Cowgirl Beans start with inexpensive dried pinto beans and wind up creamy and full of flavor, with fresh tomato, jalapeño, and onion cooked in a skillet and stirred in at the end.
Any time I’m craving a pot of pinto beans, this is the recipe that always answers. I love the additions of jalapeño and fresh tomato that give them a little more personality than you expect.
BeeBop is always talking about the “pintos and cheese” that his Mom made for them when he was a little fellow growing up out west. BeeBop’s family is from the same area as mine, but his Dad was in the Air Force, so he moved around a couple of times before they settled down again in South Georgia.
Apparently, pinto beans were a big part of their diet out in New Mexico, where they were stationed for a while. And they were cheap! Very important when you’re raising five kids on military pay!
Anyway, I’ve been trying for years to find a recipe that would satisfy his craving for Mom’s “pintos and cheese.” I haven’t yet hit on the magical combination, but in the process I’ve found some pretty tasty recipes!
This one for Cowgirl Beans was published by Craig Claiborne in his wonderful book Craig Claiborne’s Southern Cooking, but I’m sure it wasn’t his original creation. I’d guess that this recipe had been around the block a couple of times before he got it. Regardless, it’s a great dish to serve with hearty food. We enjoy it with some pork chops, and a skillet of old fashioned cornbread or a batch of Southern cornbread muffins are natural partners for a bowl of these beans.
Oh, and if anybody out there has a recipe for “pintos and cheese,” please send it my way.
Recipe Snapshot: Cowgirl Beans
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Servings: 4
Cuisine: American
Cooking Method: Stovetop
Primary Ingredients: Dried pinto beans, onion, jalapeño, tomato, cilantro
Skill Level: Easy
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What Makes This Recipe Special
Cowgirl Beans are dried pinto beans simmered on the stove until tender, then finished with onion, jalapeno, tomato, and cilantro. There’s no meat in the pot, and the flavor comes from the beans and the vegetables.
This isn’t the sweet and tangy baked bean dish that usually goes by cowboy beans, which is made with ground beef, bacon, ketchup, and barbecue sauce. It’s a stovetop recipe, and a cup of the beans is pureed and stirred back in to thicken the pot and give it a creamier texture.
Dried pinto beans keep it budget-friendly, and they don’t require soaking. It’s a satisfying side dish for Tex-Mex meals, pork chops, or anything you’re serving with a hearty main.
Ingredient Notes
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- Dried pinto beans — These are the base of the recipe and the reason it’s so budget-friendly. Rinse them well and pick them over before using. I find that store brands of dried pintos tend to be much dirtier than name brands. Regardless of the brand, be sure to rinse them thoroughly and pick them over before using.
- Onion — I prefer yellow onion, but white onions work fine. Half goes into the pot with the salt, and the other half is cooked with the jalapeño before being stirred in.
- Fresh jalapeño — Dice it and cook it in a skillet with the onion to create richer flavor than adding it raw to the pot.
- Ripe tomato and cilantro — These go into the skillet after the onion and jalapeño to cook for just 3 minutes before the mixture is stirred into the beans.
The complete ingredient list with detailed measurements is included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Recipe Variations to Try
- More heat: Use a serrano pepper in place of the jalapeño.
- Less heat: Use the same amount of finely chopped Anaheim pepper in place of the jalapeno.
- No heat: Use finely chopped green bell pepper in place of the jalapeno.
- Canned pinto beans: Canned beans work and cut the cooking time dramatically. The trade-off is cost, since dried beans are the more budget-friendly choice.
- Garlic: Add garlic for a deeper savory flavor. How much is up to you.
- Cumin: Cumin brings an earthy warmth that suits the tomato and cilantro. Add as much or as little as you like.
- Smoked paprika: Smoked paprika adds a smoky note to the pot. Add it to your taste.
How to Make Cowgirl Beans
Cook the beans. Rinse the dried pinto beans and put them in a soup pot or saucepan with the 6 ½ cups of water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, partly cover the pot, and cook for 1 hour. Stir in the salt and half of the chopped onion, then continue cooking, uncovered, for about 30 minutes more.
Pro Tip
Dried beans don’t necessarily need to be soaked before cooking. You can start any dried bean recipe with beans straight from the bag, but they’ll need more cooking time. If you have time to soak, you’ll save cooking time by doing so.
