Southern pinto beans and cornbread
Creamy, smoky pinto beans ladled over warm squares of buttery skillet-style cornbread, the old-fashioned Southern supper that costs almost nothing and fills you right up.
- 50 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 6
- About $1.41 a serving
- 550 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- ⅓ cup butter, divided, 4 tbsp melted
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tsp hot sauce (optional)
- ¼ white onion, finely chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1½ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 bay leave
Each serving has about 550 calories, 18 g protein, 80 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $1.41 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No yellow onions? Red onions work.
- No pinto beans? Black beans or kidney beans work.
- No hot sauce? Sriracha works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 425°F and grease an 8-inch square baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the butter.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt in a bowl.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
the milk, egg and the 4 tablespoons butter in a measuring cup, pour it into the dry mix, and stir just until no dry flour is left.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Dolly’s tip: Lumpy batter is right. Smooth batter makes tough cornbread.Scrape the batter into the dish and 20 to 22 minutes, until and a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 20 min
Dolly’s tip: Get the cornbread in the oven first. The beans cook while it bakes.Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, 6 minutes, until soft.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Stir in the garlic, smoked paprika and pepper and cook 1 minute, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Add the beans, broth, bay leaf and 1 teaspoon salt. and cook uncovered 20 minutes, stirring now and then.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 20 min
Mash about a third of the beans against the side of the pot until it turns thick and creamy. Fish out the bay leaf and taste for salt.
Dolly’s tip: Mashing some of the beans is the whole trick. No cream needed.Cut the cornbread into squares and spoon the beans over or beside them, with hot sauce and onion on top.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
