- 1 pound dry pinto beans, about 2-1/3 cups
- 2 quarts of tap water
- 2 to 4 ounces margarine or bacon or salt pork or 1/4 cup bacon grease
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Soak the beans in 2 quarts of cold water overnight, or in 2 quarts of boiling water for an hour or two. After soaking, or the next day, bring the beans to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat, so the beans merely simmer. Cover and simmer for half an hour. Then add the margarine or bacon, salt and pepper. Cover again and simmer for another 45 minutes to an hour. The beans should be tender and fragrant. Bite into one to see if it is cooked though. When they are tender, they are ready to serve.
I always serve these beans with Corn Bread and Mixed Greens. This is just about my favorite meal in the whole wide world. Some folks squirt ketchup on these beans when they eat them, that is a fine southern tradition, although I prefer them without it. The small amount of bacon adds to the protein quality of the beans, and it also turns the bean broth into something called pot licker. That means the juice is so good, you want to lick the pot. Soak up the bean juice with your corn bread.
Babies of about a year old are fond of cornbread mashed up very smoothly in a little pot licker from the beans. Just make sure to cool it down and mash it very smooth. It was a favorite of all of my kids when they were learning to feed themselves.
Got some leftover pintos? Turn them into refried beans or try one of the other yummy bean recipes.
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Thank you for the cornbread recipe. I cook for a rescue mission and I needed a plain recipe since I can’t spend a lot of money for things like Rotel and cheese and etc to put in the cornbread.
Have you ever tried Anazazi (Sp) beans? They are a little different from pinto and so delicious. I have never seen them in the store. I have to order them mailorder. Thanks again. Rosemary Downs
The correct term is not “pot licker,” but “pot liquor.”
it is not liquor, it is licker
It is neither. It’s likker:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/likker
Yes, there are many variations of this term. You’ll find “pot liquor” on the same definition link offered. And just for a chuckle, here’s an interesting link that carries the debate even further… all the way to the United States Senate: Pot Liquor or Potlikker?
Actually, I call it “soppers”.. you “sop” up the broth with the corn bread. [My family has lived in the Appalachian mountains since the 1700s and we've always called it soppers.]
I love pinto beans and cornbread!
For Rosemary-the health food store I frequent carry Anazazi (Sp) beans. It is with their bulk items. You might price them at a health food store near you, and see if the price is right!!
Hello: Your recipe is great and the truly secret ingredient for homemade pintos is certainly the bacon grease. Smooth and creamy! I enojoy them all the time. Thanks again!
I have loved these alllll my life. My KY nana made them and we always eat them with corn bread and garnish with onion and sweet pickle relish. I skip the onion but load up on the relish… I am getting ready to make some with a ham bone I have left over from dinner last night.
I grew up on corn bread & beans, and i have bean wantng to try and make them on my own thanks for the push to try it.
Thank you, for your perfect recipe…just like my mother made for us, growing up. My mother used to say (she was the perfect lady, quite educated, well read, and raised with good moral and ethical values), “I am a hillbilly, and that is a good thing, and because I am a hillbilly, you know I am sincere.”
The correct spelling is Anasazi. They were Natives that lived in the southwest and disappeared about 1,500 years ago. The beans have a very similar taste to pinto beans.
I’m so excited to see this recipe! My grandma used to always make “soup beans” and corn bread when I was little. I’ve tried to follow her method a few times, but she never measured or used a real recipe and I haven’t had any luck. I’ll be trying this soon!
My mom use to make soup beans and cornbread all the time…a very, very cheap meal, but we thought it was a treat! We’d put diced onions on top fo the soup and lots and lots of butter on the hot cornbread. Makes my mouth water!
This recipe is so delicious (I make mine with bacon)! I have a friend that told me she & her family don’t like beans – I suspect it’s because they haven’t been cooked well and so I’m going to have them try these!
This sounds delicious! I haven’t made beans on the stove top but would like to try. Question: after soaking the beans in 2 qts. water overnight, do you drain the water and put the beans in 2qts. fresh water before cooking, or just cook them in the water they have been soaking in? Or does it matter? Thanks!!
I use the same water, I think it gives more flavor, but it really doesn’t matter. Just don’t forget the bacon fat. Just keep adding water and the juice will be thick and creamy. Keep covered til beans are tender, then take the lid off and boil til the Juice is just right. If more juice is wanted, just add more water. Perfection!
In the beginning I rince my beans until the water runs clear through my colander. (excuse any misspelled words) Then I soak them overnight in water twice as high as the beans with 1 heaping teaspoon of baking soda added to the water…this releaves much of the gas issues that come after eating beans. The next morning I poor off the water with the baking soda water (poor this water in a compost if you have one if not run water down the sink at the same time you poor it down the drain to prevent this water from standing in your pipes) then cover the beans in the cooking pot with clean water to about an inch above where the bean have swollen to in the pot. Then follow above recipe which is a very good basic bean recipe every kitchen should have.
