Frijoles puercos (free-HOH-lehs PWEHR-kohs, roughly “pork-style beans”) are what happens when refried beans meet a skillet of bacon and Mexican chorizo. The beans are puréed, fried in the red, spicy fat the chorizo releases, and finished with melted cheese and pickled jalapeños, so they come out brick-orange, thick enough to scoop and much richer than anything from a can. In northern Mexico they are served hot as a dip with tortilla chips or as a side for grilled steak. Below: which beans and which chorizo to buy in a US or UK supermarket, the frying order, how to fix the texture, and how much to make for a party.
What are frijoles puercos?
How do you make frijoles puercos? Blend 1¾ lb (800 g) of cooked pinto beans with 1 cup (250 ml) of their liquid. In a little lard, cook 5 oz (150 g) of bacon for 7 minutes, add 9 oz (250 g) of crumbled Mexican chorizo for 5 minutes, then the onion, then the beans, stirring for 12 minutes until thick. Finish with Chihuahua or Monterey Jack cheese and pickled jalapeños. Ready in 40 minutes for 8 servings.
They are a dish of northern and northwestern Mexico, above all Sinaloa, Sonora and Chihuahua, and several other states claim them too. Lard, bacon and chorizo all come from the pig, which is where the “puercos” comes in.
Three dishes get confused with them:
- Refried beans are the base: mashed beans fried in lard, with no meat or cheese. Frijoles puercos are refried beans fully loaded.
- Charro beans also have bacon and chorizo, but the beans stay whole in a tomato and chile broth and you eat them from a bowl with a spoon. Frijoles puercos are thick enough to spread.
- Frijol con puerco from Yucatán is a different dish altogether: black beans stewed with pork ribs and served with a tomato and habanero sauce.
Honest difficulty, easy. The only part that needs your attention is the last 12 minutes, stirring so the beans don’t catch.
Mexican chorizo vs Spanish chorizo, and why it matters here
This is the one ingredient that decides whether the dish works.
Mexican chorizo is fresh and raw: ground pork seasoned with dried chiles, spices and vinegar, sold in a casing or loose in a tray. You squeeze it out, crumble it into the pan, and it releases a lot of red fat. That fat is what colours and flavours the beans. Because it is raw pork, cook it until no pink remains; ground pork is safe at 160°F (71°C).
Spanish chorizo is cured: a firm, dry sausage seasoned with smoked paprika, ready to slice and eat. If you use it here, it won’t crumble, it releases far less fat, and the beans end up tasting of smoked paprika, with chewy cubes instead of fine crumbs. It still tastes fine, but it isn’t frijoles puercos.
| Mexican chorizo | Spanish chorizo | |
|---|---|---|
| Raw or cured | Raw, must be cooked | Cured, ready to eat |
| In the pan | Crumbles, releases lots of red fat | Stays in firm pieces, little fat |
| Flavour | Chile and vinegar | Smoked paprika, garlic |
| Result in this dish | Brick-orange, evenly seasoned | Paler, smoky, chunky |
- In the US, Mexican chorizo is in almost every supermarket, in the meat case or the Latin aisle. Check the label: it should say pork and be raw.
- In the UK, most supermarket chorizo is the Spanish cured kind. Look for Mexican chorizo from online Mexican grocers or specialist butchers. If you can’t find it, fresh cooking chorizo is closer than the cured sausage; dice it fine, add 1 extra tablespoon of lard and 1 tablespoon of the jalapeño brine to bring back some of the vinegar sharpness.
Ingredients and swaps
| Ingredient | Metric | US | Notes and swaps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooked beans, drained | 800 g | 1¾ lb, about 4¾ cups | Pinto, or bayo and peruano from a Latin grocery; 3 cans |
| Bean liquid or water | 250-375 ml | 1-1½ cups | Cooking liquid tastes better |
| Lard | 26 g | 2 tbsp | Bacon fat works |
| Bacon | 150 g | 5 oz, 5 slices | UK: smoked streaky bacon |
| Mexican chorizo | 250 g | 9 oz | See above |
| Melting cheese | 150 g | 5 oz, 1⅓ cups shredded | Chihuahua, Monterey Jack, asadero; UK: mild cheddar plus mozzarella |
| Pickled jalapeños | 30 g | ¼ cup | Plus 2 tbsp brine |
| Green olives | 40 g | 15 olives | Optional |
Which beans, and are canned beans fine?
In Sinaloa and Sonora the usual choices are peruano beans (also sold as mayocoba or canario, pale yellow) and bayo, light brown. Both have thin skins and blend smooth. Pinto beans work just as well and are what most cooks north of the border use. Black beans turn the dish dark and earthier; it stops tasting like the original.
Canned beans are fine here. Three 15 oz (425 g) cans give about 1¾ lb drained. Drain and rinse them, and blend with water instead of cooking liquid. They miss the flavour of homemade bean broth, but the chorizo and bacon cover most of it. Canned beans are salted, so don’t add salt until you have tasted the finished dish. To cook your own, about 12 oz (350 g) of dried beans gives the 1¾ lb you need; the method is in the frijoles de la olla recipe.
The cheese
Chihuahua cheese (also called queso menonita) is the classic: mild, melts smoothly with a little stretch. Monterey Jack is the easiest swap in the US. In the UK, half mild cheddar and half low-moisture mozzarella melts close to it. Crumbly cheeses like cotija or feta don’t melt; scatter them on top when serving.
Pickled jalapeños, olives and extras
The pickled jalapeños bring heat and an acidity that cuts through the fat, which is why their brine goes in too. Many home cooks in Sinaloa and Sonora add sliced green olives; some add diced ham with the chorizo or a chipotle in adobo for smokiness. None of them are required.
