Pinto Beans and Rice in a Crock Pot (Or on Stove Top)

This is an awesome bean recipe. You just throw them in a crockpot and forget them. They smell wonderful cooking and taste even better. I did add a little cornstarch and water to thicken (just personal preference). My husband took one bite and said I should make them when his mother comes to visit. High praise indeed! I will definitely make these over and over again. Thank you for the recipe.

Note that dried beans cooked with tomatoes from the beginning will be tough - calcium or acid of any kind causes the outside of the bean to stay tough. The way to get around this is to do as some commenters have mentioned - precook the beans by themselves (overnight), then add the other recipe ingredients and cook for the duration mentioned in the recipe. Crockpots don't come to the same high heat as the stovetop. Unsoaked beans cooked only on low may never get tender.

I was thrilled to find this recipe just after I received a new crockpot for Christmas! This tasted wonderful even after I overcooked it a tad (no need to thicken anything!) Absolutely delicious!!

I have tried other bean recipes and they've been okay. And this is not perfect but I got great taste with that lovely creamy texture. I think 1/2 t. pepper is too much for me. I will take that down to 1/4 t. next time. I love cumin and think I will go up to a full tsp on that. And I used red beans because I didn't have any pintos. I probably dumped closer to 3/4 c picante sauce into the beans. When i read the recipe, a first thought was that I did not think unsoaked beans would cook in 3 hours, so unlike others I did not make the finish time critical and wasn't unhappy. My red beans were tender and yummy after about 5 hours. (they are a smaller bean than the pintos, I'd say.) I used 1 T of Penzey's medium chili powder. I often cut back on recipes that call for chili powder because it is pretty competent chili powder, but this was a whole pound of beans and I thought that would work out okay and it seemed to. I like bay leaves and kept all three. I think that gets you a more complex flavor and I am excited to see how they will taste tomorrow. I have some Penzey's Chipotle powder and I might try a bit of that because smoky heat sounds like it could be good here. Great recipe. Update: This really has become my go to recipe and I use it for all kinds of beans though if it's chick peas or white kidney beans, I don't use the chili powder or the Picante Sauce. I use the bay leaf "faithfully" and may just add thyme or something like that. Trying to add fiber to my diet and I often will cook these over night and then I have beans in my fridge. Tasty and versatile.

This is wonderful comfort food. I cooked the beans on high for 3 hours (no presoaking), then added raw converted rice and cooked 1 additional hour. Turned out perfect. Served with cornbread and greens for the best southern meal. Thanks for sharing this recipe.