Charo Chicken Recipe

[Adelaida Frodge]

ElPollo Loco chicken reminds me of being a kid. Just about every weekend, my family would buy a big bucket of their chicken along with flour tortillas and black beans. Nothing really beats it for me.

I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you make it, be sure to tag me on Instagram or Facebook (@litecravings) and use the hashtag #litecravingsrecipes. I sometimes miss a tag here or there, but I always check in on the hashtag.

I made this with bone in, skin on chicken thighs. Made the recipe exactly as described with the squeezed orange juice, but also added about 1/4 cup crushed pineapple for extra flavor. Cooked it on the grill and it was DELICIOUS! Tasted just like El Pollo Loco! Thank you for the awesome recipe!

Wow!! We just tried this recipe and it is one of our favorite marinades for chicken. The chicken is so full of flavor and juicy. Looks and tastes just like El Pollo Loco! We used chicken thighs (large ones) with skin and bone-in. Heated up the gas grill to around 425 deg. and cooked for 10 minutes with skin side down and 10 minutes on the other side. Skin is not as crispy as we would like so next time 500 deg. to start for a few minutes to sear skin and lower to around 450 deg. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!

1. Cook the Pinto beans: Pour dry beans into a colander and rinse them off, removing any unwanted pieces. Add to a large pot with 6 cups of water (or enough to cover them by about 2 inches), a small chunk of onion, bay leaf and teaspoon of salt.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 to 2 hours, until the beans are tender, but not bursting. (Mine usually take about 1 hour but it will depend on how dry/old your beans are). Check them a few times during cooking to make sure they are covered in water and add a little more water if needed.

2. Drain and reserve broth. Once the beans are tender, drain them, reserving the liquid and pouring it into a measuring cup. Add water (or reduce leftover broth, as need) to the measuring cup to make 2 cups of total liquid. Stir in 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon. Set aside.

3. In a large pot add the bacon and chorizo and cook for about 5 minutes or until bacon is cooked. Remove some of the grease. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent. Add ham (sausages, if using), diced tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, oregano, paprika, cumin, black pepper and cook for 5 additional minutes.

You can serve charro beans as a main dish soup with warm tortillas on the side. When serving them as a side dish I like to stir in a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water) to thicken the sauce.

Turn Instant Pot to saut setting. Add bacon and chorizo and cook. Remove some of the grease. Add the onions and garlic, and cook until the onions are softened. Add ham, diced tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, oregano, paprika, cumin, and cook for 5 additional minutes. Add dry pinto beans and 5 cups of chicken broth. Secure the lid and cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Allow the pressure to naturally release before removing the lid (about 20-30 minutes). Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Saut bacon, chorizo, onion and garlic in a pan and add to slow cooker with ham, diced tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, oregano, paprika, cumin, dry pinto beans, and 6 cups of chicken broth. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours until beans are tender. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

To make ahead: The dry pinto beans can be cooked and stored, along with their reserved liquid, several days in advance, or the entire recipe can be made 2-3 days in advance and stored in the fridge. Rewarm over low heat on the stove. To make the dish even simpler, you can substitute canned pinto beans (see my notes in the recipe card).

This recipe is AMAZING. All three meats together really brought it up to the next level. We did end up smoking a pork tenderloin in place of the ham, and it was perfect. I was excited to use a few things in my pantry from the Mexican aisle, and hesitant about the cilantro, but it was a beautiful symphony. This was just as easy as the pot of beans I made the week before, but 300% better. Thank you!

Charo Chicken is a delicious and flavorful dish that features tender and juicy chicken marinated in a blend of herbs and spices. This recipe is perfect for a quick and easy weeknight meal that the whole family will love.

Full disclosure:, I have always hated beans. I hate them with all of my heart, mind, soul, and body. The smell makes me gag, even. If I go out for Mexican, I always ask for a double-order of rice instead of beans. (Refried beans are the worst...they look like someone already digested them for you. Ew.)

In a fit of bravery one night, and because a friend really encouraged me to do so, I had a little taste of the charro beans that came with my meal every time I visited Lupe Tortilla's in Houston. To my surprise, not only were they edible, they were actually good! Just goes to show you that a bunch of bacon can fix just about anything...even frijoles a la charra.

