Cuban Black Beans
Updated May 8, 2025
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
- Total Time
- About 2 hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 ½ green peppers, stemmed and seeded
10 garlic cloves
1 pound dried black beans, rinsed and picked over to remove any stones
1 smoked ham hock
2 bay leaves
5 teaspoons salt, or to taste
¼ cup olive oil
4 slices thick bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 Spanish onion, diced
1 jalapeño, stemmed and finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon turbinado or other brown sugar
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 to 10 servings)
33 grams carbs; 35 milligrams cholesterol; 347 calories; 8 grams monosaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 15 grams fat; 8 grams fiber; 461 milligrams sodium; 22 grams protein; 3 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Cut 1 green pepper into 1-inch squares. Smash and peel 4 of the garlic cloves. Put the green pepper and garlic into a large pot with the beans, ham hock, bay leaves and 1 tablespoon salt. Add 2 quarts water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer until the beans are tender, an hour or more.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, make a sofrito. Cut the remaining ½ green pepper into ¼-inch dice. Peel and finely chop the remaining garlic. Heat the olive oil in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the green pepper and onion and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining garlic, jalapeño (leave out the seeds if you don’t want it too spicy), oregano, cumin, black pepper and 2 teaspoons salt and stir for another minute. Pour in the vinegar and scrape any browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. This is your sofrito.
- Step 3
When the beans are cooked, discard the bay leaf. Remove and set aside the ham hock and let it cool. Transfer 1 cup of beans to small bowl, mash them into a paste with the back of a fork and return to the pot. Add the sofrito, then the sugar. Pull the meat from the ham hock, leaving behind any white sinew or gristle. Chop the ham into ½-inch pieces and return it to the bean pot.
- Step 4
Stir the beans well and bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so, skimming any foam from the top. Taste for salt and serve with white rice.
Private Notes
Comments
Here's a recipe for Cuban Black beans from NYTimes August 23 1973
Black Beans with Rice Cuban Style (Moros y Cristianos)
1 lb black beans soaked over night.
Simmer beans slowly, till done
Sofrito:
2 large Bermuda onions chopped fine
5 cloves garlic chopped fine
2 peppers (red or yellow sweet) chopped fine
1/3 cup olive oil heated in pot
Cook veggies
for 20-25 min
2 tsp dry oregano
1 bay leaf
1 TB tomato paste
ground pepper
1⁄4 tsp cayenne (or
2 tsp Salt
ADD to beans
2 tsp vinegar
Mimie, I often make this without meat. I use pimintón (Spanish smoked paprika) to provide the smokiness that you'd otherwise get from the ham hock and bacon, and I think the results are very good. Pimintón is also great in vegetarian chilis, black-eyed peas, etc.
I am Cuban and have been eating black beans for over 60 years. Cuban black beans have NO meat and NO jalapeno - never, ever! Our food is not hot-spicy. Try black beans at a real Cuban restaurant with sweet fried plantains and white rice.
Skipped the swine. Came out nicely with the jalapeno et al. Cooking times work perfectly for dried black-eyed peas
This is always a hit with family and guests!
What do you do with all the water leftover in the pot?