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Pinto Beans with Bacon and Jalapeños

Pinto Beans with Bacon and Jalapeños

A family favorite meal around here is steak, salsa, and beans, often served with some warmed fresh corn tortillas on the side. Usually the beans for this ensemble are refried beans, but this week we decided to serve the beans whole, and dress them up a bit with pan roasted jalapeños, onions, and bacon. So good! And quick and easy too. Sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro to serve.

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Pinto Beans with Bacon and Jalapeños Recipe

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil, grapeseed oil, or canola oil
  • 2 to 3 whole jalapeño chile peppers
  • 2 to 3 thick-cut slices of bacon
  • 2 cups of chopped onion
  • 2 medium clove of garlic, minced
  • 4 cups of cooked pinto beans (2 15-ounce cans, rinsed and drained)
  • Salt
  • 1/2 cup, loosely packed, chopped fresh cilantro

Method

1 Heat oil in a medium skillet on high heat. Put the jalapeños in the pan and stir to coat with the oil. Let cook, turning occasionally, on all sides, until all sides are nicely browned (about 10-15 minutes, depending on how hot your burner is). Remove from pan. Cut away and discard the stem, core, seeds, and veins. Coarsely chop the remaining jalapeño flesh.

2 While the jalapeños are cooking, cook the bacon slices on medium low heat in a large skillet, until crispy. Remove bacon from the pan to a paper towel-lined plate. Pour off (do not discard down the drain!) all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat.

3 Add the chopped onion to the pan with the bacon fat. Increase the heat to medium high and cook until translucent and lightly browned. Add the minced garlic and cook a minute more. While the onion is cooking, chop the cooked bacon.

4 Add the cooked beans, chopped bacon, and the chopped jalapeños to the pan and stir to mix. Sprinkle with salt.

Serve with chopped fresh cilantro, and steak and salsa.

Yield: Serves 4-6.

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24 Comments

I love this! I just posted a recipe on my blog - red chilaquiles with black beans - but I think these beans would go great with it too!! thanks!!

Posted by: Monica on December 28, 2011 7:20 PM

This looks to be very, very good. Thanks to you Elise, your family and friends for all the wonderful recipes and stories from the outset through 2011. Especially the stories. Don't get me wrong, the recipes are the best, but the stories and the stories/comments from all who read and cook are lovely. It feels somehow as if we're in the kitchen together. Cornball, yes, but I hope perhaps cornball cool. All the best in 2012.

Posted by: Celeste on December 28, 2011 8:10 PM

I love bean salads'. Its is usually pack with protein and flavors. A crowd pleaser for sure :)

Happy New Year, Elise :)

Posted by: Kiran @ KiranTarun.com on December 28, 2011 9:52 PM

Thanks, Elise, for sharing your love of cooking with us these past years. Wish you all the best for the coming New Year.

Posted by: Jim Price on December 29, 2011 2:58 AM

I don't see where the steak is added in...???

This dish is a side, excellent served with steak. ~Elise

Posted by: Tracee on December 29, 2011 5:41 AM

This looks awesome. Side dishes are a bane for me because hubby is so picky. I'd have to remove the lovely jalapenos (hubby can't stand the heat), but otherwise he'd love this! Thanks for a new side I can add to our rotation.

Posted by: Je Ae on December 29, 2011 5:45 AM

mmmmmmm I know what I'm having for dinner now! I might trial it tonight and then remake for NYE! Happy new year and thanks for the receipt.

Posted by: Lol Fowler on December 29, 2011 6:01 AM

This looks amazing and right up my alley! I have a jar of dried pintos just waiting to be used up. Thanks for sharing :)

Posted by: Kate on December 29, 2011 8:09 AM

Everything is better with bacon. Yum.

Posted by: Kevin on December 29, 2011 8:43 AM

Sounds delish. I'm a long-time follower of your blog. I was intrigued to find out that you live in the Carmichael area (me too!)- your references to farmer's market and Corti Bros. should have clued me in long before. And now I just saw your Stanford alumni blog post. Delighted to know you're a fellow Stanford alum! Enjoy the Fiesta Bowl and GO CARDINAL!

Posted by: Robin on December 29, 2011 11:07 AM

This looks great! If you don't discard the bacon fat down the drain, how DO you do discard it?

