Chipotle Pinto Bean Tortilla Soup

A batch of pinto beans turns into this easy-to-make tortilla soup that truly satisfies. Don’t skip the homemade crunchy tortilla strips served on top!

Pinto Bean and Kale Enchiladas with Spicy Tomatillo Salsa

This fresh, deeply flavorful recipe is from our friends at Taste of the South and is worth the extra effort to please a crowd.

Slow Cooker Pork & Pinto Tacos

Pork shoulder, Camellia Brand Pinto Beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, and a range of seasonings go into your slow cooker — and come out as a fabulous taco filling.

Hot 7-Layer Dip with Andouille & Bacon

Check out an amazing, slow cooker 7-layer dip with a Cajun twist.

Vegetarian Black Bean & Rice Casserole

Smoky and creamy, this hearty, 1-pot casserole can serve as a vegetarian main dish or as a side to grilled meat, chicken, or seafood. Makes a great taco filling, too!

Southern Quesadillas

Featuring blackeye peas and greens, the name of this recipe says it all!

Pinto Bean Chili Nachos

These tasty nachos can be a meal all on their own. And they come together quickly when you start with prepared Instant Pot Pinto Bean Chili.

From Camellia Band Navy Beans and Great Northern Beans to Large Limas and more, our favorite white beans are buttery, delicious, and deserve their own day of the week. Whether you’re looking for easy Instant Pot recipes, slow simmering stovetop favorites, Cajun cuisine or something with Mexican flair, you’ll find a delicious round up of white beans here. So, let’s get cooking.   

Café Reconcile’s White Beans and Shrimp

Café Reconcile is a destination lunch spot for a lot of New Orleanians, and their famous White Beans and Shrimp dish is a local favorite.

Great Northern Beans & Ham

We can thank our friend Chef Jennifer Hill Booker for this delicious recipe. It’s from her cookbook Field Peas to Foie Gras: Southern Recipes with a French Accent.

Creamy Bean and Collard Greens Soup

A quintessential comfort food, this Creamy Bean and Collard Greens Soup is full of Southern flavor.

Instant Pot Navy Beans

Featuring smoked sausage that’s browned right in the Instant Pot, this is a great weeknight recipe that offers big, savory flavor.

Instant Pot Southern Large Limas with Ham Hock

Lima Beans with Shrimp and Andouille

Simmering white beans with Andouille sausage brings amazing spices and seasonings to the pot, but adding fresh peeled shrimp in the last few minutes of cooking really takes this dish up a notch.

Frijoles Charros

South-Louisiana Style White Beans & Rice

Beans: A Pantry Staple

If you peek into any Mexican kitchen, there’s a special place reserved for dry beans. Whether stored in large burlap sacks, or plastic bags, this staple has its own special location in the Mexican pantry. Beans have been around since pre-Hispanic Mexico and served as a base for daily meals. They were consumed ground up, processed into a paste or mixed with grains. On cold days, beans were milled into powder, and mixed with corn flour to create masa for tamales. The powder was also a thickener included in atole, a beloved milk-based Mexican drink sweetened with raw sugar and fruit — the perfect source of protein for warriors and travelers.

Frijoles de la Olla (Mexican Bean Stew)

The most popular form of preparing beans was cooked by fire and water, and not much has changed today. We enjoy fresh Frijoles de la Olla — or beans in a pot — practically every day, as an accompaniment to almost every Mexican meal. Whether that meal is tacos, tostadas, fideo (Mexican noodle soup), huevos rancheros (fried eggs on a tortilla bed drizzled with red or green salsa) or chilaquiles (fried corn tortilla pieces topped with red or green salsa and cheese), just to name a few.

Frijoles de la Olla are considered the base of many Mexican bean dishes. A clay pot is preferred because the porosity of the clay decreases loss of steam during the cooking process and gives the cooked beans a distinct earthy flavor. When making this dish, pinto beans are most popular in central and northern Mexico, while frijoles negros, (black beans) are preferred in southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula. Once the beans are cooked in a clay pot and seasoned with local herbs and spices such as fresh epazote leaves, dry bay leaves or serrano peppers, they’re topped with pico de gallo and regional cheeses such as cotija or queso fresco and Mexican cream or sour cream. Then, they’re served with corn tortillas or fresh bolillos (French bread) to scoop up and absorb the delicious bean broth. This Frijoles de la Olla recipe uses Camellia Brand Pinto Beans, onion, garlic and sea salt to create a versatile base dish that can be enjoyed as is, or used to make Frijoles Charros.

Frijoles Charros (Mexican Cowboy Beans)

Once Frijoles de la Olla are cooked, they can be mashed, refried, and pureed to be transformed into many of the bean dishes we enjoy today. Often, cooks will make a pot and then add a variety of flavorful meats such as chorizo, beef franks, ham or bacon and top with chicharrones (pork cracklings) to create Frijoles Charros (cowboy beans). They’re often enjoyed alongside carne asada (grilled and sliced beef). This Frijoles Charros recipe uses Camellia brand Great Northern beans, along with hot dogs, chorizo, and bacon for great meaty flavor.

Frijoles Borrachos (Drunken Beans)

Some add in beer during the cooking process to create Frijoles Borrachos (drunken beans). Both frijoles charros and frijoles borrachos are standards at family gatherings, picnics, and cookouts. This Frijoles Borrachos recipe relies on Camellia Brand Pinto Beans, bacon, dark Mexican beer, and a Serrano pepper for its deep flavor.

Tex-Mex: What’s the Difference?

Tex-Mex — a combination of Northern Mexican and Texan cuisine, and not to be confused with Mexican food — does have its differences. It tends to include different cuts of beef, wheat flour, cheddar cheese, canned tomatoes and cumin, while Mexican food uses minimal beef, corn tortillas, low-fat white cheeses, fresh cilantro and epazote for its authenticity. Both pinto and black beans have made their way into popular Tex-Mex dishes we all enjoy, such as burritos, nachos, and chili con carne.

Beans have fused into cultural and culinary traditions in a variety of Latin cuisines. Rich in protein and vitamins such as B1 and B2, they continue to be one of the most popular foods consumed in Latin America. However, it’s undeniable that when a great bowl of beans is ready, what matters most is enjoying the taste of this versatile legume that has been around for centuries and cooked in so many delicious ways.