This isn’t a hard and fast recipe for making beans, but more of a suggestion from my 30+ years of cooking beans. I grew up in New Mexico where beans and green chili are standard fare many times per month. For those of you who follow some hard and fast rules of soaking your beans, or not adding salt while they are cooking, or not adding any other ingredients while cooking, you will be surprised at my methodology. In fact, I’m going to create a list of Rick’s Rules for Great Beans.

Rule #1:  You cannot overcook beans.

No matter how hard you try, beans love to bathe in warm water and get nothing but more delicious and savory while creating a tremendous broth the longer they cook. If you like the consistency and taste of refried beans, you can get an extremely low fat and healthy refried bean taste by simply letting the beans cook until they become so soft and absorb so much liquid they become a creamy concoction of goodness!

Rule #2:  Use a slow cooker.

True, you can cook beans on the stove top or in a pressure cooker, but I find a crock pot or other slow cooker works best because they can be left unattended for hours on end. I personally like to cook my beans on a medium high heat (if your slow cooker allows for heat settings).

Rule #3: It’s ok to add spices (including salt) as the beans cook.

An old wive’s tale abounds about pre-seasoning, especially salt, beans. Without hesitation and from hundreds upon hundreds of pots of beans cooked and consumed, I can tell you it makes no difference.

I take that back. It DOES make a difference…a positive one.

Maybe it’s my Italian heritage and upbringing, but tasting, adding spices, evaluating, readjusting spices is a process I was taught and used with everything from oatmeal to lasagna. And it works well with beans too. Sometimes I go for simple salt and pepper and that is all. Other times, I add cumin, red pepper flakes, chili powder, or chipotle flakes…sometimes all of them! I don’t measure them, I just add them at the beginning and make adjustments along the way depending on my tastes and mood. Of course, add the salt in very small amounts as nothing will ruin beans, in my opinion, faster than adding too much salt.

Rule #4:  Add fresh veggies!

I used to never add anything to my beans other than the salt and pepper and some spices. Now (last 20 years or so), I always add chopped or sliced sweet onion, chopped fresh garlic, and some kind of hot pepper (jalapeño, serrano, habeñero, etc). Sometimes I add the peppers whole, sometimes I seed them and chop them, other times I just chop them and add it all…even stems!

And in even more recent years, I will add carrot, sweet potato (yams), white or russet potatoes, spinach (right before eating them). I love the creaminess that the extra veggies add to the broth of the beans and personally have no problem smashing the veggies into the beans and creating something wonderful. Again, I will add these items in different combinations…all good!

Rule #5:  Learn to make tortillas.

There are many flour tortilla recipes on the web. Experiment with a few of them and find one that works for you. Homemade tortillas will completely enhance your bean creation!

What do you think? Ideas, suggestions, comments? Leave them below! Please!