Cuban Red Beans (Frijoles Colorados)

This Cuban red beans recipe is made with dried kidney beans, chorizo, smoked pork hocks, and spices. A hearty dish that can be enjoyed as a side dish or main entree.

If you love chicharos Cubanos and Cuban black beans then you’ll love these red beans too! These beans pair perfectly with a side of white rice and fried plantains.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• You don’t have to soak the beans overnight.
• Packed with flavor and makes the best leftovers!
• This recipe is super versatile, you can omit the pork hocks and chorizo and make it vegetarian.

Ingredient Notes

Butternut Squash – Any type of squash will work.

Smoked Pork Hocks – It adds lots of flavor!

Chorizo – If you can’t find Spanish chorizo, feel free to use salami or pepperoni.

Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Start by arranging the dried kidney beans on a baking sheet and sorting through them. Make sure to discard any stones or broken beans. Rinse them and set them aside.
2. Place the beans, pork hock, and 10 cups of water in your instant pot. Press the “pressure cook” function on your instant pot and select 1 hour and 5 minutes. Once the time is up, do a quick release. When the pin in the lid drops down, safely open the lid.
3. Remove the pork hock and discard any fat.
4. Heat some oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and chorizo and cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in the sazon, cumin, oregano, sofrito, and tomato sauce. Cook for 1 minute.
5. Add the cooked beans and ham hock meat to the pot along with the bay leaf, dry white wine, potatoes, and butternut squash. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the potatoes and butternut squash are tender.
6. Uncover, season generously with salt and pepper, and cook until the beans thicken. This should take about 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

Top Tips

• If you don’t own an instant pot or pressure cooker, you can boil the beans on the stovetop for a couple of hours or until they’re tender.
• Don’t feel like making these from scratch? Use canned red beans instead.
• Make sure you season generously with salt and pepper!
• If you don’t have dry white wine on hand, add a splash of vinegar instead.
• Usually, I advise people to tailor the recipes here to their tastes, but for the best Cuban red beans, you need to keep the pork hocks, butternut squash, and chorizo in the recipe otherwise it won’t quite be the same. This is savory comfort food at its finest.
• If you don’t have homemade sofrito on hand, use store-bought or simply omit it.

More Recipes You Might Enjoy

• Cuban Carne Con Papa
• Congri
• Instant Pot Cuban Black Beans
• Cuban Shrimp Creole

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