Frijoles Antioqueños (Paisa Red Beans)
Creamy red cargamanto beans slowly simmered with pork hock, green plantain and carrot, then finished with a rich tomato-and-onion hogao. The heart of the bandeja paisa and of every Medellín lunch table.
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Start your free weekContinue with free accessCook the beans
Drain the soaked beans and put them in a large pot with the pork and water. Bring to a boil and simmer, partly covered, for 1½ hours until the beans are tender (or 40 minutes in a pressure cooker).
Add plantain and carrot
Add the plantain, carrot and salt. Simmer for 20 minutes more — the plantain thickens the broth and makes it creamy.
Make the hogao
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Combine
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Serve
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Cook the beans
Drain the soaked beans and put them in a large pot with the pork and water. Bring to a boil and simmer, partly covered, for 1½ hours until the beans are tender (or 40 minutes in a pressure cooker).
Add plantain and carrot
Add the plantain, carrot and salt. Simmer for 20 minutes more — the plantain thickens the broth and makes it creamy.
Make the hogao
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Combine
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Serve
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The Story Behind the Dish
Beans were the fuel of the arrieros — the muleteers who carried goods across Antioquia's steep mountains in the 1800s. Cooked with pork and plantain, they gave the energy needed for long journeys.
They became the centrepiece of the bandeja paisa, the generous platter of beans, rice, meat, egg, plantain and arepa now considered one of Colombia's national dishes.
⭐ Why It's Famous
Creamy, smoky and deeply savoury — paisas say a day without frijoles isn't a proper day.
💡 Fun Fact
Paisas traditionally thicken the beans with grated green plantain instead of flour, which also gives them their silky texture.
Antioquia (Medellín)
6.24°N, -75.58°W
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