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These copycat Chipotle Black Beans are easy to make, inexpensive, and healthy! Add to burritos and salads or serve with rice for a tasty vegetarian meal.
I love the complex, smoky flavor of Chipotle’s black beans. Unlike my first black beans recipe, this Chipotle Black Beans Copycat recipe has no bacon and no bell peppers, but it’s just as hearty and delicious.
This Copycat Chipotle Black Beans recipe is great for burritos and bowls, but they’re also a great side dish with Mexican rice and corn tortillas or even scrambled eggs. I love beans for breakfast!
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Olive oil: Chipotle uses rice bran oil, but olive oil is more widely available (and probably already in your pantry).
- Black beans: To soak dried beans overnight, pick through and sort 1 pound of dried black beans. In a large bowl, add beans and enough water to cover by 1 inch. Soak at least 8 hours overnight. Drain and discard soaking liquid.
- Oregano: Chipotle uses Mexican oregano, but you can use Italian oregano if that’s all that you have. They have different flavors (Mexican oregano tastes more like marjoram) but both taste great in this recipe.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat, heat oil until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add beans, chipotle peppers, and adobo sauce, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf. Add enough water to cover and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat and simmer until beans are tender, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Remove from heat. Remove chipotle chilies if desired and bay leaf. Stir in lemon and lime juices, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes about 8 cups Chipotle black beans, enough for 16 (½ cup) servings.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: The beans can be cooled and packed in freezer-safe containers, labeled, and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Quick soak: If you forgot to soak your beans the night before, use this method to get a jump-start on cooking them.
- Pick through and rinse 1 pound beans. To a large saucepan, add beans and enough liquid to cover them by 1 inch.
- Bring beans to boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat, cover, and let beans sit for 1 hour. Drain and discard soaking liquid.
- Slow cooker Chipotle black beans:
- Heat oil until shimmering and cook onions until softened. Stir in garlic until fragrant, then add beans, spices, and enough water to cover.
- Bring to a boil, then transfer to a slow cooker. Cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Remove bay leaves and chipotle chilies if desired. Add lemon juice, lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Substituting kidney beans: Kidney beans contain phytohemagglutinin, a type of lectin that is very toxic at high levels. To substitute dried kidney beans in this recipe, you MUST pre-soak dried kidney beans AND hold them at boiling point (212 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least 10 minutes. This means you should never cook kidney beans in a slow cooker. You won’t know for sure if the slow cooker reached 212 degrees and held it for 10 minutes. Better to be safe than sorry!
Frequently Asked Questions
To substitute canned beans for the dried beans, use 4 cans of black beans. Rinse and drain before adding to the pot in step 2, adding enough water to cover (you may only need 1 to 2 cups), and cook until heated through, about 15 to 20 minutes.
No, you don’t have to pre-soak your beans. Un-soaked beans take about 30 minutes longer to cook than soaked beans, so just keep an eye on your beans and be prepared to add more water and/or cook them longer if they go in un-soaked.
Yes, you should. If you keep and use the soaking liquid in your recipe, it might add a sour taste. But, some people think it’s wasteful to discard the soaking water, so ultimately the choice is yours.
Chipotle Bowl
Tonight, stay in and build your own Chipotle Burrito Bowl with the copycat recipes you know and love. Fluffy rice, black beans, tender chicken, sweet corn salsa, tomato salsa, and lots of guacamole. It’s great…
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Chipotle Black Beans (Copycat)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or rice bran oil (see note 1)
- 2 medium yellow onions chopped
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound dried black beans rinsed, sorted, and soaked overnight (see note 2)
- 2 chipotle chilies plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (see note 3)
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 cups water (enough to cover beans)
- lemon juice to taste
- lime juice to taste
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or large pot over medium high heat, heat oil until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add beans, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf. Add enough water to cover and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are tender, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.
- Remove from heat. Remove chipotle chilies if desired and bay leaf. Stir in lemon and lime juices, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Olive oil: Chipotle uses rice bran oil, but olive oil is more widely available (and probably already in your pantry).
- Black beans: To soak dried beans overnight, pick through and sort 1 pound of dried black beans. In a large bowl, add beans and enough water to cover by 1 inch. Soak at least 8 hours overnight. Drain and discard soaking liquid.
- Oregano: Chipotle uses Mexican oregano, but you can use Italian oregano if that’s all that you have. They have different flavors (Mexican oregano tastes more like marjoram) but both taste great in this recipe.
- Yield: This recipe makes about 8 c. Chipotle black beans, enough for 16 (½ c.) servings.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: The beans can be cooled and packed in freezer-safe containers, labeled, and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Quick soak: If you forgot to soak your beans the night before, use this method to get a jump-start on cooking them.
