How to Cook Canned Pinto Beans Recipe (Easy)

You have a can of beans and what you want is a delicious side dish that you can prepare using simple steps thereby turning this simple can of beans into something really delicious! Here is the Best How to Cook Canned Pinto Beans Recipe (Easy). Your entire family will love these delicious bean s.

Do you love an easy side dish? How about a tasty Main Dish? This recipe is the great thing you are looking for!

You might have tried my easy recipe for dry beans or even my recipe for how to season Pinto Beans. But this delicious recipe will having you dipping your tortilla chips, sprinkling some fresh cilantro and using your favorite seasonings like garlic powder, or ground cumin to make a pot of beans!

It's a LONG way from a plain can of pinto beans! You may also enjoy one of my black beans recipes too!

Cooking canned pinto beans on the stove is a simple yet satisfying way to add flavor and nutrition to your meals. 

Simple Side Dish

To start, open a can of pinto beans and rinse them. In a medium sized pot, heat the beans over medium heat, adding a splash of olive oil for richness.

Season with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika or chili powder. Heat for 10-15 minutes until heated through. Serve as a versatile side dish or add them to tacos, salads, soups, burrito bowls or make ranchero beans, frijoles, charros, Mexican pinto beans or many other favorite recipes. 

A Great Way to Improve Canned Pinto Beans

For an Easy Recipe, 

1. Add some olive oil or butter or both.
2. Add flavor with  bacon, onion, garlic, etc.
3. Definitely add some seasoning like salt and pepper, chili powder and other pantry staples.
4. Most canned veggies need a little sugar, seriously, add just a tad.
5. That’s it! You are good to go!

Tips and Tricks for a Can of Pinto Beans 

• It is important to do your cooking math! One can of beans feeds about 2 people, so if you are feeding more people simply divide the number of people you have by 2 and that's how many cans you need for a great side dish. 
• Just increase the other ingredients by however many cans of beans you need to use to feed your family.
• Always drain the liquid off of the pinto beans before doing anything else. Some might say there is flavor in that liquid, but honestly, that liquid doesn’t taste very good. It isn’t the type of flavor I look for in my bean recipes! 
• Rinse the beans too if the liquid looks really thick and sticky. Sometimes it does. I don’t know why this happens, but if you are in question, then put your beans in a colander or strainer and rinse them off with cold tap water.
• In the recipe card, I give instructions for adding onion, garlic and bacon. All of those are great ingredients but not entirely necessary if you don’t have them available. What is necessary is salt, pepper and a tiny bit of sugar.

PRO TIP:

To make your beans extra creamy, use an immersion blender once they are heated through and the cooking process is done and give them a short zap and then mix well with a spoon. This will give a creamy texture.

Information About Canned Pinto Beans

• According to the USDA, canned beans are already cooked enough. You actually could just eat them right out of the can but who would want to do that? We want to add a little flavor here instead. 
• When you serve your pinto beans, keep in mind that a lot of people like fresh chopped onion and hot sauce with their beans. This adds a little crunch and spice to the beans and is a nice addition. How about adding some crunchy bacon sprinkled on top for another nice addition?
• You are going to be asking yourself, “Why in the world would I add sugar to beans?”. I’ll just give you the final answer, our tongues like to taste a little something sweet combined with salty and smoky. You'll notice that this makes flavorful beans with a home-cooked beans taste. 

How To Handle Leftover Beans

Storage - Store leftover pinto beans in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 5 days. 

Freeze - You can freeze your leftover pinto beans in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. 

Reheat - To reheat, place into a microwave-safe bowl or into a sauce pan, add a bit of water to loosen and heat. In the microwave, heat for 1 minute intervals. Heat on the stovetop over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until heated through. 

Serving Suggestions

Pinto Beans are a hearty side dish and work well on top of salads too. 

Excellent with Rice. Terrific mashed as refried beans. 

Great as a side dish to any country style food you prefer like mac and cheese, fried chicken and more!

Watch Me Make This Dish

I would love to see what you have created with your pinto beans! Leave me a comment below, drop me an email or find me on social media and drop a note. I always answer back as quickly as I can.

If you can leave a 5 STAR comment in the comment section, that helps others to find the recipes at Loaves and Dishes and I appreciate it so much!

How To Cook Canned Pinto Beans (Easy)

This recipe explains how to turn canned pinto beans into a delicious side dish to be proud of

4.94 from 29 votes

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: canned pinto beans, how to cook canned pinto beans

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 people

Calories: 167kcal

Author: Wendi Spraker

Ingredients

• 1 tbs cooking oil
• ½ inch slice of yellow onion - chopped
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 slice of bacon - cut into 1 inch pieces
• 15 oz can pinto beans
• ½ cup water ***See Pro Tip***
• 1 tbs unsalted butter
• ½ teaspoon white granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon hot sauce
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

• In a saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil over medium heat. When the oil is shimmery on the top add the chopped onion and garlic and saute until soft and nearly see through (about 2 minutes)
• Add the bacon and cook together until the bacon is soft and nearly done.
• Drain the liquid from the can of pinto beans
• Now Add the pinto beans to the sauce pan and continue to heat over medium heat.
• Add ½ cup fresh water to the pinto beans
• Put the butter, sugar, hot sauce, salt and pepper in and heat till bubbly.
• Taste before serving and add more salt and pepper if needed.  Garnish with chopped onion and hot sauce

Notes

• It is important to do your cooking math!  One can of beans feeds about 2 people, so if you are feeding more people simply divide the number of people you have by 2 and that's how many cans you need.
• Just increase the other ingredients by however many cans of beans you need to use to feed your family.
• Always drain the liquid off of the pinto beans before doing anything else.  Some might say there is flavor in that liquid, but honestly, most of the time I think that liquid doesn’t taste very good.  It isn’t the type of flavor I look for in my bean recipes!
• Rinse the beans too if the liquid looks really thick and sticky.  Sometimes it does. I don’t know why this happens, but if you are in question, then put your beans in a colander or strainer and rinse them off with cold tap water.
• In the recipe, I give instructions for adding onion, garlic and bacon.  All of those are great ingredients but not entirely necessary if you don’t have them available.  What is necessary is salt, pepper and a tiny bit of sugar.

PRO TIP:  To add a MORE flavor to your beans, use chicken stock instead of a ½ cup of water OR add 1 bullion cube plus ½ cup water and hold the salt until you taste, then add salt if needed.  

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

How To Cook Canned Pinto Beans (Easy)

Amount Per Serving (0.5 cup)

Calories 167 Calories from Fat 153

% Daily Value*

Fat 17g26%

Saturated Fat 5g25%

Cholesterol 22mg7%

Sodium 687mg29%

Potassium 21mg1%

Carbohydrates 2g1%

Sugar 1g1%

Protein 1g2%

Vitamin A 175IU4%

Vitamin C 1.3mg2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Tried this recipe?Mention @loavesanddishes or tag #loavesanddishes!

This article was originally published on Loaves and Dishes on April 14, 2018 and has been updated to include new information about canned pinto beans and to be much more helpful to the reader.

A VERSE TO SHARE

Luke 6: 27-36

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.Do to others as you would have them do to you.