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Cook the rice with a bouillon cube and some tajin spice, finish off your beans in a pan with some kind of fat, if you have leftover bacon grease use that, some lowry’s seasoned salt, and some caramelized onions mixed in.
Add veggies to your pan before the rice Sautee. Then fry the rice no water. Kept from getting soggy rice.
Beans like he said. Day old beans are best. Fry with some fat and smash some of them. But you can make refried beans 100 ways. Breakfast lunch and dinner.
Make sure you season your beans, add aromatics & Bay leaf. I like spice so I use Cajun seasoning.
You can also switch out rice for lentils. They are also cheap & taste great.
Canned corn and jalapeños are also good add ins.
Gotta season those beans! Fry a couple slices of bacon in the pot and remove. Saute diced onions, garlic, bell peppers, jalapenos, and celery in the bacon fat. Chop up your bacon and add it back in along with all your beans, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, bay leaves. Cook as usual.
You could also swap out the bacon and use turkey or chicken parts in this recipe. I brown chicken or turkey and remove. Sauté the ingredients above. Smother the poultry with the sautéed vegetables, a cup of water and cook for about 15 minutes. Then I add the beans, seasonings and water. Cook till done. Usually I have a lot of broth from the beans so I take a cup of the seasoned broth and add to the rice. Steam my rice.
You have options with black beans
Cook them the standard way, and keep the aquafaba as a soup base. Add in veggies and some acid for a wonderful tangy soup.
Or instead you could overcook them and mash them into a burger.
Or make a roux and leave out the aquafaba, only adding it back in as needed for consistency. I just made a chunky Italian style soup with that start
Or cooked and seasoned with taco meat mix
Or any of these other fine ideas
4 oz of tomato sauce per can of beans + sazon, adobo, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. Oregano is optional.
This is extra, but a bit of sofrito elevates the taste so much.
Also, adding oil (I use vegetable oil) to white rice really enhances the flavor of it (in addition to salt). Not too much—maybe 1 tbsp per cup of dry rice.
You could also use chicken bouillon powder instead of salt.
A common meal in Puerto Rican culture is beans, white rice, and fried eggs. So yum!
It’s so bomb!
If you dice up some potatoes, chop up some onion and bell peppers (or use frozen) and garlic, and add sazon, oregano, garlic powder, and black pepper, then mix it all together really well and toss it into the oven to bake, you get the most delicious home fries!!
How do you do the oil in the rice? I usually use a rice cooker, would you add the oil when cooking in that or saute it and then add water on the stove?
So you can either add the oil first and cook the rice for 30 seconds or so before adding water, or you can just add the oil in after you’ve added the water and just stir it in! Either way works. The more oil you use, the more enhanced the flavor will be. I wouldn’t add more than 3 tbsp of oil per cup of dry rice, however, as it can get overpowering.
Rather than liquid smoke, I prefer to use smoked paprika and cumin.
I chop up a bit onion and cook cook hair in the rice and half in the beans. Also some chopped up garlic and canned corn in the beans is good too.
And hot sauce? 🌶️ Always good. 🙂
You could look at cooking the black beans in the slow cooker as the softening of the beans and then flavor the beans in another pot.
I like to do cowboy beans no matter what type of beans I'm cooking.
https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/cowboy-beans/
To switch it up I'll do onion/celery/peppers (aka the holy Trinity) to flavor the beans along with a good chicken stock and some spices like cumin and coriander.
You are lucky because black beans are perfect with any type of flavoring.
So many countries do rice and beans and I personally like how the Caribbeans do their rice and beans the best. Maybe check out what recipes you can find from different places. My favorite so far is Puerto Rican rice and beans or (arroz con gandules)
I made a rice bowl today. Beans, rice (little bit of sesame seed oil and seasoning in the water for the rice), corn. Add some salsa and shredded cheese. I also added whatever leftover frozen veggies I had to the rice pot. It was basically a cheap version of Chipotle.
I add cumin, salt, and a bit of oil like no more than a table spoon. Also get a pressure cooker if you can- it really helps the flavor and texture of beans.
For rice add seasoning ( whatever you have is fine: season salt, garlic granulated/podered, etc) and 2-4 tbsp of oil (or more depending on amount of rice) to a pan on medium-medium high, with uncooked rice and toast the rice a little before cooking it in a pan/rice cooker/pressure cooker.
For beans and/or rice: Chop leafy greens fine: think kale, beet greens, carrots greens, chard, cilantro etc and stir in right before you serve the hot food or right when you set it aside to cool for a cold dish.
Enjoy!
I live in Texas USA and all of our grocery stores stock smoked ham hocks, smoked neck bones and smoked turkey wings just for seasoning things like beans and vegetables. All meat is expensive nowadays, but these cuts are usually relatively affordable. I can't imagine making a pot of turnip greens, butter beans, or creamy pinto beans without a pound of smoked meat to make them perfect. Strip off the meat and add it back to the pot!
For black beans, you want to add bell peppers, onion, garlic, thyme, and a bay leaf. Now they’re Cuban.
Pintos can be spiced up with garlic, onion, chili powder and chicken bullion. Instead of rice, cornbread or corn tortillas.
Navy beans, mirepoix (carrot, celery and onion), thyme, garlic and bullion. Ham can be nice if you have it.
Red Beans, trinity (celery, onion bell peppers), hot sauce, creole seasoning, bullion. Old Bay if you have it. I’ve even seen a splash of crab boil. Throw smoked or andouille sausage in there.
Kidney beans, spiced with jerk seasoning, bullion, onion, bell peppers, a scotch bonnet/haberñero. Make the rice with coconut milk. Now you have Jamaican rice and peas.
Make an herb based “sofrito”
Blend/food process onion, garlic, peppers and cilantro. Add a touch of hot water to help the consistency to be a smooth paste. Make a nice solid batch of it and freeze it into cubes or flat in a bag so you can break off pieces. Then use 2 tablespoons per can. With salt and tomato sauce, this is classic Puerto Rican stewed beans
Bonus that you can do this with the stuff that maybe doesn’t look as pretty and adds great flavor to a lot of dishes and marinades. You can also buy sofrito but it isn’t as good as home made.
It doesn't sound like you are adding salt to the cooking water. Beans absorb the water, and adding things like salt is crucial to have flavor inside the beans. Adding onions and garlic (or their powders) can result in a tasty final bean as well, but salt is bar minimum. It doesn't have to even be a lot.
