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These copycat Chipotle Pinto Beans are easy to make, inexpensive, and healthy! Add to burritos and salads or serve with rice for a tasty vegetarian meal.
Pinto beans are versatile and healthy, inexpensive and delicious. I remember when Chipotle used to put bacon in their beans, but they took it out because you don’t need it!
These beans flavorful on their own and perfect for adding to burritos and tostadas. Or, serve them on the side of scrambled eggs and corn tortillas for a hearty Mexican 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).
- Pinto beans: To soak dried beans overnight, pick through and sort 1 pound of dried pinto 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.
- Add beans, chipotle pepeprs and adobo sauce, garlic, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf. Add enough water to cover. 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 pinto 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 pinto 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!
Recipe FAQs
To substitute canned beans for the dried beans, use 4 cans of pinto 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 Pinto Beans (Copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or rice bran oil (see note 1)
- 1 medium yellow onion minced
- 16 ounces dried pinto beans rinsed, sorted, and soaked overnight (see note 2)
- 2 chipotle peppers plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (see note 3)
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 cups water (enough to cover beans)
- lemon juice
- lime juice
- 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.
- Add beans, chipotle pepeprs and adobo sauce, garlic, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf. Add enough water to cover. 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).
- Pinto beans: To soak dried beans overnight, pick through and sort 1 pound of dried pinto 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 pinto 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.
Wondering if anyone has tried these in the Instant Pot? I’m thinking 45 minutes cook time and natural release with maybe 3 cups of liquid? Thoughts?
Hi Amanda! I’m sorry for the delay, but I actually had you and one other person ask about these beans in the instant pot, so I wanted to test them for you two before giving you an answer. I saw tons of conflicting information from different sources on how long to do the beans. Ultimately, I ended up trying the bean button, and that cooked them on high pressure for 30 minutes, and did the natural release (which took another 30 minutes). They were chewy! I ended up closing the instant pot back up and doing another 10 minutes manual high pressure, then quick release. They were perfect! Here is what I would recommend:
-Follow recipe card above for all ingredients (use 6 cups of water for sure)
-Manual, high pressure 40 minutes, natural release
I will update this post soon with these instructions! Have a great day! 😀
Can these be done in an instant pot?
Hi Jenny! I’m sorry for the delay, but I actually had you and one other person ask about these beans in the instant pot, so I wanted to test them for you two before giving you an answer. I saw tons of conflicting information from different sources on how long to do the beans. Ultimately, I ended up trying the bean button, and that cooked them on high pressure for 30 minutes, and did the natural release (which took another 30 minutes). They were chewy! I ended up closing the instant pot back up and doing another 10 minutes manual high pressure, then quick release. They were perfect! Here is what I would recommend:
-Follow recipe card above for all ingredients
-Manual, high pressure 40 minutes, natural release
I will update this post soon with these instructions! Have a great day! 😀
I made these tonight and they came out amazing!! This recipe is perfect. Taste just like Chipotle!
If you use can beans, should you drain the liquid or keep it?
I have the same question about draining the liquid. Thanks!
Hi LeAnn! No, you don’t need to drain the liquid for this recipe! -Meggan
Hi Kathy! No need to to drain the liquid out of the can! 🙂
Do you cover the beans during 2 hour simmer?
Anything that absorbs water during cooking should always be covered after bringing to boil and reduced to simmer otherwise the water evaporates and the result is a dry finished product. Same principle applies to rice
Covering will help reduce evaporative losses but it isn’t strictly required. As for rice, most “boiling” rice reciped are really steamed rice which REQUIRES covering. True boiled rice doesn’t and you drain the water from it when you’re done.
Never knew not to soak beans overnight!…always tossed the water too. Did i mention that this recipe is delicious!?
And you were smarter for it. Tossing the water tosses the disolved sugars that make beans so magical.
Hi! I have a question. I thought I had saw it on the recipe before [I have made this and a few other recipes you have listed with this, all super yummy if I might add! =D] but maybe I imagined it because I’m not seeing it now. Lol. How much lime and lemon juice do you add? I thought I had saw 1 TBSP for each but I don’t see any specific amount. TIA!! =D
Can I use a can of beans instead?
Hi Trinity, yes! You definitely can. You could simmer everything together for 20 or 30 minutes and be all done. 1 pound of dried beans (what this recipe calls for) is the equivalent of 4 cans of beans. So, if you just want to do a single can of beans, you should divide the rest of the ingredients by 4 (if that makes sense). Or use 2 cans of beans and then just halve the recipe (easier math). You can also feel free to just wing it! If you have any questions or need anything else, just let me know! Thanks for the question.
Hello, i did not see when to add the beans? Did i read that wrong?
You read it right! There are no beans in my bean recipe! Fixing the typo now, so sorry about that. 🙂 But what a nice pot of spices and adobo sauce…. LOL. The beans go in in Step 2. Thanks Sarah, sorry about that.
I always soak my beans and peas in water and baking soda to degas them. It’s a must in our house!
Hi Tracee! I used to do this all the time too, although some people have different opinions. But that’s awesome! I should probably start testing this and see if it makes a different in our house, too. Some people say the cure to gas from beans is to eat more beans! I have no idea if that’s true. 🙂