- Pick through and rinse 1 pound beans. To a large saucepan, add beans and enough liquid to cover them by 1 inch.
- Bring beans to boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat, cover, and let beans sit for 1 hour. Drain and discard soaking liquid.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I followed the canned directions (drained and heated) and then followed the directions for the recipe, including adding 6 cups of water. It didn’t look right, so I looked through the comments and see that wasn’t the right step. Would you mind clarifying the directions so the next person doesn’t make my mistake? Thanks!
Also, I subbed one of the Tbsp of oil for bacon fat and it was delish!
Hi Claire, thank you so much for your comment! I definitely see where it was confusing, sorry about that! I’ve updated the recipe card notes to clarify it. Thank you again! – Meggan
are these meals diet friendly
Hi Brenda, these Chiptole recipes are created as copycats with no specific diet in mind but feel free to adjust as needed! – Meggan
i’m giving this 5 stars without having tried it or even reading it in its entirety partly because this looks and sounds really good, especially ths photo of all the ingredients in the pot, and it’s refreshing to see a recipe that doesn’t incorporate meat for a change.
i arrived here as the result of a Google search for “how to prevent chipotle from breaking during cooking”.
this usually happens to us when we cook pinto beans in the pressure cooker for our tacos.
although i haven’t done it yet, i’ve considered putting the pepper in a tea bell.
i wonder how many other people have this problem when cooking with chipotle.
Hi Carl, I haven’t run into this specific issue but I would recommend you put it in a cheesecloth sachet tied with twine. Hope this helps, thank you for the kind words! – Meggan
I have to admit that as much as I eat Chipotle I’m not really sure what their black beans taste like on their own, so I can’t attest to these tasting like the original, but these came out delicious regardless! I made a half batch using canned beans, used an additional diced up chipotle pepper in lieu of adding the teaspoon of adobo sauce, and because I couldn’t find any firm answer on how long a bay leaf needs to simmer to effectively release its flavor I simmered them for about an hour to be safe. 10/10, will make again!
Sounds great Nichelle, so glad that you liked them! – Meggan
Hi, I’m making this recipe in a slow cooker on a low setting. Should I soak the beans before cooking?
Hi Lark, No, you don’t have to soak the beans first. I created this recipe assuming you would not pre-soak the beans and the recipe accounts for the extra cooking time because of that! Hope this helps! -Meggan
I have a question on both of your bean recipes using cans. Why do you rinse and drain the cans and add them to boiling water? If they’re already cooked, won’t they just fall apart? I’m taking the easy way out this time because I have too much to do tomorrow and I’m making many chipotle recipes for my daughter in laws birthday. I’m doing this tomorrow so I hope I hear something before that or I’m winging it and keeping the juice in and just adding the spices to it. Fingers crossed everything comes out swimmingly. That or I’m ordering the real thing! hahaha
Hi Monica, the beans don’t turn into mush. They do break down a little more than dried beans. I hope everything goes well with the birthday party! – Meggan
Can you use pinto beans instead of black beans?
Hi Margaret, I don’t see why not! If you are looking to make Chipotle Copycat Pinto Beans, here is the recipe: https://cash-surge.live/chipotle-pinto-beans-copycat/%3C/a%3E . Enjoy! – Meggan
I literally make this recipe about every two weeks because these beans are the bomb. They taste just like chipotle beans but also go with basically anything and are a wonderful meal prep bulk ingredient. Thank you!!
Thank you so much Lacey! I’m glad you love them! 🙂 -Meggan
Silly question, you mention cooking the beans TWICE in the description. If you soak dried beans overnight, do you need to cook them for the two hours first, THEN cook them with all the ingredients. Or are we just cooking them once with the ingredients? Thank you for the feedback I plan on trying this tomorrow.
Hi Gregory, NOT a silly question. I’m sorry that I wrote it in a confusing manner; I was trying to be helpful but I think I ended up just making it worse! Basically, you don’t need to soak or cook the beans or do anything at all – you can just make the recipe. You can soak the beans if you want to. If you do, you still just make the recipe as written. This entire post looks confusing so I’m going to fix it up. I’m sorry again. -Meggan
Hi! If I used canned beans, do I use all the same ingredients just cut the cook time? Even the 6 cups of water? Thanks!
Hi Francesca, no, you don’t need 6 cups of water! You probably only need 1 or 2 cups, basically just stir in some water until the beans are the consistency you like. You just need enough to heat the beans evenly. So that might even be none if you don’t drain the beans. Thanks! -Meggan