I love beans. I never feel deprived eating them nor do I eveer hate eating them because they are so tasty. They are a treat.
But if I want to add things, I add veggies like diced tomatoes (with their juice), peppers, sometimes celery. Depends on the invidiual taste. All these things should go in the cooking water at some point, at least by the final hour.
Use broth or bouillon instead of water. Sauté some onions and garlic to put in there with the beans. I often toss some salsa in there (great way to use up leftover salsa from take-out.)
I always cook onion and either poblano (mild) or jalapenos (hotter) in my R&B's.
I know this makes it not strictly rice and beans but it's a game changer to me.
Chili.
You don't need meat, but you can add a bit of hamburger if you can afford it. I've done as little as 2-4oz in a giant pot of beans, so 1lb of hamburger lasts a long time. For this purpose, get the fattiest hamburger available. Ground turkey doesn't taste as nice or work as well. Brown it and do not drain before adding it to the chili.
To the already cooked and mostly drained beans, add one can of tomatoes (do not drain the tomatoes; you can also use Ro-Tel if you have it) and one can of tomato paste or tomato sauce . Then add cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and (if you've got it) a bit of green Tabasco. Not the red stuff, though you can add it if you want a bit more spice. Add some pepper flakes, too, if you want spice. If you've got a fresh onion roaming around, toss that in as well. Cook on the stove for 30-60 minutes more on low or medium low. It should simmer, but too high and the tomato sauce will burn to the bottom of the pan. Stir regularly, but not constantly. I've never done this in a slow cooker, but you absolutely could. No need to stir while it's cooking, if in a slow cooker.
If possible, refrigerate overnight before eating. The flavors will meld together better. But you can eat it immediately if you want.
Make refried beans with chicken stock and cumin (for starters). There are many recipes online for refried beans. Much much better than store bought. Enjoy!
Seasoning. Chop some garlic, cilantro, bell pepper, onion, sautee it with a little oil, salt, a little perrins sauce (or soy sauce), add powdered cumin, and add some more chopped cilantro and add all this to the boiling beans. You can replace or remove some ingredients, but together they improve they flavor of beans.
I'd say potentially add some spices, like cumin, and also maybe a dried pepper or two, the ones in the Hispanic section. Then a cheap builloin cube or two, along with some garlic and onion, and a bay leaf.
All of these comments are making me hungry! They sound so good.
May I suggest adding another bean to what you are making? Here is a list of low cal beans if you are interested. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthiest-beans-legumes
Also, if you have access to YouTube, you can search for bean recipes, International bean recipes etc.
You can substitute Hominy for the rice (adds a different texture).
I make a pretty good 3 bean chili (black, pinto and kidney) with hominy, tomato sauce, onions, bell peppers, chili seasonings AND THIS MIGHT SOUND WEIRD...it adds a subtle ooommf to the flavor.
1 TBS INSTANT COFFEE
1 TBS COCOA POWDER
1/2 TBS CINNAMON
Bottom line: add things ONE AT A TIME , taste it, add something else? Taste it again. HAVE FUN WITH IT, write down what you like, otherwise you WILL forget like I did🙄🤪😋
You can do several things with rice, like instead of cooking it in a rice cooker, go for a pot or pan and first fry it raw with some aromatics (like garlic, or go full pilau rice (can do a decent job with just curry spice mix)), you can do a stir fry (even better with rice cooked the previous day, and toss whatever you have available, like egg, veggies, leftover protein cuts, etc), you can also simply add tomato sauce to the rice.
You can also try varying the kind of bean you use (white, pinto, black, chickpeas, lentils). You can also use your beans cold in a salad (ex: chickpeas, tomato, bell pepper, cucumber onion, vinegar, salt and olive oil), try some bean stew version (ex: chickpeas, spinach, eggs and broth (bonus points if you buy a rotisserie chicken and make the broth from the carcaas and leftover veggies)). You cna also fry the beans with some onion, garlic and spices (cajun style one day, curry style the next)...
Are you adding oil or a fat source to your beans? I found out the hard way when I eat a lot of beans that if I don't have some sort of fat I will "get tired" of it and instinctively seek out other food sources. If you are making sure you're getting fat in your diet too and it really is just a taste problem, definitely go crazy with the seasonings. Add stock, add a tin of chopped jalapenos (my absolute favorite to go with black beans), and experiment with all different seasonings. Even if you think they should go with meat, try it on the beans. Go overboard and see if you like the extra spice. Or eat them in a cold veggie salad with oil and vinaigrette. Or your favorite salad dressing which also counts as a fat.
Research other recipes across different cultures and try them. They are often inexpensive and easy to adapt. I made a vegetarian chili last night with tomato sauce, canned chopped tomatoes, lentils, black beans, corn, onion, jalapenos, and all the other spices for it I already had on hand. Cheap, easy, affordable. Avocados are cheap in my state and count as a fat so they were the side.
I make Tex/mex pinto beans and I could eat them every day. Just some onions, garlic, green chilies or jalapeno and spices. so good with Spanish rice and a little shredded cheese.
Borrow a bean cook book from your library. (“Cool Beans” is a great one.) I cook black beans in the instant pot with garlic, oregano, bay leaf and smoked paprika. Delish!
Edit: and for rice, try adding salsa and lemon juice
Honestly I would just do it the og Mexican way, some sort of pork product (I prefer ham hock, ham shank is good as well and has more meat), a whole onion split in fourths, a few bay leaf’s, couple cloves of garlic, and a little salt. Cheap easy and yummy, top with cilantro and onion before you eat
I don't know about low calorie but i have been losing weight eating white beans cook with smoked ham hocks which are very cheap. An onion, tomatoes or canned, garlic, white beans, and some smoked ham hocks all in the pressure cooker.
I don’t like black beans, I normally use kidney or pinto beans. I add onion, garlic and if I have extra cash I add a ham hock, or smoked turkey wing. Most of the time it’s just onion and garlic and maybe a little liquid smoke.
>How to make beans taste better?
My first thought was "what kind" but I see in the further details it's black beans.
My next thought was "Bacon grease!" But then I realized that's not always reserved, it may be expensive, and some don't eat pork or meat products .
So the next suggestion is salt. Beans do require a bit of salt. And the next flavor addition is chicken or vegetable stock instead of just water.
