Homemade Pinto Beans are loaded with flavor and perfect for your grain bowls, burrito bowls, tacos, with your eggs in the morning, or whatever the heck you're eating!
Author: Maddie Augustin
Ingredients
1 ½cupdried pinto beans
½tbspsalt
½yellow onion
3clovesgarlic
1tspwhole cumin seed
1tspsmoked paprika
2tbspolive oil
Instructions
Add pinto beans and salt to a large bowl. Add water to submerge the pinto beans with an additional 2-3 inches excess. Refrigerate all day or overnight.
Note: if you don't want to soak overnight, simply bring pinto beans and salt to a boil in a large pot. Then remove from the heat and allow to soak for an hour.
Preheat cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Peel and chop onion into wedges, peel and smash garlic cloves. Char both sides for about 2-3 minutes per side.
Once beans have soaked, add beans, liquid, and remaining ingredients to a large stockpot. Add enough water to ensure beans are submerged with an additional 2-3 inches of water. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a low simmer and continue to cook for 2 hours. Check beans every 30 minutes or so to ensure they are still submerged. Add water as needed.
Note: you want your beans to simmer gently the whole time. A vigorous simmer will result in bursting beans, and we want them to remain intact!
After 2 hours, test beans by tasting. Now is a time to add additional salt or paprika if needed. Beans are done when you can taste a few in a row, and they are plump and tender.
Note: store beans in their liquid and use any excess liquid in additional dishes. Cook grains in it, add it to soup, whip up a batch of hummus with leftover bean broth, etc. Possibilities are endless!