Texas Pinto Beans
These Texas Pinto Beans are award winning and pair perfectly with the Traeger Skirt Steak with Grilled Peach Salsa. Fire them up with confidence at your next family get together or neighborhood party.
Ingredients
16 Ounce dry pinto beans
6 Cup distilled water
2 1/2 Tablespoon Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning, divided
5 Pieces black pepper center-cut bacon
1 Medium onion, finely chopped
8 Head garlic
canola oil
2 Teaspoon chili powder
3 Teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon black pepper
2 Teaspoon Traeger Rub
1/4 Pound pork salt, cubed in 6 to 8 pieces
2 Whole jalapeños
2 Slices cubed white bread
Instructions
Empty the dry pinto beans into a five-quart Dutch oven. Cover beans with tap water and then agitate with your hand for several minutes to remove any dust or dirt. Using the lid, drain the water.
Add six cups of distilled water to Dutch oven and mix in 1-1/2 tablespoons of Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning. Cover and let beans soak for three to four hours.
On the Traeger or stovetop, cook the bacon to medium crispy and place on a paper towel to drain.
Put the finely chopped onion into the remaining bacon grease and sauté until translucent, approximately five to seven minutes.
For the Smoked Garlic: When ready to cook, set Traeger temperature to 180℉ and preheat, lid closed for 15 minutes. For optimal flavor, use Super Smoke if available.
Chop the top off of eight to 10 heads of white garlic exposing most of the cloves. Rub exposed garlic with canola oil and dust with Creole Seasoning. Place garlic on the grill and smoke for 1-1/2 hours.
Transfer garlic to an aluminum pan or cookie sheet, cover with foil, and cook for an additional 60 minutes. Remove garlic and let cool.
Increase Traeger temperature to 350℉ and preheat, lid closed.
For the Beans: Remove the lid from the beans, remove any loose skins and broken or unattractive beans (this step is only necessary in competition). Then add all the spices chili pepper, cumin, black pepper, cubed pork salt, sautéed onions and 2 whole jalapeños.
Take the cooled bacon, remove any burnt parts, then crumble coarsely into the beans with your hands. Lastly, add the smoked garlic cloves smashing between your fingers as you add to the beans.
Put the Dutch oven directly on the grill grate and bring to a boil. Cook for 90 minutes, stirring every 30 minutes. Remove the jalapeños after 1-1/2 hours, or longer if you want added heat.
Decrease Traeger temperature to 325℉ and continue to cook beans for another 60 minutes.
The beans should start to become tender at this time. To thicken the juice into a gravy, tear up 2 slices of crust-less bread into small pieces and add to the beans. Add more bread for thicker gravy and additional Creole Seasoning if needed to achieve taste preference.
Stir every 10 minutes, beans should be perfect in 45 to 60 minutes. Enjoy!
Recipe and photo from Traeger and courtesy of Doug Scheiding. They’re his original competition recipe.
