Learn how to cook pinto beans on the stove using two simple ingredients – dried pinto beans and water! Cooking pinto beans on the stove is easy, cheaper than buying the canned version, and makes the best creamy and tender pinto beans ever!
Dried pinto beans are staple in my pantry. Not only are they cheap and affordable, but they’re easy to make, nutritious, filling, and super versatile! They can be eaten on their own, as a side dish or incorporated into recipes like soups, stews, chilis, and easy dinners like burritos and tostadas.
If you’ve never cooked dried pinto beans before, don’t fret! It’s literally as easy as pouring water into a pot and letting the beans simmer. Once you learn how to make them at home, you’ll never buy canned beans again!
The essential ingredients
To cook pinto beans on the stove, there are only 2 ingredients you need:
- 1 pound dried pinto beans
- water
Anything else you want to add is optional and extra. This is how I typically make my beans. Once they’re cooked, I use them in different recipes which is when I like to add other ingredients and seasonings.
Other seasonings and aromatics
If you plan on eating your pinto beans as is and aren’t going to use them in any other recipes, you can season them while they’re cooking. Here are a few ingredients you can add to the pot to enhance their flavor:
- 1/2 onion
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt, plus more to taste
Cooking pinto beans from dried
First, sort and sift through the dried beans. Do this by pouring them in a large bowl and sifting through and discarding any beans that are shriveled up or split. Also look for any little rocks that may have been mixed in with the beans and discard those.
Next, soak the beans. Fill the bowl up with enough water for it to be at least 2 inches above the beans. Then let them sit on the counter for 8 hours or overnight.
After soaking, drain and rinse the beans. The beans will have plumped up and doubled in size during this time!
While soaking beans takes patience and time, the end result is well worth it. Soaking cuts down on the overall cooking time, and helps them cook more evenly so they’re tender through and through.
To cook the beans, transfer the soaked beans to a large pot or Dutch oven along with 10 cups of water. (This is also when you can add the optional seasonings and aromatics.) Bring the beans to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer, then cover and cook for 2 hours.
Check the beans after 2 hours and give them a taste. They should be tender and creamy. If not, let them cook for another 15 to 30 minutes until they’re fully cooked.
That’s it! Easy, creamy and tender pinto beans are perfect on their own or ready to be used in other dishes.
Ways to use pinto beans
While I love eating pinto beans plain, I typically use them to make some of my favorite recipes like:
I also like eating them in burritos, with scrambled eggs, in breakfast tacos or as a simple side.
Want more bean recipes? Check out these 25 Bean Recipes Using Dried or Canned Beans!
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried pinto beans
- water, for soaking and cooking
Optional ingredients*
- 1/2 large onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Instructions
- Pour the beans into a large bowl. Pick out and discard any beans that are shriveled or split as well as any small rocks that may have made their way into the bag.
- Fully cover the beans with water (at least 3 inches over the top of the beans) and set on the counter to soak for 8 hours or overnight.
- Drain and rinse the beans under cool water. (They will have doubled in size during the soaking process!)
- Transfer the beans to a large pot or Dutch oven. Add 10 cups of water (and the optional ingredients if using them).
- Bring beans to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. (I recommend checking them at the 2 hour mark and giving them a taste. They should be tender and fully cooked through, but still a little firm and not mushy. Cook a little longer if they're not quite done.)
- Remove from heat and use them in recipes like refried beans and charro beans, or let cool completely and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Isabel’s Tips:
- 1 pound dried beans = about 6 cups cooked beans
- 1 1/2 cups cooked beans = one 15-ounce can cooked beans
Nutrition Information
I will try this recipe. I’ve always bought canned beans but will try this to save money and to make them taste the way I want them to. Thank you. I love your recipes.
Thank you Doug!
You can also cook them with a bunch of raw spinach. The water in your beans will thicken perfectly and add a spectacular flavor. I never liked spinach until my uncle told me I ate it in his pinto beans and loved them. What? I was tricked, lol.
Hola Ms. Isabel, I will try your recipe for the pinto beans. I buy the can ones all the time they have too much sodium in them. So for health reasons, I will use your version of Pinto Beans on the stove.
I do not soak my beans but I cook them slow and they take longer but no problem for me. That is how my family make them for years.
Very easy recipe that works wonderfully the additional usage of the beans was very helpful
My grandma cooked pinto beans my whole life growing up and my mom too. They always came out so good. They always added ham hock too. Makes them taste delicious. Great feeling meal. Cool and enjoy with cornbread 🥰
Hi Cindy! Thank you so much for sharing!
I also add fat back or bacon to mine and blessed to cook on wood stove..much better flavor I think
Hi Gina! That sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing your tip.
I know how to cook bean’s but I wanted to get another recipe, this one was the bomb
Excellent Stove Top Recipe.
Thanks a million!
They. We’re. Really. Good
Looks simple hope I don’t ruin this, only thing that can go wrong is my wife bickering. At least now I I can eat beans when they are done. Thanks will Bookmark your page for future reference.
Do you chop the optional ingredients?
Hi Jamie! We recommend dicing the onion and mincing the garlic. The other optional ingredients can be added as is and can be added in step 4. If you choose to use a bay leaf, you can take it out after step 6. I hope this helps!
Can you use these for soup like navy beans> I have ham to add to them while cooking like i do for my navy bean soup. Do they taste similar to navy beans/
Hi Joyce! Yes, you can use navy beans!
Although I’m sure you’ve already used your ham, I wanted to respond for future reference. You can definitely use Pinto beans with your ham, we make that very dish often in the winter after the holidays with the leftover ham. I’m not super familiar with Navy beans so I can’t say how similar they might be. I feel that the Pintos have a very mild flavor and are very creamy when cooked as described (along with your delicious ham and any seasonings you like to use), we always add an onion that we’ve cut in large pieces, we like using sweet yellow onions but you should use what you have or enjoy. I hope this helps! 😊
I love the recipe and they were easy they were delicious thank you so much I haven’t made beans I don’t think I’ve ever made beans my mom used to make them
This is a great recipe, but I need to try it again to get it right. I checked them at the 2 hour mark, and they were really overdone (I’ll use your recipe for refried beans for these, instead of the recipe I was going to use them in), but I’m pretty sure I was cooking them at too high heat. I haven’t cooked beans very many times, so am grateful I learned something and look forward to trying it again. Maybe by my adding my comment, someone else won’t make the same mistake I did!