Frijoles Borrachos

One that’s particularly noteworthy for combining beans with beer is Frijoles Borrachos (Drunken Beans). In this favorite, Pinto Beans are cooked with bacon and dark Mexican beer for a rich base with a bright flavor. No wonder the dish is a standard at family gatherings, picnics, and cookouts.

3-Bean Vegetarian Chili

Another popular recipe combining beans with beer is this 3-Bean Vegetarian Chili featuring Pale Ale, smoked Hatch chilies, Red Kidney Beans, Cannellini Beans, and Black Beans. The beer tends to add a warm maltiness, and the addition of extra olive oil at the end of cooking adds creaminess. Whether cooked on the stovetop or in a slow cooker, this dish is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Frijoles Charros

Served warm and with a brothy consistency, Frijoles Charros (Cowboy Beans) is a traditional Pinto Bean dish made with dark or amber beer and is named for Mexican horsemen, or charros. This recipe is a perfect side dish to pulled pork sandwiches or other BBQ favorites.

Slow Cooker Shredded Pork & Pinto Tacos

Made with pork shoulder, Pinto Beans, beer, and fire-roasted tomatoes, these tacos are big on flavor and great for your favorite Taco Tuesday dinner or a weekend get-together. Yum.

Red Beans & Rice for 50

Wanna take your red beans to the next level? Go big or go home with this red beans and rice recipe that feeds 50! Follow our Pro Tips for how to cook a batch that large, and be sure to add a bottle of beer to the pot when you add the red beans. The yeast in the beer will help thicken the pot and give the beans a unique flavor.

Soaking Red Beans in Beer?

Believe it or not, when asked what the secret is to their red beans, one Camellia fan shared this trick: “Soaked in beer with bay leaves.” And a chef agrees, adding, “The first step comes the night before I want to cook: Soak the dried red beans in water (or some sort of hoppy beer) for at least 24 hours.” Who knew? You just might have to try it.

Umami — also known as savory taste — is one of the five basic tastes, together with sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and is often described as brothy or meaty. Traditional seasoning meats such as salt pork, bacon, and ham are what provide that savory, meaty flavor in a pot of simmering beans. But the truth is, you can get creamy beans with deep, savory umami flavor in a meatless way — by using vegetarian ingredients, and spices or seasonings that provide that savory flavor. We’ll explore a few here; see which ones work for you and your taste buds.

Dried Mushrooms & Mushroom Broth

One of the best ways to get that deep, rich flavor is by using dried porcini mushrooms. They offer up a great umami kick, meaty richness and an earthy note. The trick to wonderfully flavored vegetarian beans is this: steep the dried mushrooms in boiling water to make a broth, and then simmer beans in the mushroom broth (as all or part of the recipe’s cooking liquid). After soaking them, chop the mushrooms and add to the beans, as well. The savory flavor seeps into the beans, and the chopped mushrooms add great texture. While it can be difficult to find dried mushrooms at the grocery store, they’re usually found alongside other specialty spices and seasonings. And if you can’t find porcinis, a mix of different kinds of dried mushrooms will do the job (look for cremini, shiitake or oyster). Want the flavor, but don’t like the texture? Simply ground dried mushrooms into a powder and dissolve the powder into your pot of beans. Try this delicious Vegetarian Lima Beans dish that uses dried mushrooms and mushroom broth for amazing flavor.

Shallots

Shallots are another must for cooking flavorful vegetarian beans. Known and enjoyed for their mild flavor, shallots are often thought of as a perfect union of onion and garlic. Although they have many similarities to onion and garlic, their flavor is sweeter and more delicate, with less bite. Typically round or teardrop-shaped, they come in shades of pink and purple and when chopped and cooked, offer a deep flavor that adds complexity to just about any dish, especially a pot of vegetarian beans. Use them in place of or in addition to onions in your favorite bean dish. You’ll love the end result.

