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 monounsaturated 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.
Very good. Based on comments, I used red and yellow sweet peppers, and a sweet onion - but wanted a little heat so added a small can of chipotle salsa. Pork, to me, is a must. And Cubans raise pigs at home, especially during austerity years.
The bacon and ham hocks make this the preferred black bean recipe
Where is the Green Pepper in the ingredient list?