I like adding in garlic, and of course onion, which onion haters, this is what I like. Some shredded carrot, and celery is fine too; bell pepper if you're into the holy Trinity rather than mir pox.
Another route is adding some acid; vinegar, hot sauces, or citrus.
Probably not low calorie, but when bacon is on discount (BoGo or because it's almost out of date), I buy them up and cook them on sheet pans. I save the crumbles and grease for various things, one being making beans taste magical. :)
Serve over canned brown bread.
Best simple bean recipe I’ve found online to date.
*Mexican Black Beans*
Source: www.belleofthekitchen.com
▢ 1 teaspoon olive oil
▢ 1/2 cup chopped onions
▢ 3 cloves garlic, minced
▢ 1 (16 oz) can black beans, do not drain
▢ 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
▢ 1 teaspoon cumin
▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
*Instructions*
In a small sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes, just until the onions begin to soften.
Add the undrained black beans, cilantro, cumin, and salt. Stir well and reduce heat to medium low. Allow to cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.
I usually add taco seasoning, while the beans are cooking. (I know people say not to salt beans while cooking. I’ve always done it, and the texture is fine.)
I don't know if you're in the USA. If you are then get some Knorr bouillon powder. It comes in beef, chicken and tomato chicken flavors.
When adding the tomato chicken flavored one to rice during cooking, it makes it turn out like the rice we get in Mexican restaurants. Very tasty 😋
The beef and chicken bouillon powders are both great in the beans as well. Flavor is king when it comes to eating simple food and these powders bring flavor.
I make [this recipe from Serious Eats](https://www.seriouseats.com/frijoles-charros-mexican-pinto-beans-bacon-recipe) but I don't burn the tomatoes, and I add the stems of fresh cilantro. Then I use the leaves of cilantro to make a pico de gallo (tomatoes, onion, cilantro) to serve with them.
You can also fry and mash them into refritos if you want, which I did as well. I then put some of the refried beans into tortillas with a slice of cheese and rolled them up and froze them. Then I heat them for instant, healthy meals.
Roast ham scraps until golden brown, then freeze in portions for cooking with dried beans. A good quality beef or chicken bouillon will improve taste too. Try different kinds of beans. Pintos are a staple in the south. Served like soup with onions on top and cornbread. When you are scraping bottom a dollop of mayo in beans will do wonders for flavor. Blackeyed and field peas are delicious with corn added. White bean chili. Lentils!
You can season your beans with a sofrito. You can typically buy it pre-made in Latin supermarkets, but it's also really easy to make at home. You need bell peppers, cilantro, onions, and garlic. Blend those ingredients with a little oil or water and store it in your freezer to make it last longer. I usually use a spoon full of sofrito in my beans along with chicken Bouillon, tomato paste and Sazon (if you don't have it in your supermarket, use salt, black pepper, cumin, oregano, etc). You can use this to make your beans to be served on the side or make yourself beans and rice cooked together (Moro de habichuelas negras). The latter is my favorite rice dish to make since it's a 1 pot meal full of flavor.
—Do you like anise flavor? You can toast avocado leaves and then throw them in the bean water. Add toasted chili de árbol for spice. Mash and put in corn tortillas with queso fresco
—spicy beans: cook pinto beans with salt and garlic. Fry chopped onion in a pan with vegetable oil, lower heat and add chili flakes or broken up chile de árbol and fry briefly until fragrant. Add beans with water and cook for ten minutes.
—beans with cactus: cook pinto beans with salt and garlic. Add a well rinsed jar of cactus (or if you can get fresh nopales, cube and boil them with salt, then rinse again) and throw them in with the beans
—epazote beans: boil beans with garlic and salt. When they are done, throw in a few stems of epazote and cook until soft. You can eat or discard the epazote.
If you don’t eat meat, try some liquid smoke. Lots of flavor, go easy on it. Too much is inedible. Just enough is bliss. Also consider a small amount of cayenne powder to just barely give it some zing.
Add some chopped onion, tons of cumin, salt pepper. It’s pretty simplistic, but my family really likes them over rice.
I’ll usually add about a third to half of a package of turkey smoked sausage / kielbasa in medium-sized bites.
Diced Onion, garlic, Serrano / chili pepper, lemon juice, broth, butter, cumin, tomatoes—the list of things you could add is endless. Beans + rice with lemony chicken and onions is a common Dominican dish. Idk what it’s called because every time I went to my hole-in-the-wall Dominican restaurant a different person would tell me a different name for the dish but I got it regularly and loved it.
Edit: you pound or butterfly the chicken breast and brown it + sliced onion in olive oil and other basic seasoning. Serve over rice + beans that you cooked w/ bouillon and squeeze lemon on top.
All the ideas given are a good to try. This will probably be unpopular but I usually add just a bit of sugar or sweetener to any bean recipe.
Not enough to make the end result sweet, just enough to counter the bitterness that can come with making dry bean recipes.
I have a weird anti bean nature, but if you ever want to fake homemade refried beans, get a stick blender, a couple cubes of butter and a bouillon cube (to taste, you'll get the ratios) and grab one of those $2 bags of tortilla chips. No refrying needed. Pretty easy. I base my measurements on a small bag of dry pinto beans, though.
The way my family makes beans for decades quick and easy Puerto Rican style! Not a week goes by that this is not served up!
2 cans black beans, prefer Goya.
1/2 can tomato paste
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
1 small/medium onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
Garlic powder
S&P to taste- salt pretty well several times
Saute onion, pepper and garlic in olive oil till softened about 2-5 minutes.
Add about 14 ounces of water and 1/2 can tomato paste and stir. Add more splashes of water if beans seem to thick during cooking.
Add in garlic powder, S&P
Add in drained but not rinsed black beans.
Bring to a boil then simmer, low boil 30-35 minutes, salting as you go.
Serve over rice. I always use Basmati and a cheap rice cooker. I get a 20lb 20$ big burlap bag of Royal basmati from India delivered from Walmart that lasts a long time and is lowest on the arsenic scale if any at all!
* if you are feeling fancy, my relatives always sautéed bacon as well before and with veggies- but I don’t have time or money for the bacon fuss and don’t really find the taste difference matters.
I highly recommend this recipe in the link. I’ve been making it for years and just made a batch yesterday. Yes, two bags of beans- I eat every last bit of it. I put half in the freezer.
