Bolita Beans, give them a try with this hearty bolita bean beef soup. This soup uses beef stew meat, and spoiler alert, there’s red wine involved for a special complex flavor.
The Bolita Bean
Inspired by a snow storm, this soup made excellent use of that remaining half bag of Bolita Beans in the pantry.
I buy dried beans from the farm markets east of Denver. Bolita Beans are grown in Colorado in the Southwest Corner of our state and distributed by Adobe Creek Milling. If you can’t find them, I’ve provided an Affiliate Link for your convenience.
What Are Bolita Beans?
But what’s the difference between Bolita and Pinto beans? They look similar to Pinto beans, a bit smaller and creamier in texture and they seem to absorb every single spice flavor you cook them with.
The bolita bean is believed to have been cultivated and developed by the Spanish who settled in northern New Mexico. An heirloom bean, the bolita bean is considered to be sweeter, richer tasting and easier on the stomach than the pinto bean.
Bolitas cook faster, are excellent tasting and may be substituted for the pinto in any recipe.
Cooking Bolita Beans In the Crock Pot
For this bean soup, I cooked just shy of two cups dried beans with about five cups of water and a heaping tablespoon of lard in the crockpot until they were tender. Depending on how fresh your beans are, depends on the cooking time. Expect 5 – 8 hours.
Soaking beans. I’ve done both. I’ve soaked beans in water over night before cooking in the crock pot, and I’ve not soaked them. Either way, they’ll cook up beautifully.
Soft and aromatic they were ready to be added to the lineup of ingredients for this soup. Hearty, stick to your ribs and packed full of flavor.
Recipe For Bolita Bean Soup with Beef
This soup relies on red wine to boost the flavor. The recipe would also work well with Kidney, Calico, or Pinto Beans. One cup of beans will yield two cups of cooked beans.
I’ve also used bolita beans as a side dish in the recipe for Bolitas with Red Wine, Smoked Paprika and Jalapeno. DEElicious.
I hope you give this Bolita Beans soup recipe a try, and if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating, and leave a comment about your experience with the recipe.
And if you have a favorite recipe using bolita beans, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
In the bean soup mood? Take a look at my:
Best Bean Soup Recipes
- Easy Black Bean Soup with Ham
- Southwestern Chicken and Bean Soup
- Great Northern White Bean Soup with Bacon
- Potato Soup with Mayocoba Beans
More Beef Soup Recipes
And if you love making soups as much as we do here On The Ranch, don’t miss my Soup and Stew Category You’ll find a ton of great recipes. Including the most popular stew recipe on my site for Anthony Bourdain’s New Mexico Beef Chili.
Bolita Bean and Beef Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 green bell peppers stemmed, seeded and diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper stemmed, seeded and diced
- 1 red bell pepper stemmed, seeded and diced
- 2 leaves ribs celery with diced
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 pound beef stew meat cut into bite sized pieces
- All purpose flour enough to coat meat
- 3 1/2 cups cooked Bolita Beans
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon Pickapeppa or Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried Summer Savory
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- a pinch of hot chile powder I used hot green ancho
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 quart chicken stock
- 2 cups hearty red wine
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- Sour cream or plain yogurt for garnish.
Instructions
- In a 10 inch skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until soft. About 3 minutes. Add the bell peppers and celery and sauté another 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in the beans, honey, Pickapeppa or Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, summer savory, basil, cloves, hot pepper, salt and pepper.
- Toss the cubes of steak with flour and shake off access flour. In another large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of oil and brown beef on both sides. In a large heavy stock pot, bring the chicken stock, wine, tomato paste to a boil. Add the browned beef and simmer on low for 30 minutes. Stir in the bean mixture, turn down heat to very low and let simmer partially covered until the flavors are blended. About 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream.
Nutrition
Bolita Bean and Beef Soup with Wine …It’s what’s for Dinner.
As the bolita beans soup simmered on the stove top, Kim with Roamin’ Baths, our mobile groomer, set up shop out front to clean up the pups.
This is puppy Remy’s first groom and he came through with flying colors. Didn’t seem any worse for the wear.
And speaking of coiffed dogs, we attended the Denver Dog show last Saturday at the National Western Sports Complex and I took some photos of the contenders. This is my favorite shot of the day. It’s in need of a great caption.
A trip to the dog show wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Cattleman’s Grill. You stand in line with your plastic tray and grab a cheeseburger that’s hot off the flaming flat top grill. The cafeteria style restaurant, located inside Denver’s National Western Stock Show Complex, serves an array of Western and BBQ food and seats quite a crowd.
Grab as many dill pickles as you can teeter on the small flimsy paper plate and find a seat at the family style tables. Complete with plastic checkered table cloths it’s a great lunch.
