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As Hispanic Heritage Month draws to an end and football season kicks into high gear, I wanted to share my family’s recipes for pico de gallo y frijoles charros to keep the festivities going. Because I don’t know how fiestas are thrown at your house, but at mine it always seems to involve a good carne asada (BBQ) with these yummy sides.
Why are these two recipes staples for all our fiestas? Because they compliment the flavors of our carne asada and they use the same ingredients, so what better thing to do than to measure twice, cut once. The added advantage is that both can be made ahead of time, saving you valuable time on the day of the fiesta.
To begin, I suggest you start by making your pot of beans. We’re a pinto bean family so that’s what we use to make our frijoles charros. But before you can make them charros, they need to cook for a couple of hours. Here’s a glimpse of everything you’ll need for both recipes.
Pinto Beans
For the beans I used 2 lbs of La Preferida pinto beans (which you can find at Big Lots), water, 1 1/2 tbsp of salt and 3 crushed garlic cloves. (Feel free to adjust ingredients to your taste level.)
Directions:
Clean your beans – removing any broken/half pieces. Doing this always reminds me of doing this in our family kitchen.
Fill your soup/bean pot with water, allowing an 1″ – 1 1/2″ of space at the top so it doesn’t overflow when you add your beans.
Rinse your beans well and add them to your pot, along with the salt and crushed garlic cloves.
Allow the beans to cook over medium high heat, refilling the pot with water as needed to keep the beans from burning.
While the beans are cooking, you can begin working on the pico de gallo and the charro portion of the dish.
Pico De Gallo
For about 4 cups of pico de gallo you’ll need to finely dice:
about 3 onion rings from a large onion
3 tomatoes
1/2 serano pepper
3/4 of a cilantro bunch
Once diced, combine in a medium bowl, add in the juice of a lime and salt & pepper to taste. (Feel free to adjust ingredients to your taste level.)
Here’s a quick glimpse at how easy this is to make.
Frijoles Charros
As your beans continue to cook, you’re ready to make the charro portion of your frijoles charros. For this you’ll need:
1 lb bacon
1 1/2 cups pico (Feel free to adjust ingredients to your taste level.)
Fry the bacon as you normally would. Don’t worry about having to keep it flat since you’ll be cutting it up into bits as you add it into your frijoles.
Add in 1 1/2 cups of pico to the bacon sauce pan and fry it until it’s cooked through.
Now it’s time to turn your attention back to your beans. You’ll know they’re ready when they turn brown and are soft enough to eat.
Depending on your needs, you can combine the bacon and fried pico into your fresh pot of beans or save all three for the day of your fiesta. If you decide to wait, you can add in your cooked beans and charro ingredients into a crock pot, on high, and allow them to simmer and get hot and ready for when your guests arrive. (Just make sure you on check in on them to make sure the beans are soft enough to eat, but not over cooked that they look like soupy refried beans.)
So delicious and super easy to make, especially with a little mariachi inspiration.
Enjoy!
What favorite family recipes do you always include in your fiestas?
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I love a great Frijole recipe, thanks.
Thanks Josie, hope you enjoy 😀
Oh yum! We love Mexican food in our house and eat it all the time. This sounds awesome.
Thanks Robin, hope you get to enjoy soon!
These look so yummy! My son is a huge fan of all Mexican food so I know he would love these.
Thanks Deanna, hope you enjoy soon!
These look amazing and simple! I’m going to have to try this recipe 🙂
I hope you do Rachel and let me know how it goes 😀
I love pinto beans! I always have some in the freezer ready to add to recipes.
Tara, great minds think alike. I always make a big batch and store the extras in the freezer for the very same thing! 😉
Okay now you are making me feel like I should stay away from the kitchen. Well presented as well.
No, no – come back Mardene, they’re super easy to make and thanks for the presentation compliment 😀 Have a great weekend!
Lots of yum here I am going to bookmark this for your great recipe virtually
Thanks Dana, hope you get a chance to try it, it’s delish 😀
Delicious! I will definitely attempt this recipe at some point!:) Thank You!
Yay, hope you enjoy Amy!!
My fiance would love this recipe! I have never cooked pinto beans before. It kind of intimidates me as I am not a very good cook… But I would give this a shot! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Yay Jennifer – nothing can be simpler than a pot of beans – beans, salt, water and garlic if you choose. I hope you give it a whirl & let me know how it goes 😀
These are nice and it looks really packed with flavor. I would love to try the Pico de Gallo!
It really is packed with flavor and the pico is light, fresh and oh so yummy. Hope you try it Elizabeth 😀
This recipe looks yummy! I am going to try it this weekend
Yay Rika, hope you enjoyed!
Never try this recipe but looks tasty! i’m going to try this on weekends. Thanks for sharing the recipe
Please do Victoria, you won’t be disappointed 😀
I’m practically drooling over here. I can’t wait to get a spoon in a big bowl of those beans!
Lol yay, happy you’ll be giving them a whirl soon Liz, you won’t be disappointed 😀
Always amazes me at the amount of delightful recipes that I am still yet to try. This is one! Thanks for sharing it.
Yay Claudette, I hope you do get to try it – you won’t be disappointed. 😀
I love pico! I put it on my salads all the time. This recipe is awesome thanks for sharing
Yay Deshawn, it totally serves well as a dressing replacement and these beans are a full meal in and of themselves 😉
Everything looks delicious! My family is a huge fan of Mexican food. I’d love to try this.
I hope you do and let me know how it goes 😀
I have been looking for a good Pico De Gallo recipe. I’ll have to try this one out.
Yay, I hope you do Julia and let me know how it turns out 😀
I love detailed recipes, easy to refer and follow. I think our boys would love to see this ready on the table.
I think they would too! Hope everyone enjoys!
Oh yum, I am getting hungry over here! That pico looks so fresh!
Yay, mission accomplished Shannon 😀 Thanks for dropping by!