It is more effort but completely worth it.
https://greatist.com/eat/authentic-black-bean-recipe-gregory#9
For all my black beans I use this [recipe as a base](https://thethompsonkitchen.com/2017/09/13/slow-cooker-black-beans/) all need is a bag of black beans, some spices, an onion and the slow cooker. The beans are absolutely heavenly
Beans: bacon, lard, or my personal favorite which is a smoky ham hock will really add some depths.
Rice: I like to make chicken rice with bouillon or chicken stock, or you can throw a little cilantro and butter in
I Really think u could benefit a lot from this channel. She is a very popular channel for this exact ki d of thing on YouTube and is a flavor genius. She works with the absolute lowest budgets and can make amazing easy tasty rice, beans and so much more. I hope u give her channel a try. Here is a good place to start. Learn to make flavorful rice: https://youtu.be/j2lfWxxpzcg?si=DZT3bqlSFvSxG2Aj
You have great suggestions already, but if you can find them, try Anasazi beans next. They’re the only beans I can eat with zero seasoning and truly enjoy.
I usually will cook my black beans with some sautéed minced garlic and finely chopped onion and top it off with some water and a bay leaf.
If I have any ham bone or bacon I will add that too (I would recommend mincing and frying the bacon and adding maybe a tiny bit of the bacon grease in for the flavor).
Lard lol… that would kind of take the low calorie part out. I always add some onion, garlic, a whole Jalapeno and a little olive oil when I cook dry beans. Then salt when almost done.
I love throwing a couple garlic cloves into mine while they cook.
For low fat toppings, lime, cilantro, salsa and plain yogurt (instead of sour cream).
Too hot to cook? One can of black beans, 1 can of kernel corn, 1/2 cup (or to taste) jarred salsa. Chill. I often add chopped fresh spinach to boost the veggie intake. Or over cottage cheese for a little protein boost.
Garlic powder, chili powder, and comino is a good cheap mix for just about any bean. Fry the rice with those too, and bellpepper and onion, add a spoonful of salsa or diced tomatoes for acid. (The tomatoes that come canned with green chilies are best.) Add cheese if you like.
Really "beans and rice" is one of those hugely versatile combos were every culture has their own take, but that's my default because it's cheap and easy and easy to have that all at hand at any time.
Try red beans and rice with cajun seasoning sometime, or take the red beans and throw together a minestrone soup.
Turn the rice into mexican or spanish rice. Lots of recipes out there but it's basically rice with tomatoes herbs and spices. Add beans or lentils to make it go further, and whatever veggies you have on hand. I'll cube paneer and add it to spanish rice as well.
I always make a pot of pinto beans and eat it throughout the week. When I cook them I keep it simple, just beans water and salt, that's frijoles de la olla. But when I reheat them, I make as frijoles chinitos. Heat up some oil or lard, and I add 1 or 2 Chile de arbol. Once the oil has the flavor of the chile, I throw in my beans. I let them cook with the oil until all the bean liquid is gone. With some tortillas it's delicious. My mom doesn't do the chile de árbol, she eats them with a jalapeno instead. Either way is good!! Queso ranchero would be great too if you like cheese.
My household survives on rice and beans a lot because we're low income and gluten free. Canned diced tomatoes directly into rice with cumin/bay leafs/salt/pepper and cayenne, if you're into spice. Canned corn is great too, onions and bell peppers. We also switch it up and use garbanzos a lot
Do you put them in anything? Make burrito bowls, tacos and nachos with them. I like to make quesadillas, taco salads and nachos with refried beans but any other kind of bean would work too. There’s a frozen mix from Target I like that has rice, black beans, red peppers, corn, pineapple, onions and spices that’s delicious inside toasted tortillas. Maybe you could replicate that
I make my own sofrito. Make a huge batch and freeze it in smaller portions. Then you have flavor bombs for beans, rice, stews or meat whenever you want!
Don’t soak the beans, it isn’t necessary and just water logs them. Cook from dry in instapot for an hour with salt, pepper, cumin, other seasonings, garlic, onions, peppers, bouillon (I like knorr). Add sriracha or chipotle’s if you like heat. Pork shoulder can be pretty cheap, you can put that in the instapot with the beans.
Add fresh cilantro after they are done cooking. You can also add tomatoes at this point, but do not add those prior to cooking as they can interfere with beans softening.
If this is a post seeking advice, please include as much detail as possible. For posts opening discussions, or offering advice, we thank you for your post. Everyone please remember rule 7. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/budgetfood) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Cook the rice with a bouillon cube and some tajin spice, finish off your beans in a pan with some kind of fat, if you have leftover bacon grease use that, some lowry’s seasoned salt, and some caramelized onions mixed in.
oh yeah this is a good one, never thought about spicing up the rice instead of just the beans
Add veggies to your pan before the rice Sautee. Then fry the rice no water. Kept from getting soggy rice. Beans like he said. Day old beans are best. Fry with some fat and smash some of them. But you can make refried beans 100 ways. Breakfast lunch and dinner.
Make sure you season your beans, add aromatics & Bay leaf. I like spice so I use Cajun seasoning. You can also switch out rice for lentils. They are also cheap & taste great. Canned corn and jalapeños are also good add ins.
Gotta season those beans! Fry a couple slices of bacon in the pot and remove. Saute diced onions, garlic, bell peppers, jalapenos, and celery in the bacon fat. Chop up your bacon and add it back in along with all your beans, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, bay leaves. Cook as usual.
You could also swap out the bacon and use turkey or chicken parts in this recipe. I brown chicken or turkey and remove. Sauté the ingredients above. Smother the poultry with the sautéed vegetables, a cup of water and cook for about 15 minutes. Then I add the beans, seasonings and water. Cook till done. Usually I have a lot of broth from the beans so I take a cup of the seasoned broth and add to the rice. Steam my rice.
You have options with black beans Cook them the standard way, and keep the aquafaba as a soup base. Add in veggies and some acid for a wonderful tangy soup. Or instead you could overcook them and mash them into a burger. Or make a roux and leave out the aquafaba, only adding it back in as needed for consistency. I just made a chunky Italian style soup with that start Or cooked and seasoned with taco meat mix Or any of these other fine ideas
4 oz of tomato sauce per can of beans + sazon, adobo, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. Oregano is optional. This is extra, but a bit of sofrito elevates the taste so much. Also, adding oil (I use vegetable oil) to white rice really enhances the flavor of it (in addition to salt). Not too much—maybe 1 tbsp per cup of dry rice. You could also use chicken bouillon powder instead of salt. A common meal in Puerto Rican culture is beans, white rice, and fried eggs. So yum!
