Try this Instant Pot Charros recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 leaves
- 1 large onion
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons cumin
- 1 pound pinto beans (dried rinsed and picked over)
- 1/2 pound double smoked bacon
- 1/2 pound mexican chorizo (raw mexican chorizo sausage, not the dried spanish chorizo)
- 1 large jalapeno (seeded and finely chopped more to taste if you want it really spicy)
- 1 tablespoons mexican oregano
- 1 tablespoon crushed epazote
- 2 chipotle chilis (canned in adobo minced)
- 2 cups mexican beer (like dos equis or another lager)
- 1 can tomatoes and chilis (if you cannot find this use
- Carbohydrate 7.6174020052547 g
- Cholesterol 4.32000000365191 mg
- Fat 1.9240510018078 g
- Fiber 0.491550003351101 g
- Protein 4.0662030033622 g
- Saturated Fat 0.487970500426565 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -12 side serving (253g)
- Sodium 328.888360176313 mg
- Sugar 7.1258520019036 g
- Trans Fat 0.154770800156202 g
- Calories 64 calories
Step-by-step
- Hit sauté on your Instant Pot and when the display reads "hot", throw in the bacon and fry until it starts to brown.
- Remove the chorizo meat from the casing and add that in while it starts to brown. Continue to fry a few more minutes until the meat is cooked.
- Add in the onion. Saute for another 5 minutes until the onion is softened
- Add in the jalapeños, garlic, cumin, oregano, epazote and cook for one more minute.
- Now add in the pinto beans, bay leaves, salt, chipotle chilis, beer, chicken stock and rotel and give it all a good stir.
- Close up the lid and set to cook for 45 minutes on Manual at high pressure. When the time is up, let pressure naturally release (at least ten minutes and then be careful releasing the steam because beans can cause a mess if you release the pressure too soon).
- Check your beans and if they are not really soft, close it back up and program it for another five minutes, naturally release pressure for ten minutes and check again and continue to cook in five minute increments until the beans are nice and soft.
- When they are fully cooked to your liking, hit sauté and simmer the beans for another five minutes or so.
- To serve, scatter the top with freshly chopped cilantro. Enjoy!
- Note: Adding tomatoes to uncooked beans extends their cook time but I feel that the results of cooking WITH the tomatoes vs cooking in less time but adding the tomatoes after the beans are cooked is worth the extra time under pressure. If you want them to cook faster, leave the tomatoes out, cook for 25 minutes at High Pressure, let pressure naturally release for ten minutes and if the beans are done to your liking, add in the tomatoes at that time and let simmer for a few minutes with the tomatoes.
Standard baked beans rely on molasses and slow-simmered pork, whereas charro beans draw their backbone from rendered pork fat, cured sausage, and beer. Frying raw chorizo and double-smoked bacon directly in the cooker renders animal fats that coat the dry pinto beans, sealing their starches and preventing blowouts during pressure cooking. Aromatics like garlic, cumin, and Mexican oregano bloom in this residual fat, driving fat-soluble flavor compounds into every bean.
- Strip the raw chorizo from its casing entirely before browning to ensure the meat disperses evenly rather than clumping into dense chunks.
- Allow at least ten minutes of natural pressure release after the 45-minute cooking cycle completes, preventing starchy liquid from foaming through the vent valve.
- Simmer the beans on the sauté setting for five minutes after pressure cooking to reduce excess moisture and thicken the broth.
Combining acidic canned tomatoes with dry legumes increases cooking times because acid strengthens pectin in plant cell walls. Retaining those tomatoes from the start builds a deeply savory broth despite the extended pressure duration.
