Borracho Beans

Mexican Borracho Beans cooked low and slow with pinto beans, pork, spices and beer. THE PERFECT side dish recipe for your next Mexican feast!

The development of this recipe was sponsored by Hurst's Beans. As always, all opinions are my own.

What in the WORLD are borracho beans?? That’s what I asked myself one night when I was scrolling through Pinterest and came across a photo of a pot of beans that caught my eye. A few internet searches later and I discovered three things:

1. ‘Borracho’ is Spanish for ‘drunk’.
2. Borracho Beans are pinto beans cooked low and slow with pork, Mexican spices and… BEER!
3. I had to make some. Immediately.

Y’all know how much I love dried beans but you may not know that I also really, seriously, absolutely, dearly love beer. With all the microbreweries and IPAs popping up all over the place, beer has become the new “it” thing in libations but I loved beer long before it was cool.

It’s 8:32 on a cool October morning and my mouth is watering just thinking about how crisp and refreshing an ice-cold beer is on a hot afternoon!

I am absolutely in love with this recipe! I served these with yellow rice and spicy pork tacos then froze a big container of the leftovers to pull out the next time we have a crowd over for carnitas.

I can’t get over the layers of flavor in these beans. SERIOUSLY.

I looked at a dozen or so recipes to orient myself with the basics (pintos, tomatoes, chilies, jalapenos, onion, some sort of cured pork, Mexican spices and BEER) then crafted my recipe.

The two most important ingredients being the beans and the beer, I, of course, grabbed my Hurst’s Pinto Beans with the smoky ham seasoning packet because Hurst’s beans never, ever disappoint and I picked up a 6-pack of dark Mexican beer.

If you can’t find Hurst’s Pinto Beans with Ham Flavor in your local grocery store, ask for them! My grocery store now carries all sorts of products they didn’t have before simply because I asked for them.

Just ask the cashier who to talk to to request a product and s/he will point you in the right direction. My store has a list at the Customer Service desk where they notate products their customers' request.

Easy peasy!

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Yield: 14-16 servingsAuthor: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Borracho Beans

prep time: 5 minscook time: 3 hourstotal time: 3 hours and 5 mins

ingredients

• 1 20-oz. bag Hurst’s Pinto Beans with Ham Flavor Packet
• 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 12-oz bottle of beer
• 1 10-oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies (such as Rotel)
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced (or more to taste)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 5 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 ham hocks
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• Serve with fresh diced onion, cilantro and/or jalapenos

instructions

1. Remove seasoning packet from beans and set aside. Add beans and next seven ingredients (through ham hocks) to large pot or Dutch oven, stir well then heat until boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer beans for one hour.
2. Add seasoning packet from beans, cumin and chili powder to pot, stir well, cover pot then continue cooking for one hour or until beans are tender.
3. Remove ham hocks from pot and set aside to cool. Increase temperature of beans to medium/medium-low and continue cooking UNCOVERED for 30-45 minutes or until sauce is thick and reduced.
4. Meanwhile, remove meat from ham hocks, shred or cut into small pieces then stir into beans. Serve with fresh diced onion, cilantro and/or jalapenos.

NOTES:

If you can’t find the Hurst’s Pinto Beans order them online or substitute with 2 cups dried pinto beans then use 1 ½ teaspoons salt plus 1 teaspoon liquid smoke in place of the seasoning packet.
I used Dos Equis Ambar beer in this recipe.
You could use bacon instead of ham hocks in this recipe too. Just dice and fry bacon until crisp before adding to the pot.

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