Texas Baked Beans
On February 14, 2022 (Updated April 15, 2022)
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Grab a bite of Texas with these hot and savory Texas baked beans. They’re the perfect side dish with any BBQ, but they’re especially ideal when you’re cooking up a Texas-style meal.
What Are Texas Style Beans?
Unlike traditional baked beans that are sweetened with sugar or maple syrup, Texas-style beans are known for being savory without the addition of sweeteners. We also make these beans from scratch, starting with soaking dry pinto beans overnight before cooking them nice and slow the following day.
These smoky, savory, and spicy pinto beans are the perfect side for any Texas-style BBQ platter. Dried chilis and a low and slow cooking process give your beans the ideal amount of tongue-tingly spiciness that is expertly balanced by the smooth pinto beans.
Ingredients for Texas Baked Beans
Start by soaking the beans overnight with the following:
- 1 14-ounce bag of dry pinto beans
- 4 quarts water
These remaining ingredients are cooked with the beans in a large Dutch oven or stockpot on the grill:
- 1 diced white onion
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 dried ancho chile
- 1 dried guajillo chile
- 1/2 Tablespoon cumin
- 1/2 Tablespoon chipotle
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon paprika
- 2 heads garlic
- 6 cups water
How to Make Texas Baked Beans
Here’s how to do it:
- Soak. Soak the dry pinto beans overnight in water to soften them up. When you are ready to make the beans, place them in a strainer, and rinse them well.
- Preheat. Fire up the grill and allow it to preheat to 350 degrees F for two-zone cooking (one side of the grill with direct heat and the other side of the grill with indirect heat).
- Combine ingredients. Preheat a dutch oven or large cast-iron skillet on the grill. Sautee the ham hock, onion, and dried peppers in olive oil in the pan, add the seasonings, the garlic heads, and the beans and water. Bring everything to a boil, move the pan to indirect heat, cover with a lid with a 1/4-inch opening to allow steam to escape and smoke to penetrate.
- Cook. Close the lid on the grill and cook the beans for 2-3 hours. Check the beans after 2 hours. If they are soft, you can remove them from the heat. If they are not soft yet, and there isn’t enough water, add 2 more cups of water and continue to cook until they have softened.
- Finish up. Remove the peppers, ham hock, and garlic heads from the beans. Push out the softened garlic cloves and mix them into the beans. Shred the meat off the ham hock, and mix it all together. Serve immediately on the side of your favorite Texas BBQ.
Tips for Making Texas Style Beans
Here are some tips for making the best Texas style beans around.
- Plan ahead. These beans are vastly improved by being made from scratch with dried pinto beans. Give yourself plenty of time to sort and soak your beans before cooking.
- Thicken the sauce. If you like a thicker sauce around the beans, smash some of the beans. The starch will help thicken the bean stock.
- Short on time? Technically, you can swap those dried beans for canned. Use 4 cans of rinsed pinto beans and reduce the stock in the recipe by half. You also need to cut your cooking time in half. This will give you a similar result in much less time
- Want more heat? I would rank these beans as a low/medium on the spice scale. If you wanna bring more spice to the party, double the dried chilis in the recipe and add cayenne to taste (start with 1/2 teaspoon and add from there).
More Baked Beans Recipes
It’s hard to turn down some baked beans when cooking up BBQ. These are our most popular bean recipes from Hey Grill Hey that you’ve gotta try out today!
Looking for other perfectly matched BBQ sides? Check out these winners from the site!
Texas Beans Recipe
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Texas Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 smoked ham hock 1-2 lbs
- 1 14-ounce bag dry pinto beans
- 4 quarts water
- 1 white onion
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 dried ancho chile
- 1 dried gujillo chile
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon paprika
- ½ Tablespoon cumin
- ½ Tablespoon chipotle
- 2 heads garlic tops cut off
- 6 cups water
Instructions
- Soak. Place the dry pinto beans in the 4 quarts of water and soak the beans overnight.
- Preheat grill. Heat the grill to 350 degrees F for two-zone cooking with several large chunks of post oak. If you do not have a system to create two zone cooking, you can do it yourself by simply adding charcoal to only one side of your grill. If you are using a gas grill, you would do this by having a section of grill where the burners are not ignited.
- Preheat Dutch oven. Put a Dutch oven on the grill and allow it to come to temperature with the grill.
- Make the beans. Pour the oil into the Dutch oven followed by the ham hock, onion and dried peppers. Once the onion is translucent, stir in the paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, chipotle, and salt. Next, place the heads of garlic down in followed by the beans and water.
- Boil. Bring everything to a boil, then move it to indirect heat, and cover so there is only ¼ inch opening to allow steam to escape and smoke to get in. You want the beans to simmer from this point forward.
- Finish cooking. Cook the beans for 2-3 hours. Check on the beans two hours into cooking. If they are soft, you can remove it from the heat. If there is not enough liquid and they are not soft enough yet, add in 2 more cups of water. If you want a thick sauce around the beans, smash some of the beans and the starch will help thicken the bean stock.
- Shred, salt, and serve. Remove the peppers, ham hock, and head of garlic from the beans. "Squish” out the now softened cloves and mix it into the beans, then shred the tender meat off the hock, and incorporate that into the beans. Taste and add salt if needed. Serve and enjoy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you put this in a slow cooker to save on time and space?