Southern Style Slow Cooker Pinto Beans

Super Bowl Sunday is this weekend and everyone and anyone that is a red blooded American that loves football is going to be sitting around a large screen t.v. watching two teams battle it out. But not only is this Sunday about the football game, it's all about the food. It's like Thanksgiving, except with football, snack foods, and beer. What can be better than that? How about a "bowl" of southern style slow cooker pinto beans! It's satisfyingly delicious and it's better than a boring bowl of chips and dip. If you're down with a day of battling it out on the grid iron and gluttony, then throw on your jerseys and stretch pants and come join the party. It's going to be deliciously fun!

When it comes to the Super Bowl, it's all about snack foods right? Well, here in the South and especially in Alabama, it's about anything with pork or beans. Snack foods are great, but beans and pork is where it's at. A warm bowl of beans with a certain type of meat is very flavorful and very satisfyingly fulfilling, and it keeps you warm on those cold Super Bowl Sunday night's.  It's way better than snacking on a bowl of chips and dip. Every year my family has made a chili for Super Bowl Sunday. But this year, I thought why not do something different? I thought a warm bowl of pinto beans would be just as good. It's what we make during regular football season anyway, so why not? It keeps you full so you won't have to go back to the fridge to snack on anything else. Serve it with some corn bread and a beer and you are good to go.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb of pinto beans
1 medium onion (sliced)
1 tsp.of minced garlic
1/2 tsp. of cumin
1/2 tsp. of cayenne
1/2 tsp. of paprika
2-3 bay leaves
6 cups of water or chicken broth
1 tbsp. of bacon fat or 1 ham hock
Salt and pepper to taste

First thing I did was put 1 package (1 pound) of pinto beans and poured it into a colander and rinse them to make sure they were completely clean of any debris. Then poured the beans into a pan and covered them with water, at least 2 inches above. Bring them to a boil for about 2 minutes. Turn the heat off, put the lid on and let them soak for at least an hour. This is called the quick soaking method. Now if you want to soak them for longer, do the same method except let them soak for at least 4 hours or over night.

Meanwhile, while I was soaking my beans, I took my medium sweet onion and sliced it into rings. Placed them into the bottom of my crockpot.

After my beans were completely soaked, I drained, rinsed, and poured them into the crockpot. Put my seasonings in, 1/2 tsp. of cayenne, 1/2 tsp. of cumin, 1/2 tsp. of paprika, 1 tsp. of minced garlic, and 3 bay leaves, Salt and pepper to taste. Pour about 6 cups of water or chicken broth in and cover it with a ham hock. Put the lid on the crock pot and let it rip for at least 4-6 hours on high or 7-9 hours on low. I prefer low and slow.

About 30 minutes before it's done cooking, take your ham hock out and place it on a cutting board and shred it and put it back into the crock pot. *Omit this step if you used bacon fat.

After finishing cooking, turn crock pot off and serve into bowl with corn bread.

There you have it, southern style slow cooker pinto beans! Serve this at your Super Bowl party instead of those boring chips and dip and you are sure to have yourself a touch down.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Now take a bite and Enjoy!