would work out okay and it seemed to. I like bay leaves and kept all three. I think that gets you a more complex flavor and I am excited to see how they will taste tomorrow. I have some Penzey's Chipotle powder and I might try a bit of that because smoky heat sounds like it could be good here. Great recipe. Update: This really has become my go to recipe and I use it for all kinds of beans though if it's chick peas or white kidney beans, I don't use the chili powder or the Picante Sauce. I use the bay leaf "faithfully" and may just add thyme or something like that. Trying to add fiber to my diet and I often will cook these over night and then I have beans in my fridge. Tasty and versatile.
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Tweaks
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Let me start by sayingthat I do not like beans and was making these just to have them to make refried beans with tomorrow. WOW....has my opinion ever changed! I was tasting to make sure the seasonings were right and found myself scooping out a whole bowl full and wanting more. My kids loved them and my husband thought they were out of this world! IF there are any leftovers I will make the refried beans tomorrow and I expect them to be excellent due to the great flavor they have. I did not use bay leaves and actually threw the seasonings in the last hour and they were still delicious. I can only imagine how good they would have beenif I had put everythinging at the beginning. Instead of cooking them in water I used chicken broth (Rachael Ray Stock in a Box) and 1 bottle of beer. I will be making beans this way from now on! Thanks for the super recipe!!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Junebug
United States
I am a wife, Mother and Grandmother. I am a native Texan and can't imagine living anywhere else. My Grandmother taught me to cook before I could see the top of the counter. I remember standing on a stool in her kitchen learning to make pancakes. My Mother loved to cook and it seems she was cooking (or cleaning) most of the time. So those are the two ladies responsible for nurturing my love of cooking!
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As you can see I cook and review recipes more than I post them. That's because I am a pinch of this and a dollop of that cook and it's hard to put those recipes down on paper.
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