Make the tomato-pepper mixture. While the beans cook, heat the oil in a small skillet and cook the remaining onion and the chopped jalapeño just until the onion is wilted. Stir in the tomato and cilantro and cook for another 3 minutes.
Thicken and finish. When the beans are tender, scoop out one cup of the beans with their liquid and process them in a blender or food processor until they’re a very fine puree. Stir the puree back into the pot, then add the tomato and onion mixture and simmer for about 5 minutes more. The puree thickens the pot and gives the beans a creamier texture. Serve the beans as-is, or with your choice of toppings.
How Long do Dried Pinto Beans Take to Cook?
Dried pinto beans, in general, take about 1 hour and 30 minutes to cook on the stovetop, with no soaking. Soaking the beans first will shorten the cooking time, and canned pinto beans cut it to just a few minutes.
Dried beans do not, however, always cook within estimated guidelines. If yours are still firm when the stated time is up, one of these is usually the reason:
- Age: Dried beans lose moisture as they sit, and the older they get, the longer they take to soften. Very old beans can stay stubbornly firm no matter how long you cook them, so buy beans you believe to be fresh and store them sealed in a cool, dark, dry place. Even though they last for years, they’re always better when fresher.
- Hard water: Minerals in hard water can keep beans from softening. If your tap water is very hard, bottled or filtered water may help.
- Acidic ingredients: Tomatoes, lemon juice, vinegar, and wine can slow the softening, so they’re best added once the beans are tender. In this recipe, the tomato goes in after the beans have finished their long simmer.
- Altitude: Beans take longer to cook at higher elevations. Colorado State University Extension recommends adding about 5 percent to the cooking time for every 1,000 feet over 2,000 ft elevation.
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Recipe Tips
- Cooking times can vary with the age of dried beans, so taste a few near the end of the simmer. If they still have a bite, keep them simmering a little longer before you move on.
- Any soup pot or saucepan works for this recipe, as long as it holds the beans and 6 ½ cups of water with room to simmer.
How to Serve
Cowgirl Beans make a great side dish for Tex-Mex meals, and they’re hearty enough to serve alongside most grilled meats. Serve as-is, or add toppings like grated cheddar cheese, chopped scallions, sour cream, and salsa.
I often serve them with grilled pork chops and a fresh green salad. They’re also great with carne asada tacos or a square of cheesy green chile cornbread.
If you enjoy pinto beans, try these pinto bean cakes with salsa and sour cream or a somewhat different pot of pinto beans with fresh tomato relish.
How to Store
Refrigerate leftover beans within 2 hours of cooking, or within 1 hour if the temperature is above 90°F. Divide large amounts into shallow containers so they cool quickly. Refrigerated, they keep for 3 to 4 days.
For longer storage, freeze them in freezer-safe containers for up to 4 months for best quality. Thaw them in the refrigerator and reheat before serving.
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Recipe
Cowgirl Beans
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dried pinto beans
- 6 ½ cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 small fresh jalapeno finely chopped
- 1 small ripe tomato chopped
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Rinse the 8 ounces dried pinto beans and place them in a large pot with the 6 ½ cups water.
- Bring the beans up to the boil. Partly cover beans and cook at a simmer for 1 hour.
- Add the 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 of a medium onion chopped. Continue cooking, uncovered, for about 30 minutes more.
- Heat the 1 tablespoon canola oilin a small skillet and add the remaining 1/2 of a medium onion chopped and 1 small fresh jalapeno chopped. Cook just until the onion is wilted.
- Stir in the 1 small ripe tomato and ¼ cup chopped cilantro. Cook for an additional 3 minutes.
- Remove one cup of the beans with their liquid and process them in a blender or food processor until as fine as possible.
- Return the pureed mixture to the beans and stir together.
- Add the tomato-onion mixture to the beans and continue to simmer about 5 minutes more.
- Serve as is or with toppings of grated cheddar cheese, chopped scallions, sour cream and salsa.
Notes
- Cooking time can vary with the age of the beans, hard water, and altitude. Keep simmering until the beans are tender all the way through.
- Cooking the onion and jalapeno in a skillet gives them more flavor than adding them raw to the pot.
- For less heat, use Anaheim pepper in place of the jalapeno, or green bell pepper for no heat. Cutting out the jalapeno’s white pith and seeds also tones it down.
- Refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour if the temp is above 90°F). Leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator and 3 to 4 months in the freezer for best quality.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
I’m trying this recipe tomorrow because my husband loves beans he is Cajun and he loves spicy food.
