Habichuelas Guisadas [Video+Recipe] Dominican Beans

Learn how to make habichuelas guisadas, the flavorful stewed beans dish that we serve almost every day, and see whey we love our Dominican beans so much.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Dominican, Latino

Keyword dominican beans recipe, dominican red beans, dominican red kidney beans, habichuelas guisadas dominicanas, how to make dominican beans, stewed beans

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 396kcal

Author Clara Gonzalez

Ingredients

2 cups dry pinto beans (or cranberry, or red kidney)
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon oregano (dry, ground)
1 bell pepper chopped
1 small red onion cut into four quarters
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 cup diced auyama (kabocha squash)
1 cup tomato sauce
leaves from a celery stalk chopped (optional)
4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon of dry thyme (optional)
½ teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro or cilantro and parsley
1½ teaspoon salt (or more, to taste)

Instructions

If you are using dry beans

Soak the beans overnight.
Remove the beans from the soaking water and boil in fresh water until they are very soft (may take up to an hour, or about 20 minutes in a pressure cooker.

How to make habichuelas guisadas

1. Separate

Separate the beans from the boiling water. Set both aside.

2. Saute

In a sauce, pot, or caldero, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add oregano, bell pepper, onion, garlic, auyama, tomato sauce, celery, thyme and cilantro. Cook and stir for half a minute.
Add the beans and simmer for two minutes.

3. Simmer

Pour in 4 cups of the water in which the beans boiled (complete with fresh water if necessary). Once it reaches a rolling boil, lightly mashed the beans with a potato masher to break them out of the skin and making creamier habichuelas.
Lower temperature to medium heat and cook until it reaches a creamy consistency. Season with salt to taste.

4. Remove

Remove the chunks of onion, as well as any stray twigs or large bits of herbs if you used fresh herbs.

5. Serve

Remove from the heat and serve per suggestions above the recipe.

Video

Notes

My mom only used ajíes gustosos (a non-spicy version of Scotch bonnet peppers), and some homes use cubanelle peppers. The first are harder to find nowadays, and I don't like the taste of cubanelle in my habichuelas. Each Dominican home cook will have their own preference.

Most homes do not add auyama to their beans. I cannot think of not adding them to mine. My mom would disapprove.

The final color of your beans will depend on the type you use. The darker ones are red kidney beans, the ones that look less intense are either pinto, or cranberry beans.

Nutrition