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A pot of Smoky Stewed Beans is a gift that keeps on giving. They're so tasty that you'll probably eat them plain. But black beans also add flavor and protein to almost any meal. Serve them with rice bowls, quesadillas, stuffed sweet potatoes, nachos, salads, soups, and so much more!
Home-cooked beans are delicious, healthy, and budget-friendly. Be sure to check out our other popular dried bean recipes: Brothy Oven Baked White Beans and Instant Pot Bean Soup.
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Easy: Dried beans are easier to cook than you'd think. Especially with this recipe, because there's no soaking required! The rest is mostly hands-off cooking.
- Versatile: These flavor-packed smoky black beans work in so many dishes! And, you can truly enjoy them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. (See suggestions below).
- Great for meal prep: Beans are an inexpensive—but delicious—way to add plant-based protein to your meals. Make a pot of these stewed beans to last you the week. Or, freeze for quick lunches and dinners in the months ahead.
- Tested technique: We cooked over 8 pounds of dried beans to develop this recipe! We wanted a method that made black beans: flavor-packed, creamy in texture (not mushy!) and relatively fast cooking (without compromising flavor).
Recipe video
Watch a step-by-step video and learn how to make this recipe!
Ingredients (and substitutes)
This recipe uses pantry spices elevate inexpensive dried black beans. Here's what you need:
- Tomato Paste: Our recipe caramelizes the tomato paste for even better flavor. It only takes 5 minutes, so it's worth it. Buy "double concentrated" tomato paste if you see it, because it has more intense flavor. Otherwise, regular tomato paste works fine.
- Smoked Paprika: Most paprika sold in grocery stores is the "sweet paprika" variety. You want to use smoked sweet paprika for this recipe.
- Note: There's also smoked hot paprika, but that's not what you want for this recipe. (It would likely be too spicy combined with the chipotle).
- Dried Black Beans: Also known as black turtle beans. For best results, cook dried beans when they're 1 year old (or fresher). You can check the expiry date on the back of the package to confirm. Older beans take much longer to cook.
- Baking Soda: A tiny bit of baking soda helps the beans cook faster. See our Expert Tips below to learn more about cooking with dried beans!
- Chipotle Peppers and Adobo Sauce: This recipe calls for both peppers and sauce from the can. The can is stocked near other Latin American ingredients in the grocery store. If you can't find it, you can leave it out.
Find the recipe card below for the complete recipe, including all ingredients and instructions.
Wondering how else to use canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce? Make Chipotle Mayo, Black Bean Burgers, or Instant Pot Veggie Chili
How to make (step-by-step photos)
We tested many different methods for this stewed beans recipe. Here's our favorite:
Find the recipe card below for the complete recipe, including all ingredients and instructions.
Expert tips
There are a lot of bean myths out there. For example, some people say not to salt beans until after they're cooked. But, that couldn't be farther from the truth!
Here are our top 7, science-backed tips for cooking beans like a pro.
- You don't need to soak black beans: Black beans are thin-skinned, so they already cook faster than most beans. Pre-soaking won't save a ton of cooking time. And, soaked black beans will taste more like water than the flavorings they're cooked in. They'll also lose more color if you soak them.
- Salt beans while cooking: Beans cooked in salted water taste better. It takes time for salt to penetrate the beans. So, if you salt them at the end, the seasoning will be uneven (mostly on the exterior). And, it's not just about flavor! Salt softens the skin on the beans so that they cook faster too.
- Add baking soda for faster cooking beans: Pectin strengthens the cell walls in beans. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) weakens pectin, so that the beans cook faster. The Bean Institute says that baking soda makes beans cook in half the time—but in our testing, it was often one-quarter (25%) less cook time.
- Cook beans in broth for more flavor: While you can definitely cook dried beans in water, broth is an easy flavor-booster. It's a source of umami too, which is especially helpful if you're not cooking with meat.
- Some acids can toughen beans—but not all: As Nik Sharma explains in Bean Science, citric acids (like lemon juice or tomato) actually weaken "one type of bond in the pectin...and this helps the beans fall apart". But, he says not to use vinegar (acetic acid). If you want to add vinegar to beans, do it after they're cooked.
- We tested our recipe with and without tomato paste to confirm. The tomato paste (citric acid) version did cook slightly faster.
- Dried beans have an expiry date: Dried beans last up to 2 years, but they're best cooked within 1 year of harvest. Old beans will take longer to cook until tender (if at all).