The Spanish name of this recipe is frijoles charros. It has a base of canned pinto beans, but then it's made magical by the addition of veggies - diced tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and onions. These flavors really work well with the beans and make something amazing out of a very plain can of beans!

Some people may not want to use canned pinto beans, and that's totally ok! If you prefer, you can cook dried pinto beans instead. Rinse one pound dried pinto beans, cover them with water to about three inches above the beans, and soak them overnight or for about eight hours. Transfer to a large pot, cover with 10 cups water, then boil for 2-3 hours.

If you like spicy charro beans, you can add more jalapeno peppers or even add a ghost pepper or habanero pepper. If you don't like any spice, you can omit them or use a bell pepper instead. It's nice to be able to customize the dish to different people's tastes.

You could also add something like chipotle peppers. Chipotle peppers are smoked and dried peppers, and they lend a delicious and aromatic smokiness to the final dish. If it's too hard to find chipotle peppers, then you can probably find dried chipotle in the spice section of your local supermarket.

Then to make a good thing great, we add bacon. If you're a vegetarian, you can of course leave out the bacon, but for it it simply makes the dish. The smoky flavor goes really well with the earthy beans and vegetables. Bacon makes everything better, after all!

And the entire dish gets topped off with fresh, vitamin-packed cilantro. Which also happens to be beautiful. By the way, if you have that gene that makes cilantro taste like soap, I'm so sorry. You don't know what you're missing.

I also have to share my gratitude with someone who goes by DiBs over at Texas Monthly (page has now been removed), who unknowingly blessed us by posting this recipe online. To my dear Lupe, please know that I'd come to your restaurant instead of making them at home if you'd only open up a branch in central Florida, but for now I'm cooking away at this secret recipe in my kitchen!

Goes great with Lupe's Fajitas Grandioso recipe! I love Mexican food, so I hope you'll enjoy all of the Mexican recipes on my blog. You can also check out my recipes for White Chicken Enchiladas, homemade Flour Tortillas, and my Walking Taco Bake Casserole.

Wow, what a sharp tongue, Theresa. Juan Loera here for LT. Although we don't care to have our recipes copycatted, the addition of tomatoes into the recipe is nevertheless correct. We also use masa, not "flour" to thicken the bean recipe.

Actually, all the recipes I have seen for charro beans add a mixture of onion, seeded tomato and seeded jalapeno after the beans have cooked. Even the mexican restaurants in Houston that we visited over Christmas.

Awesome Judi...I wish I could get there myself to try them out against my recipe, since my memory of them is, oh, 5 years old at least. It's been forever since I've been to Houston. Thanks for sharing that tidbit.

Well, I'm eating Lupes beans right now (heaven!), and there is a small amount of chopped tomato in them.

I'll try your recipe, I'm excited to have a way to enjoy them without waiting in the Lupe line!

I think this is a great basic recipe. I add 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 3/4 teaspoon Mexican oregano, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, and substitute 1 Anneheim pepper for the Jalepeno peppers. Also 4 drops Wright's Liquid Smoke. Women swoon, and strong men weep because it tastes so damn good.

That sounds really good Mike! I've never heard of Mexican oregano...I'll have to see if my local supermarket has that. I bet the liquid smoke is good - since the bacon already adds such good flavor. Thanks for the tips!

What is marvelous about Mexican food is all the regional variations. Where I hang out in southeastern Mexico bits of ham or chorizo go into the charro bean pot if they are available. It's part of the "little goes to waste" ethos of Mexico. As for Susan's question regarding Mexican oregano there is such a thing. It is milder, more like marjoram. If substituting "regular" oregano, use about 2/3 of what the recipe calls for.

I have been eating at Lupe Tortilla's since they opened their first restaurant circa 1984. The addition of those incredible beams some years later made an already top notch restaurant even better. Those beans are amazing. Through the years I have tried to copycat them myself but there was always something missing. This particular recipe is very close to my best effort. I use Rotel tomatoes in mine since we like things on the warmer side.

Juan Loera , Thanks for the info about the thickening agent (Mesa).

Someone told me,that a bit of lime juice is added to the receipt. Is that true?

I made the beans from Susan's receipt and they are great!!

Pretty Darn close to the real LT Beans!!

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