Reviewed: Feb. 9, 2012

Recipe as-is tastes a little bland. I've made this twice now. The second trial I ended up adding Penzy's "Arizona Dreaming" plus cumin and chili powder. That did the trick for our family. Do yourself a favor and only add beer you enjoy drinking, since it really stands out in this dish.

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Reviewer:

Ad-lib Cook

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Waldorf, Maryland, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 31, 2012

I'm going to give this recipe 4+ stars, mainly for the lack of direction on prepping the dried beans. The taste of charro beans is very personal, and it varies from region to region. I was leery of 3.5 ounces of jalapeno peppers, so I put in a 4 ounce can of mild chopped green chilies and 1 fresh jalapeno, minced and seeded. This is enough heat for us. Other than that, I followed the recipe ingredients, but I par-boiled my beans and prepared them on the stove top, adding the salt last, and I did not saute the chopped onions, but put them directly into the beans, saving us the extra fat calories. I also added 1 tsp. ground cumin and a few turns of the peppermill. I don't usually add tomatoes to my beans, so this will be a nice change. Thanks, Kim.

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Reviewer:

Bibi

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Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA

Living In: San Antonio, Texas, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 22, 2012

Do not add salt until the final few minutes of cooking. Salt makes the beans shell become hard and therefore do not cook well (old Mexican cook told me this secret), also do not add salty items such as bacon or salt pork (as in some recipes) until the beans are cooked nearly completely. But when done"right" the recipe and beans are great.

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Reviewer:

gunny

Reviewed: Jan. 10, 2012

This bean soup recipe was delicious, just what I wanted. I made quite a few changes to the recipe as follows. Quick soak the beans according to the package instructions before putting them, garlic, and salt into the slow cooker. Cook the beans on high for two hours before adding sauteed bacon, onion, one drained can tomatoes, one pack sazon goya, and 2 jalapenos. Continue to cook on high for another 2 hours. Turn the heat down to low, add half a can of budweiser beer and the chopped cilantro to cook for an additional half hour. Before serving, brighten the soup's flavor by adding a squeeze of lime and a few fresh cilantro leaves to each bowl. The beans were cooked through and yummy!

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Reviewer:

Izodlacosta

Reviewed: Dec. 3, 2011

I love this recipe-- it reminds me of the soup served at one of my favorite childhood restaurants. I made some changes because of what I had on hand and the fact that I had already started a crockpot of beans with a can of rotel when I found this recipe. So I omitted the fresh tomatoes and I used some fresh frozen jalepenos I had instead of the canned. I left out the beer. The fresh cilantro is a MUST, it really makes this soup stand out. I also cooked these beans on low all day (about 8-10 hours) and they turned out fine. I will be making this again!

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Reviewer:

MBTX4

Reviewed: Oct. 17, 2011

I really liked the earthy, smokey flavors of this dish. The directions, however, are really more for cooking beans on the stove top in a heavy dutch oven. If using a slow cooker: Soak your beans overnight first (which I would do for ANY dry bean recipe) and plan on cooking the bean on high for several hours before adding the rest of your ingredients. Decilicious recipe - just don't think that it will be ready in five hours if you don't soak your beans.

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Reviewer:

Rigby

Reviewed: Aug. 29, 2011

did not add the beer and added 1 cube of knorr beef broth....came out perfect!

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Reviewer:

mida77

Reviewed: Aug. 8, 2011

I like spicy, but these were too much. I could have dealt with the heat, but the beer flavor was MUCH too strong. I used a porter, so maybe it was too heavy a beer.

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Reviewer:

Carol

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Madison, Mississippi, USA

Reviewed: Jun. 26, 2011

These took a little longer than expected. Next time I will leave myself 6 hrs or more in order to ensure they are done in time. BUT they turned out great! I only had pre-minced garlic so I used 2.5 tsp instead of chopping the garlic cloves. I will make these again to show off my skills to the family : )

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Reviewer:

STACII24

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Mariposa, California, USA

Living In: New Athens, Illinois, USA

Reviewed: May 30, 2011

I made this yesterday and it turned out pretty good. I did use fresh jalapenos, a small (7oz) bottle of Corona and a can of diced tomatoes instead. I also substituted Knorr chicken with tomato boullian for some of the water. The beans I had must have been fresh since it only took about 3 hours on High and 2 hours on Low in crock pot. I was worried about the beans after reading a lot of the reviews, that's why so long on high. This all tasted very very good but I was looking more for the Boracho (sp) beans I used to get at some restaurants in San Antonio. I'll keep looking. But I'll use this recipe again. The beans were that good!

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