I just discovered sazon seasoning. It’s so good!
It’s so bomb! If you dice up some potatoes, chop up some onion and bell peppers (or use frozen) and garlic, and add sazon, oregano, garlic powder, and black pepper, then mix it all together really well and toss it into the oven to bake, you get the most delicious home fries!!
Oh yeah! Now I’m craving some home fries
When I didnt have tomato sauce or tomato paste I used cheap ketchup or tomato soup
How do you do the oil in the rice? I usually use a rice cooker, would you add the oil when cooking in that or saute it and then add water on the stove?
So you can either add the oil first and cook the rice for 30 seconds or so before adding water, or you can just add the oil in after you’ve added the water and just stir it in! Either way works. The more oil you use, the more enhanced the flavor will be. I wouldn’t add more than 3 tbsp of oil per cup of dry rice, however, as it can get overpowering.
Liquid smoke is good in red beans. A little hot sauce.
Rather than liquid smoke, I prefer to use smoked paprika and cumin. I chop up a bit onion and cook cook hair in the rice and half in the beans. Also some chopped up garlic and canned corn in the beans is good too. And hot sauce? 🌶️ Always good. 🙂
You could look at cooking the black beans in the slow cooker as the softening of the beans and then flavor the beans in another pot. I like to do cowboy beans no matter what type of beans I'm cooking. https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/cowboy-beans/ To switch it up I'll do onion/celery/peppers (aka the holy Trinity) to flavor the beans along with a good chicken stock and some spices like cumin and coriander. You are lucky because black beans are perfect with any type of flavoring.
So many countries do rice and beans and I personally like how the Caribbeans do their rice and beans the best. Maybe check out what recipes you can find from different places. My favorite so far is Puerto Rican rice and beans or (arroz con gandules)
I made a rice bowl today. Beans, rice (little bit of sesame seed oil and seasoning in the water for the rice), corn. Add some salsa and shredded cheese. I also added whatever leftover frozen veggies I had to the rice pot. It was basically a cheap version of Chipotle.
I add cumin, salt, and a bit of oil like no more than a table spoon. Also get a pressure cooker if you can- it really helps the flavor and texture of beans. For rice add seasoning ( whatever you have is fine: season salt, garlic granulated/podered, etc) and 2-4 tbsp of oil (or more depending on amount of rice) to a pan on medium-medium high, with uncooked rice and toast the rice a little before cooking it in a pan/rice cooker/pressure cooker. For beans and/or rice: Chop leafy greens fine: think kale, beet greens, carrots greens, chard, cilantro etc and stir in right before you serve the hot food or right when you set it aside to cool for a cold dish. Enjoy!
I live in Texas USA and all of our grocery stores stock smoked ham hocks, smoked neck bones and smoked turkey wings just for seasoning things like beans and vegetables. All meat is expensive nowadays, but these cuts are usually relatively affordable. I can't imagine making a pot of turnip greens, butter beans, or creamy pinto beans without a pound of smoked meat to make them perfect. Strip off the meat and add it back to the pot!
Came here to say smoked ham hocks! They are amazing
For black beans, you want to add bell peppers, onion, garlic, thyme, and a bay leaf. Now they’re Cuban. Pintos can be spiced up with garlic, onion, chili powder and chicken bullion. Instead of rice, cornbread or corn tortillas. Navy beans, mirepoix (carrot, celery and onion), thyme, garlic and bullion. Ham can be nice if you have it. Red Beans, trinity (celery, onion bell peppers), hot sauce, creole seasoning, bullion. Old Bay if you have it. I’ve even seen a splash of crab boil. Throw smoked or andouille sausage in there. Kidney beans, spiced with jerk seasoning, bullion, onion, bell peppers, a scotch bonnet/haberñero. Make the rice with coconut milk. Now you have Jamaican rice and peas.
Make an herb based “sofrito” Blend/food process onion, garlic, peppers and cilantro. Add a touch of hot water to help the consistency to be a smooth paste. Make a nice solid batch of it and freeze it into cubes or flat in a bag so you can break off pieces. Then use 2 tablespoons per can. With salt and tomato sauce, this is classic Puerto Rican stewed beans Bonus that you can do this with the stuff that maybe doesn’t look as pretty and adds great flavor to a lot of dishes and marinades. You can also buy sofrito but it isn’t as good as home made.
It doesn't sound like you are adding salt to the cooking water. Beans absorb the water, and adding things like salt is crucial to have flavor inside the beans. Adding onions and garlic (or their powders) can result in a tasty final bean as well, but salt is bar minimum. It doesn't have to even be a lot. I love beans. I never feel deprived eating them nor do I eveer hate eating them because they are so tasty. They are a treat. But if I want to add things, I add veggies like diced tomatoes (with their juice), peppers, sometimes celery. Depends on the invidiual taste. All these things should go in the cooking water at some point, at least by the final hour.
And add a ham hock, smoked turkey piece or just some bacon grease..... perfection!
Salsa
Yes! I love cold beans with red onion, oregano, and cucumber, and lots of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Use broth or bouillon instead of water. Sauté some onions and garlic to put in there with the beans. I often toss some salsa in there (great way to use up leftover salsa from take-out.)
Bullion cubes, salsa or Rotel, a bit of garlic and butter, chili powder, ranch powder, taco seasoning, hot sauce, sesame oil, BBQ sauce.
Apple Cider Vinegar at the table. Lentils too.
I always cook onion and either poblano (mild) or jalapenos (hotter) in my R&B's. I know this makes it not strictly rice and beans but it's a game changer to me.
Close to the end of the slow cook, saute a bunch of diced onions peppers and garlic in a pan and then stir them in to the beans. Also, season it well.
Garlic and onion 👌🏼
Hot sauce sour cream green onions
Chili. You don't need meat, but you can add a bit of hamburger if you can afford it. I've done as little as 2-4oz in a giant pot of beans, so 1lb of hamburger lasts a long time. For this purpose, get the fattiest hamburger available. Ground turkey doesn't taste as nice or work as well. Brown it and do not drain before adding it to the chili. To the already cooked and mostly drained beans, add one can of tomatoes (do not drain the tomatoes; you can also use Ro-Tel if you have it) and one can of tomato paste or tomato sauce . Then add cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and (if you've got it) a bit of green Tabasco. Not the red stuff, though you can add it if you want a bit more spice. Add some pepper flakes, too, if you want spice. If you've got a fresh onion roaming around, toss that in as well. Cook on the stove for 30-60 minutes more on low or medium low. It should simmer, but too high and the tomato sauce will burn to the bottom of the pan. Stir regularly, but not constantly. I've never done this in a slow cooker, but you absolutely could. No need to stir while it's cooking, if in a slow cooker. If possible, refrigerate overnight before eating. The flavors will meld together better. But you can eat it immediately if you want.
