This recipe came from the sister of my great-grandma. It’s an excellent oldie!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs |
| Total Time: | 9 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried pinto beans
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt (such as Spike® seasoning)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried cilantro
- 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup water, or more as needed
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ cup diced green onions
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, or more to taste
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Instructions
- Place pinto beans into a pot and cover with several inches of cool water; let soak, 8 hours to overnight.
- Drain beans and add fresh water to cover. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and let simmer until beans are soft, 40 to 45 minutes.
- While beans are cooking, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir ground beef with seasoned salt in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute until soft, translucent, and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes more. Add cumin, dried cilantro, and Mexican oregano and saute for 1 minute more.
- Drain beans. Mix with browned beef, onion mixture, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, 1 cup water, and tomato paste in a heavy stockpot. Simmer over low heat for 45 minutes, adding more water as needed to achieve desired consistency for the stew.
- Add green onion, cilantro, and lime juice. Serve hot.
- Could be made in a pressure cooker or slow cooker with slight modifications.
- Soak pinto beans overnight according to individual package instructions.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 327 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 51 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 1134 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
To the above review: coriander is the seed when cilantro is ready to go by. Dried cilantro would be the leaves dried. I have grown it, so I know. The other suggestions would be ones that I’d make, too. I don’t like cilantro, so I would switch it out for parsley, which I grow and keep in the freezer. It seems like this recipe could go in many directions with seasoning, depending on personal preference.
8.16.20 First, there’s no way you’re going to simmer the pintos for 40-45 minutes and expect them to be soft, even when soaked overnight. Even in an Instant Pot®, you’ll cook them for 45 minutes. (wish I’d done that). I’d recommend you not start on the ground beef mixture until your beans are cooked. Why do you brown the ground beef and seasoned salt, set aside, and then pull out another skillet to cook the onions, garlic, and spices…another pan to wash? Why not just brown the beef, and then add the other ingredients to the same pan as the ground beef? For anybody who doesn’t know what dried cilantro is, it’s coriander, a spice many may not have in their pantry. Also confusing is the recipe calls for dried cilantro and then at the end, fresh cilantro. If you don’t have coriander, just chop up your fresh cilantro, tripling it to sub for the dry. This turned out very bland, and I ended up adding MORE of all the spices as well as freshly-ground black pepper and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Also, I think beef broth would be better than chicken broth in this recipe, but just my opinion. I want to be clear, I made the recipe as written, tasted, and then made flavor adjustments, so we’d at least be able to eat it. I think this recipe could be simplified, and I don’t want to discourage others from trying it, but it just didn’t work for me. We ate this, but didn’t save leftovers; this is one that I won’t be making again. Sorry for the less than favorable review.