My mama made this pinto beans recipe all the time because it was easy, flavorful and cheap boos! The smoked ham hock adds flavor to the broth while the beans get super tender from simmering. This is straight up Southern old school eating with no frills, just soul.
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Pinto Beans Ingredients
- Pinto beans: Make sure you wash and sort through the dried beans. You will find twigs, rocks, and debris, and you don’t want to eat them.
- Chicken stock: While old schoolers like my mama used to just use water, I find that you can create a richer broth by using chicken stock.
- Onion: White, yellow, or sweet onion will work.
- Smoked ham hock: You can find these in the meat section at most grocery stores. Very important: make sure they are smoked and super meaty! If you aren’t a fan, just substitute with a smoked turkey leg, which is equally as good. If you don’t want meat at all, you can use 1 tablespoon of liquid smoke. I find the hocks are more flavorful and smoky but if you have a leftover ham bone, don’t let it go to waste and use it to flavor your pinto beans.
- Herbs and spices: All you need are bay leaves, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt to season these perfectly.
How to make Pinto Beans
Southern Pinto Bean Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 (11 ounce) package pinto beans picked through and soaked in lots of water overnight
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 1 quart water
- 1 onion halved or roughly chopped
- 2 halves smoked ham hock (about ¾ pound total)
- 2 bay leaves optional
- 1 tsp black pepper plus more to taste
- 1 tsp garlic powder plus more to taste
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Add the soaked beans, chicken stock, water, onion, ham hocks, and bay leaves (if using) to a large stock pot.
- Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover with a lid, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans are nice and tender, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Season with pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Cook just above a simmer for a creamier texture. Keeping that heat low adds more body to the liquid that results in creaminess as the beans break down.
- Newer Beans are Best: Beans are shelf stable but the longer they sit around the longer they take to cook.
- Don’t forget to pick the meat: After cooking, you can pick the meat from the bones and stir into the beans. That’s good eatin boos!
- Soak your beans. It’s important for more even cooking and also better for digestion.
Serving Suggestions
- Cornbread: Ain’t nothing like sopping up your beans with some hot water cornbread or even sweet potato cornbread for a sweet twist.
- Rice: I love ladling homemade pinto beans over simple steamed rice or for even more flavor, Mexican rice or Jollof rice.
- Classic Southern Mains: Make some old school chicken gizzards or fried chicken or some delish smothered pork chops. And don’t forget a pot of mustard greens to get some down-home veggies in the mix.
- Southern dessert: Finish everything off with some peach cobbler or cream cheese pound cake.
Recipe help
I personally prefer soaking mine overnight or for at least 8-12 hours. This will shorten the cook time and make them easier to digest. Of course if you forget (been there, done that plenty), you can quick soak them.
If you forget to soak them overnight, you can use the quick soak method. Just pour boiling water over your beans and let them sit for an hour. The beans will absorb some of the liquid and plump up as they sit. Just note they may need to cook slightly longer than beans soaked overnight.
Yep for sure boos. My mama took this shortcut plenty of times. I won’t lie, you will lose a bit of flavor and creaminess with this method however. To make southern-style pinto beans in a crock pot, add all of the ingredients to the pot and stir until fully combined. Cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until the ham is tender and falling apart.
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I loved these beans! Thank you for posting this recipe!
I made this again but this time in my pressure cooker. Still amazing!!
I just love this recipe and I don’t change a thing. It was a challenge finding ham hocks because of the pandemic. Ended up finding them at a small IGA Bi Rite that had a local ham supplier stand, Clifty Farms out of Sparta, TN.
Hi! Can you please share the directions for cooking this recipe in the pressure cooker? I have an instant pot and would like to have those instructions on hand for those days I forget to make these early on! Tysm!
So tasty!
Great Post. I need to cook 10lbs for 100 folks. Any advice?
Holy moly you will need to make very large batches of this. I apologize for not having a very specific answer but you can use my favorite recipe converter to create the new measurements however I would not cook it all together.https://mykitchencalculator.com/recipeconverter.html
I have used the same recipe except i sub a large can of whole peeled tomatoes instrsd of the water. When you add thr whole tomatoes hand crush the tomatoes in. If you ever feel like some kick, sub Rotel for the whole tomatoes.
Is it ok to add sugar to pinto beans
Totally a personal preference.
Of course, I use a lil sugar in a few of my recipes,, I say season to your liking!!
I have always added a bit of sugar to my serving. We never add it to the main recipe that way people can choose if they want that sweetness. But it’s really good with sugar. It’s the way I was raised on it 🙂 Happy eating!
I’ve cooked pinto beans for years but this is the first time I’ve used chicken broth! I can’t wait to try this! Thank you for this recipe share! I added diced tomatoes and will throw some turkey sausage in at the end, so not to dry it out.
Call Poly food science department advised that soaking, discarding soak water and rinsing before cooking improves digestibility and reduces gas.
Early in the pandemic (March and April) all our gracers in central Florida were sold out of all dried beans. This included pinto as well as great northern, black, pink, navy, and pea beans. I recently (late May) bought a 4 pound bag each of pinto and great northern beans.
I’ll cook this tomorrow. Beans are soaking now. Thanks for the recipe.
I drain a can of Rotel tomatoes n add….gives some zip to the beans
I forgot how wonderful pinto beans were. I received a bag and the wonderful flavors came rushing back.