Soy Sauce

Soy sauce, a brewed liquid made from soybeans, wheat, water and salt, is one of those interesting condiments that can be used for more than you might think. Soy sauce actually accentuates the umami flavor of mushrooms, which is why if you’re going the route of using dried mushrooms in your vegetarian beans, you can punch up the flavor even more with a hint of soy sauce. Just be sure to add it to your simmering beans before you add salt  — that way you won’t end up with beans that are too salty. You’ll find soy sauce as a secret ingredient in these Vegetarian Lima Beans.

Smoked Paprika

Smoked paprika is the Spanish version of sweet paprika, and it’s made from pimiento peppers that are dried, smoked over an oak fire, and then ground into a fine powder. It features a deep red color and a smoky aroma. In fact, that’s the reason most people use it — for its deep, smoky quality. Even a small amount can add great smoky flavor to any dish, and it’s a good option for those who want that in their vegetarian beans. You’ll find smoked paprika in these delicious vegetarian bean dishes: Slow Cooker Lentil & Black Bean Taco Soup, New Orleans-Style Vegan Red Beans & Rice, Slow Cooker 3-Bean Vegetarian Chili, Spicy Sweet Potato Hummus and Black Bean Hummus.

Worcestershire Sauce

Worcestershire Sauce is a fermented liquid condiment that’s complex and unique in its umami flavor and aroma. Traditional versions do contain anchovies (which is a fish), as well as tamarind, molasses, onions, vinegar, cloves and sugar, and are often used in meat marinades and bloody marys. So while a traditional Worcestershire sauce is neither vegetarian nor vegan, it does offer great umami flavor and some saltiness to otherwise meatless dishes. The good news is that there are some good vegan options out there — such as 365 Organic and Annie’s. And you’ll find that just about any kind of Worcestershire sauce brings out the best in our Black Bean Burgers.

Experimenting with spices and seasonings like these can lead the way to your next pot of amazingly flavorful vegetarian beans.

It’s a simple truism in cooking that chicken stock makes everything taste better, and that includes your red beans and rice.

Why settle for using just water in your beans when this stock can add hints of chicken along with the delicious essences of an array of aromatic vegetables, herbs, and spices?

The Secret to the Stock: Bones

In chicken stock, it’s the bird’s bones that infuse the water with that extra-special flavor and mouthfeel, thanks to the gelatin that’s released during the simmering process. (Chicken stock is different from chicken broth in that the latter uses more meat than bones.)

Use as much chicken stock as you want in your beans. Even just a little should improve the overall taste of the final product. Or you can go all out and use stock entirely in the place of water.

Another great option: Use chicken stock, not water, as the liquid base for your rice.

And if it’s a truism that chicken stock makes everything better, then, naturally, homemade chicken stock trumps chicken stock out of a can or carton, or in a bouillon cube or powdered form.

Making Your Own Stock Is Simple

Whenever you have a whole chicken as a main meal, get into the habit of throwing the carcass — bones, skin, leftover meat, and all — into a stock pot or Dutch oven, then bring it to a boil along with some aromatic vegetables (such as onion, celery, carrots, garlic, leeks); herbs and spices (such as parsley, bay leaf, thyme, cloves, pepper, or anything that would go in a classic bouquet garni); along with, of course, water or even wine. The options are endless, and cookbooks are full of stock recipes. However, you probably don’t want to add salt to your stock-in-process because your chicken carcass, presumably, already contains sodium.

Let the stock simmer for several hours and then strain it, removing the fat and other particles along with the carcass. Store the broth in containers in your refrigerator or freezer to be used when needed. Obviously, freezing stock will make it last longer.

Stocks Come in Every Flavor

Stocks also can be made in similar fashion out of leftover seafood, fish, beef, veal, duck, game, or other meats for use in gumbos and other dishes. And if you’re a vegetarian, just leave out the meat and sauté your aromatic vegetables before starting the stock-making process.

If you don’t have the time or the inclination to make your own stock, try the premade products. Using a commercial version is better than using no stock at all. And in recent years, high-quality organic versions have become available, some marketed by celebrity chefs.

Red beans and rice already is the quintessential meal of south Louisiana. Adding chicken stock will add even more flavor dimensions that can only improve your final dish.

What’s your favorite kind of fat?