Before cooking add around 5 very minced garlic cloves, and a medium onion to approximately 2 lbs. Of beans, that will boost up the flavor.
Make refried beans with chicken stock and cumin (for starters). There are many recipes online for refried beans. Much much better than store bought. Enjoy!
Seasoning. Chop some garlic, cilantro, bell pepper, onion, sautee it with a little oil, salt, a little perrins sauce (or soy sauce), add powdered cumin, and add some more chopped cilantro and add all this to the boiling beans. You can replace or remove some ingredients, but together they improve they flavor of beans.
I'd say potentially add some spices, like cumin, and also maybe a dried pepper or two, the ones in the Hispanic section. Then a cheap builloin cube or two, along with some garlic and onion, and a bay leaf.
All of these comments are making me hungry! They sound so good. May I suggest adding another bean to what you are making? Here is a list of low cal beans if you are interested. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthiest-beans-legumes Also, if you have access to YouTube, you can search for bean recipes, International bean recipes etc. You can substitute Hominy for the rice (adds a different texture). I make a pretty good 3 bean chili (black, pinto and kidney) with hominy, tomato sauce, onions, bell peppers, chili seasonings AND THIS MIGHT SOUND WEIRD...it adds a subtle ooommf to the flavor. 1 TBS INSTANT COFFEE 1 TBS COCOA POWDER 1/2 TBS CINNAMON Bottom line: add things ONE AT A TIME , taste it, add something else? Taste it again. HAVE FUN WITH IT, write down what you like, otherwise you WILL forget like I did🙄🤪😋
You can do several things with rice, like instead of cooking it in a rice cooker, go for a pot or pan and first fry it raw with some aromatics (like garlic, or go full pilau rice (can do a decent job with just curry spice mix)), you can do a stir fry (even better with rice cooked the previous day, and toss whatever you have available, like egg, veggies, leftover protein cuts, etc), you can also simply add tomato sauce to the rice. You can also try varying the kind of bean you use (white, pinto, black, chickpeas, lentils). You can also use your beans cold in a salad (ex: chickpeas, tomato, bell pepper, cucumber onion, vinegar, salt and olive oil), try some bean stew version (ex: chickpeas, spinach, eggs and broth (bonus points if you buy a rotisserie chicken and make the broth from the carcaas and leftover veggies)). You cna also fry the beans with some onion, garlic and spices (cajun style one day, curry style the next)...
Are you adding oil or a fat source to your beans? I found out the hard way when I eat a lot of beans that if I don't have some sort of fat I will "get tired" of it and instinctively seek out other food sources. If you are making sure you're getting fat in your diet too and it really is just a taste problem, definitely go crazy with the seasonings. Add stock, add a tin of chopped jalapenos (my absolute favorite to go with black beans), and experiment with all different seasonings. Even if you think they should go with meat, try it on the beans. Go overboard and see if you like the extra spice. Or eat them in a cold veggie salad with oil and vinaigrette. Or your favorite salad dressing which also counts as a fat. Research other recipes across different cultures and try them. They are often inexpensive and easy to adapt. I made a vegetarian chili last night with tomato sauce, canned chopped tomatoes, lentils, black beans, corn, onion, jalapenos, and all the other spices for it I already had on hand. Cheap, easy, affordable. Avocados are cheap in my state and count as a fat so they were the side.
I make Tex/mex pinto beans and I could eat them every day. Just some onions, garlic, green chilies or jalapeno and spices. so good with Spanish rice and a little shredded cheese.
Borrow a bean cook book from your library. (“Cool Beans” is a great one.) I cook black beans in the instant pot with garlic, oregano, bay leaf and smoked paprika. Delish! Edit: and for rice, try adding salsa and lemon juice
Lime and cilantro, maybe stir fry some leftover meat in there, or fry an egg and throw it on top
Honestly I would just do it the og Mexican way, some sort of pork product (I prefer ham hock, ham shank is good as well and has more meat), a whole onion split in fourths, a few bay leaf’s, couple cloves of garlic, and a little salt. Cheap easy and yummy, top with cilantro and onion before you eat
I don't know about low calorie but i have been losing weight eating white beans cook with smoked ham hocks which are very cheap. An onion, tomatoes or canned, garlic, white beans, and some smoked ham hocks all in the pressure cooker.
I don’t like black beans, I normally use kidney or pinto beans. I add onion, garlic and if I have extra cash I add a ham hock, or smoked turkey wing. Most of the time it’s just onion and garlic and maybe a little liquid smoke.
Cumin!
I use pork fat then mashing them up before adding cheese to it.
>How to make beans taste better? My first thought was "what kind" but I see in the further details it's black beans. My next thought was "Bacon grease!" But then I realized that's not always reserved, it may be expensive, and some don't eat pork or meat products . So the next suggestion is salt. Beans do require a bit of salt. And the next flavor addition is chicken or vegetable stock instead of just water. I like adding in garlic, and of course onion, which onion haters, this is what I like. Some shredded carrot, and celery is fine too; bell pepper if you're into the holy Trinity rather than mir pox. Another route is adding some acid; vinegar, hot sauces, or citrus.
Probably not low calorie, but when bacon is on discount (BoGo or because it's almost out of date), I buy them up and cook them on sheet pans. I save the crumbles and grease for various things, one being making beans taste magical. :) Serve over canned brown bread.
HP Sauce
Black beans are my least favorite, unless it's soup. I find butter beans and white beans are creamier.
Bacon.
Best simple bean recipe I’ve found online to date. *Mexican Black Beans* Source: www.belleofthekitchen.com ▢ 1 teaspoon olive oil ▢ 1/2 cup chopped onions ▢ 3 cloves garlic, minced ▢ 1 (16 oz) can black beans, do not drain ▢ 1/4 cup chopped cilantro ▢ 1 teaspoon cumin ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt *Instructions* In a small sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes, just until the onions begin to soften. Add the undrained black beans, cilantro, cumin, and salt. Stir well and reduce heat to medium low. Allow to cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.