Equipment
A heavy 11 in (28 cm) skillet or wide pot, a blender or potato masher, and a flat spatula that reaches the bottom. A thin pan scorches the beans before they thicken; if that is all you have, use lower heat and give it more time.
How to make frijoles puercos, step by step
- Bacon in the lard, 7 minutes over medium heat. It renders and browns. If the chorizo goes in first, the bacon stays soft and rubbery inside the beans.
- Chorizo, 5 minutes, crumbled. It fries in the bacon fat and adds its own red fat. Cook until no pink is left and some bits have browned.
- Onion, 4 minutes, until translucent, so it isn’t raw inside the beans.
- Bean purée, 12 minutes over medium-low heat. It bubbles and spits at first; lower the heat if you need to. Scrape the bottom every minute.
- Cheese, jalapeños and olives, 2 minutes over the lowest heat. The cheese melts in the heat already in the pan. A hard boil after this point makes it split and turn greasy.
How much fat to leave. Between the lard, bacon and chorizo there is a fair amount of fat in the pan, and it belongs there: it fries the beans and gives them their shine. If you see more than 4 tablespoons of loose fat before the beans go in, spoon some out.
How to get the texture right, and fix it
You want a thick, spreadable purée that slides slowly off a spoon rather than pouring. In the pan, a spatula dragged across the bottom leaves a clear trail for about 1 second before it closes, and a little fat starts to shine around the edges.
- Too thick, like paste → add hot liquid 2 tablespoons at a time, stirring, until it loosens. This almost always happens when reheating.
- Too runny → keep cooking over medium-low heat, stirring, 3 to 4 minutes more. Remember the cheese and resting thicken it.
- Stuck to the bottom → don’t scrape up the burnt layer. Move the top part into a clean pan without stirring and carry on there; scorched beans taste bitter.
- Greasy → spoon the fat off the surface, or stir in a little more puréed bean.
- Too salty → the salt comes from the chorizo, bacon, cheese and jalapeños. Stir in more unsalted bean purée, and next time hold the salt until the end.
Heat level. Mild to medium, 2 out of 5, from the jalapeños and chorizo. For kids, use half the jalapeños and serve the rest on the side. Allergens: milk (cheese). Some chorizos contain wheat or soy fillers; check the label for coeliac or soy allergies.
Frijoles puercos for a party
The recipe makes about 3⅓ lb (1.5 kg), roughly 6 cups. As a side with grilled meat I count ¾ cup per person; as a dip with chips and other food on the table, ½ cup.
| As a side, people | As a dip, people | Cooked beans | Bacon | Chorizo | Cheese | Liquid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 12 | 800 g (1¾ lb) | 150 g (5 oz) | 250 g (9 oz) | 150 g (5 oz) | 1-1½ cups |
| 16 | 24 | 1.6 kg (3½ lb) | 300 g (10 oz) | 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) | 300 g (10 oz) | 2-3 cups |
| 32 | 48 | 3.2 kg (7 lb) | 600 g (1⅓ lb) | 1 kg (2¼ lb) | 600 g (1⅓ lb) | 4-6 cups |
For more than 16 people, use a wide, heavy pot and allow about 20 minutes extra for the beans to thicken. You can make them the day before, then reheat with liquid on the day and stir in the cheese at the end.
Food safety at a party. Don’t leave them out of the heat for more than 2 hours (1 hour if it is above 90°F / 32°C outside). For a long party, keep them in a slow cooker on the warm setting, or put out a small bowl and refill it.
Serving, storing and reheating
As a dip, serve them hot in the pan or a deep bowl with tortilla chips, a little crumbled cotija and sliced jalapeños. As a side, they go with carne asada, homemade flour tortillas, guacamole and salsa. They also make a good spread for tortas and tostadas. If the chorizo has you hooked, the same crumble-and-fry method is behind Mexican chorizo and eggs.
- Fridge → 3 to 4 days in a covered container. Refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking.
- Freezer → 2 to 3 months, ideally in flat freezer bags. The cheese can turn a little grainy after thawing; if you plan to freeze, add the cheese when you reheat.
- Reheating → on the hob over medium-low heat with 2 to 3 tablespoons of liquid per cup, stirring until steaming hot all the way through, 165°F (74°C). In the microwave, covered, in 1-minute bursts, stirring in between.
Cold, they set almost solid. That is normal.
Frijoles puercos FAQ
Can I use canned refried beans? Yes. Use about 1¾ lb (800 g), cook the bacon, chorizo and onion the same way, then add the refried beans and loosen them with water 2 tablespoons at a time. They are already salted, so taste before adding any.
Blended or mashed? Either. Blended gives a smooth dip, which is the usual style in Sinaloa and Sonora for eating with chips. Mashed gives a rustic texture with bits of bean.
Can I make them in a slow cooker? Not the frying: the bacon and chorizo need a hot pan to brown. Fry everything on the stove, then move the beans to a slow cooker to keep them warm for the party.
Frijoles puercos nutrition
Per serving, one of 8, made with home-cooked beans, all the fat left in the pan, no olives, no added salt and no chips:
- Calories: 413 kcal
- Protein: 21 g
- Carbohydrates: 29 g
- Fat: 24 g, including 10 g saturated
- Fibre: 9 g
- Sugars: 1 g
- Sodium: 555 mg
About 245 mg of the sodium comes from the chorizo, 140 mg from the bacon and 110 mg from the cheese. With canned beans, sodium rises to about 790 mg per serving, and the olives add roughly 80 mg more.
I live in Colombia, where Mexican chorizo isn’t in every shop, so the first time I made these I used the local fresh chorizo. They tasted good, but they were pale and missing the sharpness. The colour and the background flavour come from the chile and vinegar in Mexican chorizo, and now, when I can’t find it, a spoonful of jalapeño brine and a chipotle get me most of the way there. Josnaisis.