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Chili Beans - Photo By Melisa Caprio Recipe Below
During my childhood, Sundays were my favorite day of the week. Not because it was our official day of rest on the dairy farm, but because of my sweet Mama Rose’s special Sunday 5-star dinners.
Summer Sunday dinners were often barbecues with slow roasting marinated meats over an open oak wood fire, grilled french bread dripping in butter, Spanish rice, and my favorite, my mama’s chili beans. You might be thinking, with this menu lineup, beans were your favorite.
Let me explain. She started by pouring the dried pinto beans onto our yellow Formica kitchen table and then meticulously cleaning them one by one and removing broken beans and pieces of dirt. She’d place them in a strainer, washed them, and then simmered them with salt and water to rehydrate them until they were tender bits of goodness.
And then she added in all the rest of the yummy ingredients, including bacon, hamburger, and chorizo (spicy pork sausage), onions, peppers, and a host of other spices. She simmered them for hours, and the aroma drove me crazy because I couldn’t wait to have a giant bowl. When her chili beans were done cooking, they were a rich brick color, and when I finally took my first bite, time stood still, and I lost track of my surroundings as my taste buds cherished the delicious magical flavors, and I was in food heaven!
The first time my husband joined our family for a Sunday barbeque, he couldn’t quite understand why I was so excited that my mama had made her legendary chili beans. I gave him a small bowl with a slice of grilled french bread. I saw his eyes almost pop out of his head when he took his first bite. And well, he had several bowls for dinner, and I’m not allowed to say how many that was, and he didn’t eat anything else. Thank goodness she always made a huge pot, so the rest of us still got some too.
Chili Beans Recipe
Watch the step-by-step recipe video
Tools
Ingredients
2 lbs. of dried pinto beans or rose (pinquito beans)
20 cups of water
1 lb. of lean ground beef
1 lb. of bacon (best to use unflavored)
1 lb. of pork chorizo
2 large onions, chopped
1 large sweet red pepper, chopped
1 medium head of garlic, crushed (all the cloves in the head)
3 tablespoons dried California chile powder
1⁄2 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Step 1 - Cook Pinto Beans
Place beans on a flat clean surface (kitchen counter or table) and remove any rocks or broken beans.
Put cleaned beans in a large colander and rinse with cold water until water runs clean.
Place beans in a large pot and add water and salt
Cook until beans are tender. Best to soak overnight and then simmer the following day. It will only take a couple of hours.
Step 2 - Prep Chili Ingredients
Chop bacon into small pieces and fry in a cast iron pan or skillet until golden brown. Remove excess fat and place in a bowl.
In a clean skillet, fry the hamburger until well done, remove excess fat and add to the bowl with bacon.
Remove casing from the chorizo and cook in a clean skillet until cooked.
Add onions, garlic, and spices to chorizo and cook for about 10 minutes. Add hamburger and bacon and cook for another 5 minutes.
Step 3 - Chili Time
Add all the ingredients from step 2 to the beans and simmer for approximately one hour.
Serve beans with warm garlic bread or cornbread muffins.
Enjoy!
Happy Cooking,
Be well,
Molé Mama