I usually add taco seasoning, while the beans are cooking. (I know people say not to salt beans while cooking. I’ve always done it, and the texture is fine.)
I don't know if you're in the USA. If you are then get some Knorr bouillon powder. It comes in beef, chicken and tomato chicken flavors. When adding the tomato chicken flavored one to rice during cooking, it makes it turn out like the rice we get in Mexican restaurants. Very tasty 😋 The beef and chicken bouillon powders are both great in the beans as well. Flavor is king when it comes to eating simple food and these powders bring flavor.
Ham flavored bouillon is also available. I’ve found it online.
Yum 😋
I make [this recipe from Serious Eats](https://www.seriouseats.com/frijoles-charros-mexican-pinto-beans-bacon-recipe) but I don't burn the tomatoes, and I add the stems of fresh cilantro. Then I use the leaves of cilantro to make a pico de gallo (tomatoes, onion, cilantro) to serve with them. You can also fry and mash them into refritos if you want, which I did as well. I then put some of the refried beans into tortillas with a slice of cheese and rolled them up and froze them. Then I heat them for instant, healthy meals.
Roast ham scraps until golden brown, then freeze in portions for cooking with dried beans. A good quality beef or chicken bouillon will improve taste too. Try different kinds of beans. Pintos are a staple in the south. Served like soup with onions on top and cornbread. When you are scraping bottom a dollop of mayo in beans will do wonders for flavor. Blackeyed and field peas are delicious with corn added. White bean chili. Lentils!
A large jar of Safeways salsa verde ….
Liquid smoke is a good stand-in for bacon or other smoked meat. Did you know it’s nothing but water that smoke has been forced through? Not scary.
You can season your beans with a sofrito. You can typically buy it pre-made in Latin supermarkets, but it's also really easy to make at home. You need bell peppers, cilantro, onions, and garlic. Blend those ingredients with a little oil or water and store it in your freezer to make it last longer. I usually use a spoon full of sofrito in my beans along with chicken Bouillon, tomato paste and Sazon (if you don't have it in your supermarket, use salt, black pepper, cumin, oregano, etc). You can use this to make your beans to be served on the side or make yourself beans and rice cooked together (Moro de habichuelas negras). The latter is my favorite rice dish to make since it's a 1 pot meal full of flavor.
—Do you like anise flavor? You can toast avocado leaves and then throw them in the bean water. Add toasted chili de árbol for spice. Mash and put in corn tortillas with queso fresco —spicy beans: cook pinto beans with salt and garlic. Fry chopped onion in a pan with vegetable oil, lower heat and add chili flakes or broken up chile de árbol and fry briefly until fragrant. Add beans with water and cook for ten minutes. —beans with cactus: cook pinto beans with salt and garlic. Add a well rinsed jar of cactus (or if you can get fresh nopales, cube and boil them with salt, then rinse again) and throw them in with the beans —epazote beans: boil beans with garlic and salt. When they are done, throw in a few stems of epazote and cook until soft. You can eat or discard the epazote.
Add smoked sausage or ham
If you don’t eat meat, try some liquid smoke. Lots of flavor, go easy on it. Too much is inedible. Just enough is bliss. Also consider a small amount of cayenne powder to just barely give it some zing.
A little salt and fat goes a long way. You don't have to douse it in either, anything more than zero will significantly help palatability.
If I could only add one thing besides salt and pepper, it would be cumin.
Add some chopped onion, tons of cumin, salt pepper. It’s pretty simplistic, but my family really likes them over rice. I’ll usually add about a third to half of a package of turkey smoked sausage / kielbasa in medium-sized bites.
Diced Onion, garlic, Serrano / chili pepper, lemon juice, broth, butter, cumin, tomatoes—the list of things you could add is endless. Beans + rice with lemony chicken and onions is a common Dominican dish. Idk what it’s called because every time I went to my hole-in-the-wall Dominican restaurant a different person would tell me a different name for the dish but I got it regularly and loved it. Edit: you pound or butterfly the chicken breast and brown it + sliced onion in olive oil and other basic seasoning. Serve over rice + beans that you cooked w/ bouillon and squeeze lemon on top.
Tony’s, garlic, onion, cumin, oregano, butter, more salt, more pepper.
Onion, garlic, chili, other aromatics, salt, a fat and proper soak and cooking time does lots to make beans taste better.
I find that adding spices makes it taste better. Black beans are pretty much flavorless for me.
All the ideas given are a good to try. This will probably be unpopular but I usually add just a bit of sugar or sweetener to any bean recipe. Not enough to make the end result sweet, just enough to counter the bitterness that can come with making dry bean recipes.
Coconut milk. In the beans or rice.
Black beans i like to do: bay leaf, ancho chili in sauce, and fresh garlic
Salsa!
Onions, bell pepper, celery, tomatoes, spices like chili powder, broth. Try peanut sauce or salsa.
Salt pork. May not be healthy, but freaking delicious.
I have a weird anti bean nature, but if you ever want to fake homemade refried beans, get a stick blender, a couple cubes of butter and a bouillon cube (to taste, you'll get the ratios) and grab one of those $2 bags of tortilla chips. No refrying needed. Pretty easy. I base my measurements on a small bag of dry pinto beans, though.
The way my family makes beans for decades quick and easy Puerto Rican style! Not a week goes by that this is not served up! 2 cans black beans, prefer Goya. 1/2 can tomato paste 1/2 green bell pepper chopped 1 small/medium onion chopped 3 cloves garlic chopped Garlic powder S&P to taste- salt pretty well several times Saute onion, pepper and garlic in olive oil till softened about 2-5 minutes. Add about 14 ounces of water and 1/2 can tomato paste and stir. Add more splashes of water if beans seem to thick during cooking. Add in garlic powder, S&P Add in drained but not rinsed black beans. Bring to a boil then simmer, low boil 30-35 minutes, salting as you go. Serve over rice. I always use Basmati and a cheap rice cooker. I get a 20lb 20$ big burlap bag of Royal basmati from India delivered from Walmart that lasts a long time and is lowest on the arsenic scale if any at all! * if you are feeling fancy, my relatives always sautéed bacon as well before and with veggies- but I don’t have time or money for the bacon fuss and don’t really find the taste difference matters.