This is my Pinto and Cheese recipe — I do it in a pressure cooker.
1 cup pinto, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp cumin, 4 cups of stock
Pressure cook on high pressure for 35 mins, careful to minimise steam loss by turning low once up to pressure. Release naturally. No presoak needed.
Open cooker. Add 2 oz grated hard cheese like a cheddar.
Stir fast with a wooden spoon for a couple of minutes, until the beans start to cream and cheese is melted into the beans.
Reduce on high to remove any excess liquid, as preferred. Maybe 1 or 2 minutes max.
Serve with grated cheese and fresh black on top. Cilandro and jalapinos optional.
Thank you so much for the recipe! I can’t wait to try it.
that looks great. I like how you thickened the broth with puree – very neat idea. I’ve heard about puree-ing beans into pasta sauce to sneak in proetin for the kiddies as well.
You had me at cowgirl ; )
Why, thank you, Megan.
I wonder why that is! I seem to crave long-cooked wintry recipes in the middle of summer. Just crazy, I guess :-)
Thanks, Barbara. You’d be surprised how many emails I get from people who are really grateful for the step-by-step photos. Mostly when it’s some complicated step in a recipe, though. Thinking I might just do a minimum of those from now on. Taking all those photos really slows down the cooking time!
Lana, I tried for 20 years to make pinto beans that tasted nearly as good as my mama’s, with no luck whatsoever. When she passed away, I inherited her pressure cooker, and guess what? Apparently, that was the secret! The best part about that (besides the flavor) is it doesn’t heat up the kitchen. Here’s the easy-peasy way to make my mama’s beans: sort through your dried pintos and discard any dirt, rocks, etc. Soak a cup or two of pintos in the pressure cooker overnight (covered or uncovered, doesn’t matter), just make sure you use twice as much water as beans. When you’re ready to cook them the next day/evening, pour the beans into a colander and rinse them well. Put them back into the pressure cooker, add a smoked ham hock and half an onion (diced); cover it all with water. Close, cook on high until the pressure indicator starts rockin’, reduce heat to medium, and let the indicator rock for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the cooker sit there for another 15 minutes or so (chop up some cilantro, onion if you like, and grate some cheddar while you’re waiting); carry it to the sink and run water over it until all the pressure has dissipated. Open it up, spoon a mess into a bowl, garnish with the onions, cheese & cilantro, and enjoy! We prefer a big pan of your egg bread (cornbread) with our beans, hot & covered with butter ‘n honey. :-)
Wow, Peg, I never even though about using the pressure cooker. What a great idea! I’m trying your recipe next!
Love the added kick!
Loving the jalapeno and cilantro in these beans. I will definitely be bookmarking this one for future use!
That looks delicious!
I’m from New Mexico, and I love pinto beans, but I don’t really know of any actual recipes for pintos and cheese. I’d guess that if you just made the pintos from this recipe with less water and only onion and garlic as seasoning, and then sprinkled some shredded Cheddar on top so it melted slightly, that might be close? I’m used to pintos here being served fairly thick, not quite as soupy, so I think reducing the amount of water in the cooking liquid would work—or you could refry them once they’re cooked, and maybe that would be close to what he grew up with. Happy experimenting!
Jen – I’m gonna keep working on it until I get the recipe just right! BeeBop will let me know when I hit on the perfect combination :-)
oh yeah, give me a big bowl and a slab of cornbread and I will be a happy boy… this is one I will make too as I am always trying to duplicate a similar pinto bean dish like this one, it was served as an appetizer with tortilla chips in a restaurant in San Antonio back in the ’70’s… this one sounds like it would fit into many meals… one I am planning on making real soon, even in the heat of summer…
Ooooo…pintos with tortilla chips! That sounds so good.
Healthy and light for these hot days love it!
Looks wonderful, even if you did have to sweat it out in the kitchen to make it!
Oh, it wasn’t so bad really. I just cranked the a/c down and enjoyed cooking!
I love pinto beans. I am trying this one for sure
Thanks, Alison. Hope you enjoy it.
All I would need is some jalapeno and cheese cornbread to go with this and I could float like Scooby.
Oh, of course, cornbread is perfect with these beans!
Lana, these sound absolutely delicious and your photo is stunning!
Thanks, Kathleen. The photography is so difficult for me, but I keep trying and learning!