If you love red beans and cook them religiously, you probably have a favorite kind of fat that adds the dimension, flavor and creaminess you can’t live without – whether it’s canola, corn or olive oil, butter, margarine, bacon grease, or even lard. In fact, red beans & rice fans have spoken when it comes to their secret ingredients, and which kinds of fats they swear by. So we’ll cover the most popular ones here, giving you a taste of their flavor profiles and what they bring to the table.

Fat tastes good. And it makes other flavors taste even better.

Keep in mind that fat not only has the useful functions of keeping cooking water from boiling over and transferring heat to food, but it also adds an awful lot of depth to a pot of red beans. Fat feels good in your mouth and makes other flavors taste better, too. Fatty foods are often more flavorful because many flavors dissolve in fats. In fact, some flavors like to stick to fat molecules, so fat can actually prolong the release of flavors in your mouth.

Cooking Oils: With mild, nuanced flavors, oils add depth and creaminess and complement other flavors in the pot.

A fat favorite mentioned by many is oil. Because of its mild, nuanced flavor, it adds depth to savory dishes and complements other flavors in the pot. Lots of red bean lovers wouldn’t dream of adding anything else to the pot until they’d first sautéed the trinity (a combo chopped onion, green pepper and celery), as well as garlic, in a few generous glugs of olive oil. The combination of those aromatics plus the oil makes a wonderfully flavorful base for red beans. Others adamantly insist that adding corn oil or canola oil near the end of cooking is the key to the creamiest red beans. Following are some interesting quotes and tips to chew on:

“If using meat, brown it in olive oil after patting it with your favorite seasonings. Afterwards, use some of the oil and the drippings to sauté all the veggies.” Michael D.

“Pickled pig tails and cooking oil @ the end.” Teara M.

“A big cooking spoon of Mazola Corn Oil for creamy beans! These are the best!! Cooked in a crock pot!!!!” Cindy N.

“U want creamy beans? Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil at the end. Works every time.” Shana T.

“Sauté onions, garlic in canola oil.” Susan P.

“At the end, a l’il cooking oil – the best!!!!!” Tammy B.

Butter: Luxuriously smooth and creamy, it carries flavors and spices into the rest of the dish.

Another popular choice is butter. With its rich, creamy dairy flavor, real butter is made from milk fat and has a delicious, smooth texture. Interestingly, it has a melting temperature of 98.6° F, which happens to be the temperature inside your mouth. And it works well as a flavor carrier for spices and other ingredients; for example, when you sauté an onion in butter, all the flavor from the onions will be carried by the butter into the rest of the dish – complementing and enhancing the flavor of the beans. Sound good? Try one of our favorite red bean recipes that features butter. These fans say it’s their secret ingredient:

“I use a little file and a little butter.” Harvey H.

“Garlic and butter.” Patrick S.

Bacon Grease: The king of flavorful fats

Now – nothing against oil and butter, but when it comes to adding meaty, smoky flavor and richness, lots of red beans & rice fans claim there’s nothing better than bacon grease. Cooking bacon in a cast-iron pan or heavy skillet over very low heat for 10 – 12 minutes will give you a good rendering and a nice amount of fat to work with. But remember, bacon is salty because it’s cured – so when cooking with bacon grease, be careful of the amount of salt you add. You can always put more in if need be, but it’s hard to fix if you over-salt. Check out some bacon fan suggestions below:

“Chicken broth, bacon grease, and ham hocks.” Heather V.

“Bacon grease. Gotta have it!” Claire S.

“Smoked bacon, smoked turkey neck, and the grease from the bacon, celery.” Theresa G.

“Bacon grease.” Kuris N.

“Sauté onion, celery, garlic in bacon fat.” Rose Anne L.

“Bacon grease-sauté onions-pickled pork, Tasso, a little roux, ham base, low and slow till they cream, green onion tops at the end!” Jimmy Y.

“I use bacon grease to help make my beans creamy.” Rhonda K.

“A teaspoon of bacon grease.” Connie W.

Making you hungry for a pot of red beans? Start cooking and maybe give one of these fan suggestions a try.