These Mexican restaurant quality Slow Cooker Charro Beans are super easy to make with simple easy prep. This is a healthier alternative to the canned charro beans you can find in the grocery store as we use several fresh ingredients!
Mind-blowing Flavor of Charro Beans
I first experienced these delicious little morsels at a Mexican restaurant during a dinner out with my husband. 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….
What are charro beans?
Charro beans are also known as “cowboy beans” and “frijoles charros” because they were initially popular among Mexican cowboys.
The origins of this traditional Mexican dish can be found in the Northern part of the country, where it was initially made by slow cooking dried pinto beans with garlic, onion, peppers, tomatoes and meat.
But today we are going to make a variation of it called “borrachos beans” (borracho = “drunk”) because we are going to use beer as one of the ingredients!
How do you make charro beans from scratch?
I developed this recipe when 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 that means easy clean up… dfWith that being said, make this dish so you can enjoy all of these perks too! Enjoy!
Check out how I made them below……
Slow Cooker Charro Beans Recipe Steps
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..
Next, I added beer to the slow cooker.
And I ended up with these…
Take it a step further, and pair these beans with my Mexican Rice or White Sauce Enchiladas.
Tips to Make This Recipe
- 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!
- Chop some additional cilantro to garnish each serving. It makes the beans that more good! P.S. I have put a whole jalapeño in this dish and this is a very mild heat level. Two jalapeños will give you more heat……
- 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….
- For a less potent beer test, you can add the beer at the beginning of the cooking process.
- Use slow cooker liners when cooking this recipe for easier clean up.
What to Do with Leftovers
You can add these beans to your favorite burrito or taco recipes. You can even use these beans as your base for a homemade refried beans recipe.
Enjoying This Easy Slow Cooker Charro Beans? Try some of these other bean recipes:
House of Yumm has a fantastic charro beans recipe, too.
MADE THIS RECIPE?
♥♥♥ Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below to let me know if you enjoyed it. And follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more delicious inspiration! ♥♥♥
Easy Slow Cooker Charro Beans
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) or smoked sausage
- 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
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon onion powder
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Directions:
- Rinse the pinto beans with water.
- Remove any ugly beans, stone pieces, or dirt pieces from the pintos.
- Soak the beans in a covered dish of water in the refrigerator overnight.
- Drain the water off of the pinto beans.
- Put all of the ingredients (except the beer and salt) into the slow cooker.
- Gently stir the ingredients together.
- Cook the bean mixture for 7 hours in slow cooker using low heat.
- Then, add the beer and the chopped cilantro to the slow cooker.
- Salt the beans to taste.
- Cook for another hour.
- Then serve.
Notes
- 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!
- 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......
- 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….
- For a less potent beer test, you can add the beer at the beginning of the cooking process.
- Use slow cooker liners when cooking this recipe for easier clean up.
Nutrition
Please note that I am not a nutritionist, and the nutritional information is an estimate only. It varies based on the products and brands used.
P.S. This recipe was updated on May 4, 2021.
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I can’t believe how easy this recipe is… Fantastic!
No it only is it easy it’s very simple and tasty beer trick was a new experience! Thanks