Backyard's Ranch Beans

These ranch beans are built for feeding a crowd at a backyard cookout. Four pounds of dried pinto beans get soaked, cooked tender, then simmered in a sauce loaded with diced bacon, beer, jalapenos, chili powder, cumin, and a hit of dark molasses.

A full head of minced garlic goes in. That’s not a typo. It mellows out over the simmer and gives the beans a warm, roasted sweetness that single-clove recipes never achieve.

Simmering the sauce ingredients together first before adding the beans lets the onions go translucent and the spices bloom. The beer cooks down and loses its bitterness, leaving behind a malty depth that rounds out the chili powder and molasses.

Pro Tips

• Soak the beans overnight. No shortcuts here. Unsoaked pintos take forever and cook unevenly.
• Cook the bacon until crisp, then dice it small. Soft, chewy bacon pieces get lost in a pot this big.
• Don’t salt until the very end. Salt added early toughens the bean skins and slows cooking.
• This pot of beans reheats beautifully the next day. The flavors actually get better overnight.

Variations

• Add a smoked ham hock to the beans while they cook for an even deeper smoky backbone.
• Swap beer for beef broth if you want to skip the alcohol.
• Stir in a can of diced tomatoes with the beans for a saucier, more stew-like version.