Charro Beans….. Also known as Mexican beans, ranch beans, or cowboys beans… Well, I’m not on a ranch, and nor am I a cowboy…… But does that mean I can’t have them, because I don’t meet the proper qualifications? Ummmm No! I don’t think so! And that’s why I am, talking to you about this dish……. Easy slow cooker charro beans……
I first experienced these delicious little morsels at a Mexican restaurant when my husband and I decided on dinner based off what drinks we wanted to have (yep you guessed it- we wanted Margaritas)…… And yes we base our meal choices off of what we want to drink sometimes… It happens…. Hey you’re supposed to pair your drinks accordingly! Don’t Judge!
So after picking the cuisine of choice for the night, I wanted something other than refried beans, and I took a leap of faith and tried them for the first time. Boy was I blown away! These beans were so flavorful and they’re like a little bowl of surprise with each bite. Because you get something different every time you lift your spoon to your mouth! With this bite I got peppers, with that bite I got smoked meat, and with this bite I got tomatoes….. The list goes on and on….
And of course, I decided to make my own pot of goodness at home to add to my Mexican dinner nights. I used smoked meat, tons of peppers, garlic, onions, jalapeños, and much more. The hardest thing that I had to do was peel the garlic. All I had to do was dump the ingredients in the slow cooker and let it go! In about 9 hours I had my easy dish full of fresh ingredients ready to go to serve to my family with little effort involved. I didn’t have to worry about turning on my oven or stove for this dish…. So my house stayed cool, and my electric bill didn’t increase…. With that being said, make this dish so you can enjoy all of these perks too! Enjoy!
Check out how I made them below……

I soaked my beans overnight…

I made sure I had a piece of smoked meat. You can use smoked pork meat as I did or smoked turkey wings…

I chopped up all of my veggies…. It literally took me only a few minutes to do this…

Then I threw everything in the slow cooker and let it go low and slow while I relaxed..

And I ended up with this….
Take it a step further, and pair these beans with my Mexican Rice recipe that is locate Here!
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Easy Slow Cooker Charro Beans
Ingredients
- Ingredients:
- 1 pound of dry pinto beans
- 1 smoked ham hock or two smoked neck bones
- 8 ounces of chorizo sausage (the type that comes in sausage form, not the ground chorizo)
- 1 to 2 jalapeños diced , (optional)
- 1 onion quartered
- 2 tomatoes quartered
- 4 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1 whole green pepper roughly chopped
- 1 whole red pepper roughly chopped
- ¼ teaspoon of black pepper
- 5 cups of chicken broth
- 1 twelve ounce bottle of dark beer
- 2 sprigs of cilantro chopped
- Salt to taste
Instructions
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Directions:
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Rinse the pinto beans with water.
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Remove any ugly beans, stone pieces, or dirt pieces from the pintos.
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Soak the beans in a covered dish of water in the refrigerator overnight.
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Drain the water off of the pinto beans.
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Put all of the ingredients (except the beer and salt) into the slow cooker.
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Gently stir the ingredients together.
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Cook the bean mixture for 7 hours.
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Then, add the beer and the chopped cilantro to the slow cooker.
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Salt the beans to taste.
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Cook for another hour.
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Then serve.
Recipe Notes
Healthy Tip:Replace the smoked pork meat in this dish with smoked turkey wings and/or legs. Also use homemade chicken broth if you can for a more healthy dish. It's just as tasty!
Tasty Tip:
Chop some additional cilantro to garnish each serving. It makes the beans that more good! P.S. I have put a whole jalapeno in this dish and this is a very mild heat level. Two jalapenos will give you more heat......
Cooking Tip:
I have heard you can soak your beans for about 2 hours in water with a couple tablespoons of baking soda to speed up the process of removing the gas chemicals…… Try it out and let me know how it worked….