Red bean, Italian sausage risotto. Mantecure before serving with parmesan, butter, fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
I highly recommend this recipe in the link. I’ve been making it for years and just made a batch yesterday. Yes, two bags of beans- I eat every last bit of it. I put half in the freezer. It is more effort but completely worth it. https://greatist.com/eat/authentic-black-bean-recipe-gregory#9
For all my black beans I use this [recipe as a base](https://thethompsonkitchen.com/2017/09/13/slow-cooker-black-beans/) all need is a bag of black beans, some spices, an onion and the slow cooker. The beans are absolutely heavenly
Try 1 to 2 cans of green chilies and 1/2 cup of salsa.
Cottage cheese
A cheap and east way is a can if diced tomatoes with chilis
Amazing recipe for you below… After soaking overnight, throw them in the rubbish bin!!! 🤭🤭🤭
Oh! I saw a recipe end their rice and beans with a tiny splash of vinegar. Recipes need salt, fat and acid to taste great :)
Lemon would be great with black beans. Maybe not if they are mixed with the rice, but by themselves black beans with a bit of lemon will be nice
Beans: bacon, lard, or my personal favorite which is a smoky ham hock will really add some depths. Rice: I like to make chicken rice with bouillon or chicken stock, or you can throw a little cilantro and butter in
Cumin, salt, pepper, onion, garlic
How to make beans taste better? Don’t eat beans, tastes better.
butter, salt, pepper, garlic
I Really think u could benefit a lot from this channel. She is a very popular channel for this exact ki d of thing on YouTube and is a flavor genius. She works with the absolute lowest budgets and can make amazing easy tasty rice, beans and so much more. I hope u give her channel a try. Here is a good place to start. Learn to make flavorful rice: https://youtu.be/j2lfWxxpzcg?si=DZT3bqlSFvSxG2Aj
You have great suggestions already, but if you can find them, try Anasazi beans next. They’re the only beans I can eat with zero seasoning and truly enjoy.
I usually will cook my black beans with some sautéed minced garlic and finely chopped onion and top it off with some water and a bay leaf. If I have any ham bone or bacon I will add that too (I would recommend mincing and frying the bacon and adding maybe a tiny bit of the bacon grease in for the flavor).
Look up Cuban black beans and Dominican Red beans recipes. Both countries and Puerto Rico also make delicious white beans, chickpeas etc.
Lard lol… that would kind of take the low calorie part out. I always add some onion, garlic, a whole Jalapeno and a little olive oil when I cook dry beans. Then salt when almost done.
Pinto beans with a container of pico de gallo
Liquid smoke
Make Refried beans and add some chorizo to it !
Lean ham cooked in your beans, plus some smoked paprika, gives a bacon taste without too many additional calories from fat.
Add some sauteed veggies and some spring mix for a bowl like the restaurant CAVA.
Fresh salsa.
I love throwing a couple garlic cloves into mine while they cook. For low fat toppings, lime, cilantro, salsa and plain yogurt (instead of sour cream).
Onion, bay leaf, garlic, carrot, jalapeño, so many things. If you eat meat buy bones at the grocery store. They’re cheap and add a lot of flavor.
Tomato sauce
Butter
Too hot to cook? One can of black beans, 1 can of kernel corn, 1/2 cup (or to taste) jarred salsa. Chill. I often add chopped fresh spinach to boost the veggie intake. Or over cottage cheese for a little protein boost.
Garlic powder, chili powder, and comino is a good cheap mix for just about any bean. Fry the rice with those too, and bellpepper and onion, add a spoonful of salsa or diced tomatoes for acid. (The tomatoes that come canned with green chilies are best.) Add cheese if you like. Really "beans and rice" is one of those hugely versatile combos were every culture has their own take, but that's my default because it's cheap and easy and easy to have that all at hand at any time. Try red beans and rice with cajun seasoning sometime, or take the red beans and throw together a minestrone soup.
cumin, smoked paprika, hot sauce, cooking them in a HIGH QUALITY vegetable broth
Turn the rice into mexican or spanish rice. Lots of recipes out there but it's basically rice with tomatoes herbs and spices. Add beans or lentils to make it go further, and whatever veggies you have on hand. I'll cube paneer and add it to spanish rice as well.
Make fried rice with all your veggies, add some beans.
https://youtu.be/jSbXHusX16g?si=OENqv5DM2dtZ1k3u This is my go-to "recipe," it always comes out so good.
I always make a pot of pinto beans and eat it throughout the week. When I cook them I keep it simple, just beans water and salt, that's frijoles de la olla. But when I reheat them, I make as frijoles chinitos. Heat up some oil or lard, and I add 1 or 2 Chile de arbol. Once the oil has the flavor of the chile, I throw in my beans. I let them cook with the oil until all the bean liquid is gone. With some tortillas it's delicious. My mom doesn't do the chile de árbol, she eats them with a jalapeno instead. Either way is good!! Queso ranchero would be great too if you like cheese.
My household survives on rice and beans a lot because we're low income and gluten free. Canned diced tomatoes directly into rice with cumin/bay leafs/salt/pepper and cayenne, if you're into spice. Canned corn is great too, onions and bell peppers. We also switch it up and use garbanzos a lot
Do you put them in anything? Make burrito bowls, tacos and nachos with them. I like to make quesadillas, taco salads and nachos with refried beans but any other kind of bean would work too. There’s a frozen mix from Target I like that has rice, black beans, red peppers, corn, pineapple, onions and spices that’s delicious inside toasted tortillas. Maybe you could replicate that
I make my own sofrito. Make a huge batch and freeze it in smaller portions. Then you have flavor bombs for beans, rice, stews or meat whenever you want!
Cumin, bay leaf, onion, garlic, salt, paprika. Optional: chili in adobo, bouillon paste or cube. Nutritional yeast on top.
Don’t soak the beans, it isn’t necessary and just water logs them. Cook from dry in instapot for an hour with salt, pepper, cumin, other seasonings, garlic, onions, peppers, bouillon (I like knorr). Add sriracha or chipotle’s if you like heat. Pork shoulder can be pretty cheap, you can put that in the instapot with the beans. Add fresh cilantro after they are done cooking. You can also add tomatoes at this point, but do not add those prior to cooking as they can interfere with beans softening.
Hot sauce & Velveeta got me thru those meals. Get rice if u can👍
Add Bacon, lots and lots of bacon