Pico De Gallo y Frijoles Charros to Wow at Your Next Fiesta

Thanks Big Lots for sponsoring this post. Don’t worry though, all opinions about their fabulousness are my own!

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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.

Pico De Gallo y Frijoles Charros - yoursassyself.com

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.

Ingredients for Pico De Gallo y Frijoles Charros - yoursassyself.com

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.

Cleaning Pinto Beans - yoursassyself.com

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.

Adding Water for Pot of Beans - yoursassyself.com

Rinse your beans well and add them to your pot, along with the salt and crushed garlic cloves.

Cooking Pinto Beans - yoursassyself

Allow the beans to cook over medium high heat, refilling the pot with water as needed to keep the beans from burning.

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Adding Water to Cooking Pinto Beans - yoursassyself.com

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

Pico De Gallo Ingredients - yoursassyself.com

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.)

Pico De Gallo - yoursassyself.com

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.

Bacon - yoursassyself.com

Add in 1 1/2 cups of pico to the bacon sauce pan and fry it until it’s cooked through.

Fried Pico De Gallo for Frijoles Charros - yoursassyself.com

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.

Cooked Pinto Beans - yoursassyself.com

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.)

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Making Frijoles Charros in Crock Pot - yoursassyself.com

So delicious and super easy to make, especially with a little mariachi inspiration. 

Enjoy!

Frijoles Charros - yoursassyself.com

What favorite family recipes do you always include in your fiestas?

 

 

Rocio Chavez
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38 Comments

  1. 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!

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