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,
- Add some olive oil or butter or both.
- Add flavor with bacon, onion, garlic, etc.
- Definitely add some seasoning like salt and pepper, chili powder and other pantry staples.
- Most canned veggies need a little sugar, seriously, add just a tad.
- 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)
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.
Nutrition
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.
Kerry McFarland says
I forgot the bacon, used the beef bullion cubes, sweet yellow onion, with Sriracha as my heat and sweet...these here awesome! Thank you, even my picky kids devoured them!
Wendi Spraker says
Wonderful!
Michael says
This was a home run for me. Definitely going to use chicken stock next time. I’ve got Crohn’s disease and I’m at the tail end of a flare and I was having a down day today. I’m getting better but there’s been a few bumps.
I didn’t want to order out but craving comfort food and found some pinto beans in the back of the pantry.
I whipped up your recipe and paired it with some Mac n cheese and it literally snapped me right out of my funk.
The flavors were incredible, I love the sugar touch and I highly recommend the sprinkle of fresh onion for the crunch.
Thank you so much. I never though a can of pinto beans could turn my day around but thanks to it did.
God bless
-Michael
Wendi Spraker says
That's fantastic. Thank you for the nice note, I love hearing that you are feeling better!
AMetcalf says
I'm from the South but I just recently heard of people putting a small dollop of mayo on their pinto beans! Gonna have to try that one!
Wendi Spraker says
Makes it a tad more creamy. As it does when you add it to nearly anything.
Mary DeHerrera says
I put lard in the bottom of a skillet. Let it get hot and pour the beans in. Use a potato masher and mash them. Add a lil salt,garlic,onion powder. Mix and you have refried beans. You can have burritos. Or add roasted diced green chilies and queso and ya have a great dip. I use canned beans a lot.
Wendi Spraker says
Thanks for sharing Mary
Judy says
This is the first time I’ve used canned beans, as I’ve always cooked for the whole family, but tonight it was just us two. I would not have thought about the rinsing of the beans, so I did just that! I just put a little oil in the pot, heated it a few minutes, stirred a few tablespoons of some homemade salsa and let it simmer a few more minutes. I put in the 2 cans of rinsed beans and about 2 cans of water, garlic salt, salt, pepper, and some chunks of ham for my husband, and brought that to a boil, then let it all simmer for about 30 minutes. Served with cornbread, sliced tomatoes, green onions, and slices of block cheese. Just as good as dried! Thanks so much!!!
Wendi Spraker says
I'm glad you enjoyed them! Canned beans are a great alternative to dried beans.
Esteban says
to season my canned pinto beans ( I do canned beans because there are only 2 people and we don't eat them every day ) If I have bacon grease I put in less than a teaspoon, then I grind black pepper in when the grease melts and let it heat up a little. I then open the can of beans and dump the beans into pot, liquid too. On medium heat I heat the beans till they start to boil and let them boil for 5 minutes. I turn the heat down to low and put 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, 1/2 tsp of onion powder and a touch of cumin into the beans, stir. Turn the heat up till it began to boil, shut the heat off and let it stand for couple of minutes so the flavors marry, If I don't have bacon grease I use butter
Tim H says
Wonderful recipe! I came across this looking for some other ideas of what to do with pinto beans as they are a real favorite. I've never cared for the canned baked beans they sell as they can be pretty thick, so I what I do is use a can of pintos (sauce included) add a tad of water, my favorite BBQ sauce and a few tsps of brown sugar to make my pinto beans with a bit of liquid in it. Sometimes if I want to kick it up I'll dust it with cayenne. Glad I found this site. I will have to check out some other ideas!
Wendi Spraker says
Hi Tim, I'm glad you stopped by!
Jim S says
Your tips are great,thanks. The most important takeaways are to drain the beans and add a little sweetener. I usually use vinegar instead of sugar but either work fine. Another variation to try is to add a little olive oil instead of butter. I like to season mine with Badia Sazon Completa (found in in the Latin foods section of most supermarkets).
Wendi Spraker says
Thanks Jim. I use the Badia sometimes too for other things and it is really good.
Tracy says
I would give this 10 stars if I could! We love these beans, thank you for your recipe.
Wendi Spraker says
Thanks Tracy! I'm so glad that ya'll loved it!
Cathy Krueger says
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. Not having grown up in the South I only know I love pinto beans. I just made this very easy recipe and it's perfect Would not have thought of that little bit of sugar but I think it makes all the difference.
Wendi Spraker says
Thanks Cathy, I'm glad you enjoyed them!
mary Werner says
May sound weird, but my grandmother would have the thickest juice with the greatest taste. She would actually give us kids a little cup of juice with no beans as a snack. I've tried the crushing beans to thicken, but just doesn't make that great juice my grandmother did. Any ideas?
Wendi Spraker says
Hi Mary, My grandmother always called that "the pot liquor" (I guess because it was soooo good!). lol. It's hard to get that delicious pot liquor with canned beans. I find it is most easily done with dried pintos. I have a recipe here that is easy to follow. Simply search "old fashioned pinto beans" in the search bar and it will come up. Thanks for sharing your memories!
mary says
What size can of pinto beans?
Wendi Spraker says
15.5 oz can. I'll make sure it is in the recipe. Thanks for asking!
Sarah whitmore says
Loved them hubby too! We changed the following:
No olive oil. No hot sauce no sugar.
Instead: Chopped up 4 pieces of uncooked bacon and sautéed first.
Used bacon grease to cook onions garlic and added chopped up Serrano to the mix.
Used low sodium beef broth as that’s what I had.
My “secret tip” take about 2 ladles of beans( and broth and onions etc)
Put in blender (or something similar) blend until total liquid. Return liquid to beans. It will act as a slight thickening agent and really brings out all the flavors in the beans.
Hubby added a lil more salt and some lemon—but he adds that to everything. I just added chopped cilantro. So easy. So yum! Thank you for sharing.
Wendi Spraker says
Thanks for leaving a comment and I'm so glad you enjoyed the beans you made!
Sarah Doss says
You nailed it! These were better than my homemade beans! I sautéed vegan sausage and green onions- a half teaspoon of Better than Bullion, a half teaspoon of sugar and of garlic powder. Cilantro on top. Perfect!
Wendi Spraker says
I'm so glad that you loved them! Thank you for coming back and leaving a comment and star rating!
Diana says
Wow! I cannot tell you how many times I've used this recipe again and again. My boyfriend who is from Brazil loves beans and rice and has been missing it. This is a great substitute and is easy and quick to make! Love the addition of bacon would have never thought of it. Thanks1
Wendi Spraker says
Hi Diana, Thanks so much for the kind comment! I wish I knew how to make Brazilian rice and beans, I bet that is delicious!!! Anyway, have a great day!