Soak it up with paper towels and discard. Or, save to a bacon fat jar to use in cooking. See how to render bacon fat. If you dump it down the drain, over time your pipes will definitely clog. ~Elise

Posted by: Sade on December 29, 2011 11:23 AM

I'm not sure if I ever told you this, so as the year comes to a close, I wanted to be sure to share it. When I wrote about my 'Mexico excursion' on my blog, my nephew's girlfriend e-mailed me to say how excited she was that I had met ELISE BAUER !!! because she practically learned to cook on your site. All your hard work is so appreciated by so many people; may it continue to enrich all of us. Happy, happy new year, to you and your family. dear Elise. I hope it brings you blessings, and all of your heart's desires.

Wow, thanks Sally, and the same to you! Happy happy new year! ~Elise

Posted by: Sally on December 29, 2011 1:38 PM

I love your recipes Elise, but I just couldn't let this one go by! I understand the need for quick recipes, but cooking dried beans in a crockpot or on the stovetop is REALLY the best way to eat them! I grew up on pinto beans once a week as our protein with cornbread. It's a staple here in Texas! A piece of bread with butter and a bowl of beans right off the stove before dinner was served was a special treat from my mom's kitchen! Of course bacon, pork or ham bone is the best seasoning. Leftover beans can be used for refried beans by mashing and heating in a skillet with a little oil. Keep those recipes coming and try a pot of beans cooked all day on a cold winter day!

I absolutely agree, which is why the recipe specifies cooked beans. They can come from a can or you can cook them from scratch. ~Elise

Posted by: JoAnn on December 29, 2011 7:47 PM

What an easy way to make pinto beans interesting. I confess that unless the beans are part of a main course I usually just dump them into a pot and warm them though. Thanks!

Posted by: Becki Robins on December 29, 2011 11:42 PM

Soaking some beans right now... thanks!

Posted by: merd on December 30, 2011 5:51 AM

I never met a pinto bean I didnt love.. Thanks for a quickie version of charro beans, my most favorite of all pintos.

Posted by: KimH on December 30, 2011 10:14 AM

Eating this as we speak, used Serrano, they are
really spicy!
This is very warm and smokey!
Thanks for all the great recipes!
Happy New Year!

Posted by: Kelly on December 30, 2011 4:56 PM

Steak strips rolled in tortillas with salsa and beans was my dad's favorite meal, and became my favorite way to enjoy steak! Can't wait to try this, we always reheat or refry our beans in bacon fat yum! thank you!

Posted by: Susanne on January 2, 2012 9:17 AM

I used this recipe the first time I saw it here and made it for my familys New Years dinner celebration right next to the fried turkey.Everybody raved.Its a new tradition.Thanks!I did some changes though.I used roasted green chilles from Hatch New Mexico,grilled and frozen some time back instead of Jalapenos.That and I did cook my own Pintos.The rest was all you.And it rocked : )

Posted by: Kalashnikov Dude on January 2, 2012 5:55 PM

We had this last night for dinner and it was delicious! I didn't have any bacon on hand so I added a half teaspoon of liquid smoke and a few splashes of dark beer. Fantastic! I'll definitely be making this again.

Posted by: Marita on January 2, 2012 5:59 PM

I just made this and it is fantastic. This will become a regular on our home menu. I know there are a lot of cooking sites out there, but yours is on my Google homepage and every recipe of yours I have made comes out amazing.

Keep up the good work. mmmmmmmmmm

Posted by: Andrew Frappier on January 3, 2012 6:22 PM

This was excellent. I don't really care for beans that much but this was great! My husband loved it. It was easy, fast and very flavorful. I will definitely make this again.

Posted by: Beverly on January 13, 2012 4:38 PM

Anything with beans is great and this is so easy! Really dresses up a plain can of pintos. Thanks!

Posted by: Terry on January 13, 2012 6:59 PM

Great recipe! For a vegetarian twist, I forewent the bacon, (one of the hardest things I'd ever done!), and settled for 5 or 6 shakes of liquid smoke.

A good squish of lime also sets the flavors off quite nicely.

Posted by: Jerry Gartner on January 16, 2012 9:14 PM

I apologize for the inconvenience, comments are closed. ~Elise

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