@Kristie – yep, you drain the soaking water and replace with new. (this helps reduce the flatulence factor
good luck!
Drain the beans. Soaking leaches oligosaccharides ( long sugar molecules) that you don’t digest but intestinal bacteria digest causing gas
why do my beans turn dark when cooking. The liquid is too dark and looks dirty
Your beans are probably turning dark because you are probably adding in cold water while the beans are already boiling. Next time add in hot water if the water has gotten to low and the beans need extra cooking time.
I am Pennsylvania Dutch. I had a girlfriend that was from Tennessee. I made her a batch of my bean soup, she called it soup beans. She said mine tasted better than her moms. My bean soup uses 1 bullion cube for each cup of water, bacon (or ham), beans, an onion, celery stalk, two carrots, and two potatoes.Give it a try!
I remember being a boy of 2 or 3 and looking at a pot of beans cooking on my grandparents wood stove and thinking yummy.
They were okies and had 8 kids and would make beans cornbread and fried potatoes,Guess what I am feeding my family tonight?
To help cut down on the flatulence factor you can also add a little baking soda to the water when you presoak the beans. Be sure to rinse the beans and start with fresh water for cooking.
if u live in the south,,its pot licker!!!! my granddaddy always called it that and spelled it too.
Grew up a poor hillbily, now @ age 65 have started to eating as we did growing up in Va. Lot’s of bean’s, tater’s and green’s! It don’t get any better than that.Do 4 meal’s for less than 4 dollar’s. Then I am doing good.
My friend, whose pinto beans are her specialty and her pride, uses only distilled water in her pintos. She says it keeps them light in color, whereas the minerals in tap water darken them. Also, the distilled water she adds as the beans boil down has to be boiling, as cold water bursts the skins.
Interesting tips, Jeanie. I’m going to give this a try. Thank you for sharing.
1. I’ve cooked beans in the same water,the way I was taught,and in fresh water,and by far the beans made with the same water makes the best POT LIKER!! 2. I have an ileostomy due to Crohn’s,Beano and/or Zantac. Enough said.
I have Crohns as well…and the doctors tell me to steer clear of beans but I LOVE PINTO BEANS AND CORNBREAD! I hope you are well. I just made it to 3 months ‘remission’.
Sara
Potlikker vs Pot Liquor – from The NY Times, February 23, 1982 (I was eleven days old when this was published!!)
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/23/us/pot-liquor-or-potlikker.html
The folks of the internet/world say that potlikker is the liquid left over from cooking greens, not from beans, but if you make this recipe correctly…the juices that remain *are* delicious.
I tried this recipe last night, let me say first that the flavor was fantastic! I did however have a problem that I was wondering if anyone else had. I soaked my beans overnight as always. My people drain the soak water, which I did. Then followed the recipe as printed. My beans would NOT soften!! I cooked them for close to 3 hours. I added more water but made sure it was hot enough not to stop the simmer. What did I do wrong?
Probably nothing…you may have had “old” beans that weren’t properly stored. They do need plenty of water (liquid) though to soften.
Angelina, you may have done nothing wrong. Lately my sister and I have had the same problem and we’ve been cooking them for years. I think the beans are too old, myself. I generally throw out any of those I have left , and buy new. I also use my pressure cooker if time is an issue. 15 pounds of pressure for 40 minutes, let cool, remove lid and if you like a thicker soup, I use a potato masher to mash a few and add back in.
I was raised in these good eats also but, I have never cooked them. The question I have for the Beans is do you use raw bacon oor do I need to cook it and use the grease and the bacon ? Told you I never cooked them before. ha also, where do I get that corn bread recipe and the greens recipe ? Thank you guys, P.S. Hurry and answer Im starving !
Personally, if I use regular bacon or fat back, I dice and fry till done [but not TOO crispy, but limpy] and then add the bacon and the grease to the pot.
You can also use smoked pork hocks, smoked pork necks or ham if you want.
Personally I use bacon grease and smoked pork hocks or necks.
I cook my beans with nothing but salt and water. The fresh beans my husband and I shelled out was just plain beans, water and a little salt. You have to keep adding water but they turn dark brown and the soup really gets thick and good. I use no seasoning but the salt. When I fry hamburgers I fry them in water only. TRY it, you will like it.
can you freeze cooked pinto beans
Yes, you can freeze cooked pinto beans. New Year’s Day, I put my soaked pinto beans in the crockpot with a hambone, and let them cook all day. They were the best I’ve ever had. This morning, I put Navy Beans in the crockpot with onion and salt pork. Can wait to see how they’ve turned out when I get home from work!!!!!