Serving suggestions
Stewed black beans are delicious on their own. But, they can also be used as a base for other dishes! Here are our top 5 ways to use them:
Other Mexican-inspired recipes:
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 review below!
📖 Recipe
Smoky Stewed Beans
Ingredients
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large diced white onion (2 cups)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika (see note 2)
- 6 cloves minced garlic
- 8 cups vegetable stock
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (more if needed)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (see note 3)
- 2½ cups dried black beans (1 lb, rinsed and picked over, see note 4)
- 1 to 2 minced chipotle peppers + 1 to 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from a can)
Instructions
- Saute onion and tomato paste: Warm ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil in a large pot (see note 5) over medium-high heat. Add 1 large diced white onion and cook until golden around the edges, about 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, until brick-red in color, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat, if needed, to prevent burning.
- Add spices: Sprinkle in 2 tablespoons dried oregano, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1 tablespoon ground coriander, and 1 tablespoon smoked paprika. Stir to coat spices in oil (this helps bring out their flavor), and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add 6 cloves minced garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add almost everything else: Add 8 cups vegetable stock, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, and ½ teaspoon baking soda. Stir well to mix, using a spoon to loosen any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Stir in 2½ cups dried black beans.
- Cook beans: Cover with a lid slightly ajar to bring the mixture to a boil. Then, remove lid and reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer uncovered (see note 6), stirring occasionally, until beans are tender. Cook times vary significantly, about 1 to 2 hours, so check beans at regular intervals. And make sure to add water, as needed, to keep beans covered with liquid while cooking (about 1 to 4 cups of water, depending on cook time).
- Finish: Once beans are cooked, stir in 1 to 2 minced chipotle peppers + 1 to 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from a can) (to taste). If needed, season with more salt.
Notes
- Tomato paste: "Double Concentrated" tomato paste has more robust flavor, so use it if you can. Otherwise, regular tomato paste works fine.
- Smoked paprika: Use smoked sweet paprika (not smoked hot paprika). Paprika sold in grocery stores is typically the "sweet" variety. But if in doubt give it a taste. It shouldn't be spicy.
- Baking soda: A bit of baking soda helps the dried beans cook faster. In our side-by-side testing—using the same batches of dried beans—baking soda typically sped up cooking time by about 25%. See the Expert Tips section of the blog post for more details.
- Dried black beans: For best results use dried beans within 1 year of harvest. But most packages have a best-before date of 2 years. In our testing, our unsoaked black beans usually took 1.5 to 1.75 hours to cook. But, yours might take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. Old dried beans take a lot longer to cook until tender (if at all). So, if they seem to be taking longer...you're likely using very old beans!
- Pot size: For 1x batch, use a pot that's at least 4.3 quarts (4L) or ideally larger.
- Cooking beans uncovered: Cooking beans without a lid makes it easier to maintain a gentle simmer (if covered, the mixture often bubbles too aggressively). And, it also makes it easier to see when the beans need more water added, to stir and check doneness.
- Storage tips: Beans and cooking liquid can be refrigerated for up to 3 to 4 days. Or freeze for up to 6 months.
- Yield: Makes about 8 cups. (Yield may vary depending on how much water is added).
:D says
These beans are perfect! I love everything about these beans. Perfectly spiced, smoky, stewy, creamy, tender, hearty, healthy, satisfying, flavorful and delicious! I could eat these beans every day! While these beans are a good base to a variety ways to eat them, I enjoy them the best eaten alongside a scoop of multi-grain rice with crumbled feta, green onions, cilantro and pickled onions or veg. and if course, an avacado and egg is extra bonus.
The cooking instructions are perfectly well written. So detailed and resourceful. Make sure to READ ALL NOTES because they are additional details for success. My beans cooked perfectly and each bean retained their shape and did not burst during cooking (that has never happened for me before), the beans are not mushy and perfectly tender with a soft creamy bite. So flavorful and so easy!
bri says
So glad you enjoyed this beans recipe! The multi-grain rice you describe sounds like a great pairing:) Glad you found the notes helpful! I was worried about how long all the notes were...and debated leaving soe out...but in the end decided to keep them in for anyone who wanted it. Hopefully others will find them helpful for cooking the perfect beans like you did!
Terence S says
Very good! I came across this recipe because I had extra canned adobo to use up. I used half beef bone broth and half water, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I'm just a single guy so froze the other half for later. It makes a lot!
bri says
Hi Terence! So glad you enjoyed the beans recipe. Great call freezing extras! We do that too...it's really handy to have them prepped/ready for quick freezer meals. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review.