Ranch Style Beans are a Tex Mex side dish made easy in the slow cooker with pinto beans simmering in a flavorful, spicy, tomato-based sauce. These beans are so delicious to have on the menu for a barbecue or backyard cookout. They’re the kind of beans you might be served when visiting a dude ranch!
If you are a lover of beans, you might also like to try our recipes for Vermont Baked Beans, Sweet and Spicy Baked Beans and this recipe for Barbecue Beans.
You may have seen Ranch Style Beans sold in a black can at your market. This is the homemade version of those canned beans. Ranch style beans were created to mimic the hearty food that cowboys and ranchers eat. They are smokier than baked beans, and they’re easy to make over a fire on the ranch or when cowboys are on a cattle drive.
This recipe comes from a cookbook written by a friend of mine: Save it Forward Suppers by Cyndi Kane. This is a cookbook full of great dinner ideas. The idea is that the “save it forward” method extracts components from every meal to use for meals later in the week. It’s a great idea! This recipe for “Dude Ranch Beans” is made from the base recipe in the book of baked ham. And then there is another recipe for cornbread in the book to serve with the beans. It’s all good!
July 3rd is National Eat Your Beans Day! Keep this recipe in mind when celebrating this food holiday.
Ingredients Needed:
- Dried Pinto Beans: These are the beans of choice for making Ranch Style Beans.
- Ham Hock: These can usually be purchased at the store. But you can also just use the leftover bone of a baked ham.
- Tomato Sauce: The tangy flavor of tomato sauce is the based of these beans.
- Yellow Onion: Substitute red onion or shallots, if that’s all you have.
- Dried Chile: Use any mild chile. I recommend guajillo, pasilla, ancho or New Mexico varieties.
- Garlic: You’ll need a few cloves. Add more, if you’d like!
- Chili Powder: In your spice section. Nothing fancy.
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
How to make Ranch Style Beans:
The complete, printable recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. Here’s a brief overview.
Soak the dried beans overnight. Drain, and then add to the slow cooker insert with water covering. Add all of the ingredients to the soaked beans and water, and let them slow cook all day until the beans are tender.
When done cooking, you can tear some of the ham away from the ham bone and add it to the beans, if you’d like.
Recipe Tips:
- No ham hock? Sub chopped, cooked bacon, a hunk of brisket or burnt ends.
- Be sure to cook these beans low and slow. Don’t hurry the process. Dried pinto beans will turn nice and tender on their own, but you need to allow them time to do so.
- Turn these ranch style beans into a main dish by topping them with a scoop of rice and plenty of cheese.
- Add some hot sauce on top of your beans, if you like things spicy.
- Store leftover beans in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Ranch style beans may also be frozen for up to 3 months.
What to serve with Ranch Style Beans:
Ranch Style Beans would be a great side dish to a pulled pork sandwich or a pulled chicken sandwich. They’d also be terrific served with brisket, fried chicken, hot dogs or hamburgers. Basically, any kind of barbecue or casual gathering you’re having, these beans would be a great addition to the menu. For traditional Texas fare, serve them with ribs or enchiladas.
Fun Facts About Beans:
- Since the early 1900’s, bean soup has been on the U.S. Senate restaurant menu every single day.
- North Dakota produces 1/3 of the beans in the United States.
- Beans are cooked by boiling, frying and baking. They’re used in all kinds of recipes!
- Beans have high amounts of fiber and soluble fiber (which can lower cholesterol).
- Many edible beans cause flatulence (gas).
- The healthiest beans to eat are chickpeas, which are a great source of protein and fiber.
- Lentils are a great source of vegetarian protein.
- The world’s tallest bean plant was over 45 feet tall.
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Soak the beans overnight. Place the beans in the insert of a slow cooker and cover with water by about 3-inches. Let sit at room temperature overnight. Don’t turn on the slow cooker. Drain the water in the morning and add fresh water to cover the beans by 2-inches.
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Add the ham bone, tomato sauce, onion, chile, garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper and cook on low all day, 6 to 8 hours, until the beans are tender.
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Toward the end of the cooking time, you can remove the meat from the ham bone and add it to the beans, but the beans will be delightfully flavorful without it too. Taste the beans to see if they need more salt and pepper.
- Regarding the guajillo chile, look for it near the Mexican spices in the latin section of your market. It’s a smoky chile, but it’s not hot. Other chiles may be substituted: suggest pasilla, ancho or New Mexico chile.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 229kcal, Carbohydrates: 32g, Protein: 15g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 19mg, Sodium: 415mg, Potassium: 814mg, Fiber: 8g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 574IU, Vitamin C: 5mg, Calcium: 68mg, Iron: 3mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.