Bolita Beans simmered in red wine, smoked paprika, sweet bell pepper and garnished with crisp rings of fresh jalapeno. A delicious side dish for a Mexican Dinner.
Out of sheer curiosity I purchased a package of Bolita Beans at LuLu’s Market in Brighton. Once home with my mysterious bag of beans, I Googled and found this out about the Bolita Bean.
What Are Bolita Beans?
Spanish settlers to the northern New Mexican region initially presented the Bolita Bean to North America. The bean was incorporated into much of the American Indian food traditions in the Four Corners region.
With its high protein content and its general ease on the stomach, the Bolita Bean became an important crop, quickly becoming extensively cultivated throughout the American southwest. The beans are deep, pinkish-beige, almost salmon in color, and boast a taste richer in flavor than the Pinto bean, to which it is often compared. Unfortunately, because of this easy association, the Bolita Bean often looses out to the pinto bean in sales.
The beans are packaged by Adobe Milling, here in Dove Creek, Colorado. But where the heck is Dove Creek anyway? Well come to find out it’s the county seat of Dolores County in the Southwestern corner of our state.
With a population 698 it’s also the most populated town in Dolores County. Dove Creek is the self-proclaimed Pinto Bean Capital of the World. Well who knew!
How to Cook Bolita Beans
So what to do with these beans? Treating them like my Cowboy Beans, I simply rinsed one cup of beans, picked out the misfits and dumped them in the crockpot.
I always like to add a tablespoon of lard to the slow cooker to give them even a creamier consistency. I covered the beans with two cups water and turned them on low for an all day cook.
And while we’re on the subject of quick bean side dish recipes, you might want to take a look at these Mexican Chorizo Instant Pot Pinto Beans.
Odd for our house, we had a partial bottle of red wine leftover, so when I arrived home, I added about ½ cup full-bodied red wine, one teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ onion chopped, one clove garlic chopped, ½ chocolate bell pepper chopped (or any sweet bell pepper), one jalapeno pepper chopped, one teaspoon, or more, of cumin, one teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg. After about an hour more of steeping in the crockpot, I gave them a good dose of salt before serving.
I found these rich colored Chocolate Bell Peppers at Berry Patch Farms in Brighton. Sweet, juicy, heirloom, just as the sign says, “who can resist?”
Incredible with flavor, the beans were creamy and the end result was an earthy pungent side dish that we loved. With the paprika, red wine and the chocolate bell peppers, the color was stunning.
Where to buy Bolita Beans in Colorado
The most reliable source to buy Bolita beans in Colorado or to order them nationwide is straight from the source. Adobe Milling in Dove Creek, Colorado.
The Colorado dry bean industry has been a global supplier of edible dry beans for more than 60 years. Growers partner with several dealers to produce and ship over $30 million of beans annually. 85% of Colorado bean crops consists of Pinto Beans.
Colorado pinto beans are known for their bright color and creamy texure. These characteristics increase their value compared to other pinto beans grown in the United States and imports from other countries.
Recipe for Bolita Beans with Red Wine, Smoked Paprika and Jalapeno
I hope you give this Recipe for Bolita Beans a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes. And if you have a favorite bean side dish recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try. And if you can’t find bolita beans for purchase, you can use Anasazi beans or even pinto beans for this recipe.
Looking for more dried beans recipes? You won’t want to miss:
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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Bolita Beans with Red Wine, Smoked Paprika and Jalapeno
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried bolita beans
- 1 Tablespoon lard
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 clove garlic chopped chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped
- 1 dash cinnamon
- 1 dash nutmeg
- ½ cup full-bodied red wine
- ½ onion chopped
- ½ chocolate bell pepper chopped, or any sweet bell pepper,
- 1-2 jalapeno pepper, divided chopped. Stemmed and seeded if you wish to reduce heat.
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Rinse and pick through beans to remove any misfits. Place the beans in the crockpot. Cover with enough water to cover beans by 1 – 2 inches. Place the lid on the crockpot and let the beans soak overnight.
- The next morning, drain beans.
- Add a nice scoop of lard to the beans in the crockpot and add 2 cups water. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or until beans are tender.
- Stir in cumin, paprika, garlic, thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, wine, onion and bell pepper. Remove stem and seeds from jalapeno (only if you want less heat) Chop half and add to beans and save the other half to garnish beans. Cover and continue to cook in crockpot for one hour.
- Add salt and stir well. To serve plate and garnish with rings of jalapeno pepper.
Nutrition
Bolita Beans with Red Wine, Smoked Paprika and Jalapeño …It’s What’s for a Side Dish.
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
After purchasing the Bolita Beans from a local farmers mkt., I fortunately found your website! Thank you, for thoughtful and successful suggestions to using these flavorful beans! They were delicious, creamy and easy.
Some friends gave me Bolita beans and I made this recipe yesterday. Actually, I was warned to soak them for a long time and I ended up soaking them for 2 days. I cooked them in the slow cooker for 12 hours! I added andouille sausage and used red bell pepper. I have never heard of chocolate bell peppers. Where do you buy those? I served them with rice and just cooked broccoli. It was a hit!
Hi Lise. Those chocolate bell peppers were purchased years ago at an organic farm near Brighton. I’ve never seen them for sale since. They were beautiful with color and quite the find. A red bell pepper will work as well. I’ll change the recipe to reflect a substitute.
Nuanced flavors that were reminiscent of my former life in western Colorado. Wonderful recipe. Thanks so much.
I love Bolita Beans. Way better than the Pinto which is way over rated. I will never cook another Pinto. I live in Cortez, Co so Dove Creek is only 30 minutes away. You should try the Zuni Gold those are so yummy. You can use the Bolita just as you would a Pinto but the flavor is way better.
I’m so glad to hear from you. When I posted this and to this day, I feared I was the only one who knew about Bolita Beans. This year, our market in Brighton didn’t have any, I’ll have to order them straight from them. I’d love to try those Zuni Gold. Thanks for the tip.
I so love beans like this! Not surprisingly, there are no Bolitos in this neck of the woods, so I’m going to try it with pintos. Thanks!
Beans and wine — wow! Sounds super interesting. I’ve never heard of this bean variety. Great sounding recipe — yummy!
If I had just one wish to span all the food blogs I subscribe to it would be: Can you please give a recipe that is printer ink & paper friendly that is clickable. I really like to read the comments & a picture of the dish is sometimes nice, but it uses so much ink & paper that I am constantly getting into trouble with my husband for wasting resources like printer ink which is very expensive & paper. I now print on both sides of the page, but he still complains if it takes more than 1 sheet to print a recipe. This looks very good, I will have to order the beans online but we will sure try them. We love beans and they are diabetic friendly in moderation. tysm
I’ve never heard of chocolate bell peppers before, they look so cool! This recipe sounds amazing, great job 🙂
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
I’m glad winter is around the corner… love to put beans in the crockpot. I’ve never heard of chocolate bell peppers… they sound good!
I love your cowboy beans, so I’m on the hunt for bolitos now!
After looking at Dove Creek, we went thru there on our way from Moab to Durango and it didn’t even register. Maybe I should do a little more research from now on as I would have ended up with a few pounds of Bolito’s.
looks like a great dish Lea Ann and now I’m off to research them and Dove Creek.
These look great! I bet they tasted amazing!!
As a southerner, we love our beans so I’m a big fan. They are so pretty. I’ll have to keep my eye out for them in a specialty store. Love all of the flavor you’ve packed into this recipe Lea Ann.
Sam