Refried Beans?

[barefootfarmer]

What's your best recipe for making re-fried beans from dried beans? I love re-fried  beans, but I have not figured out how to make the magic happen in my own kitchen. Every recipe I try is either: too salty, too bland, too runny, too...complicated? Help!

Things I have on hand to work with: Lots of beans...every kind of dried bean, pressure canners, crock pots, a stove, pots and a stubborn willingness to keep trying until I hit the jackpot.

[ketoriverfarm]

I too am interested in a tried and true recipe. Am thinking we will be eating more beans and less meat this winter.

[Deleted]

My plan is to can plain beans then flavor them when I use them. It's hard to make a little pan of dry beans.

I usually add a can of store bought refried beans to my whole canned beans and doctor them up with chopped onion, garlic, salt, a little hot sauce, maybe some fresh jalapeño if I have some, and a spoonful of bacon grease.

If your recipe comes out to dry, add a little water...to wet, simmer on the stove a little bit.

[Deleted]

1 cup pinto beans, cooked, always, only pinto beans. 1-3 TBS of bacon grease to fry the onion and celery, add the beans and mash, we like them pretty lumpy, add a fresh, finely diced tomato and cook down a bit. Sea salt and pepper....James

[Deleted]

Hmmmm.... Refried beans.... 

I have not made them in ages.  I have a recipe somewhere around here from a little, old Honduran lady that made the best refried beans I have ever eaten.  I had to stop at her little road-side restaurant quite a bit for two reasons.  The first was to fill up on refried beans and the second was to show her my sincerity in wanting her recipe for making my own when I returned to El Norte. 

She eventually gave me the recipe, but I have to find it.  It is probably in my storage area and therefore will take a while to dig it out.  But, be patient.  It will be worth the wait, believe me.

I do remember that the process included a bit of lard when doing the initial cooking and lots of butter with the final product.  The closest and easiiest thing that I can find comparable to the seasoning mix that she used is Adobo.

Or, at least I think that I remember it that way.  I will try to get to the storage area this weekend and look for it.

[wally]

James, our beans are like yours. Take a pound of beans, we use pintos and soak overnight. next day cook slow until beans are very soft,drain off water and mash. Then add 1/2 cup lard or bacon drippings, heat over low heat till mashed beans absorb the fat. Salt to taste, and add peppers onions or what ever you like.

[themotherhen]

We use olive oil and minced garlic and onion. Also a little taco sauce. Sooooo good!

[barefootfarmer]

Well, with all of the views on this topic and so few comments I think it's fair to say there are a lot of people out there just like me. Love re-fried beans and hoping to see the perfect recipe to make them at home!

I'm going to take some of these suggestions and try them out this week. When I was organizing my canning jars (because hey- who doesn't love rearranging their jars, right?) I saw that I had canned up a bunch of plain pintos last winter. So I'm going to open up a few jars and give it a whirl.

[ketoriverfarm]

Aug 2, 2015 2:46:20 GMT barefootfarmer said:

Well, with all of the views on this topic and so few comments I think it's fair to say there are a lot of people out there just like me. Love re-fried beans and hoping to see the perfect recipe to make them at home!

I'm going to take some of these suggestions and try them out this week. When I was organizing my canning jars (because hey- who doesn't love rearranging their jars, right?) I saw that I had canned up a bunch of plain pintos last winter. So I'm going to open up a few jars and give it a whirl.

Please report back.  Inquiring minds want to know.  

[horseyrider]

I like to use my own home-canned pintos, drained, rinsed, and coarsely mashed. I saute some onions, sweet peppers, and garlic in olive oil, and then throw in a wad of chorizo sausage. Very delicious! And if that's not smoky enough, I add some chipotle peppers and the goo that they pack them in. Oh honey, so much smoky goodness!!! Of course you can add a little (or a lot) more olive oil, bacon grease, or butter to 'fatten it up,', as Julia Child used to say. If I want them on the runny side for beans and rice, I add some concentrated homemade chicken stock. If I want them for burritos I leave them on the stiffer side. Salt to taste, and it takes a pretty good amount.

I love seeing all the different ways to make things. It gives me ideas on how to change things up for novelty's sake.

[spacecase0]

I grind the beans in the grain mill, no need to get it super fine, but not large chunks either
mix with water and cook
it cooks very quick that way, even if they are very old beans

[barefootfarmer]

horseyrider I'm so glad you brought this thread back to life. I'd completely forgotten that I'd started it. Last night I was thinking about making refried beans again when I saw my canned pintos on the shelf. I think your write up has pushed me over the edge- it sounds so good! I'm going to leave out the chorizo because for some reason I've stopped eating pork over the last year. But the chipotle peppers sound delicious- thanks!

[barefootfarmer]

Aug 17, 2015 14:42:16 GMT spacecase0 said:

I grind the beans in the grain mill, no need to get it super fine, but not large chunks either
mix with water and cook
it cooks very quick that way, even if they are very old beans

That boggles my mind! Wow! How do you know how much water to use? I picture that method making a very thick refried bean.

[spacecase0]

you can make it as thick or thin as you want with my method,
it has been a while from when I did it last, and I just can't remember the water ratio I used
I looked in my personal hand written cookbook and it is not in there, so I never wrote it down...

[snoozy]

Most refried beans are vile and bland and just cowpatties of tasteless starchiness, if'n you ask me. Here's my recipe, which is the best you will ever eat:

You can make with canned or cook up soaked dry beans, whatever you have on hand. Black beans, red beans.

Fry up in a bit of olive oil a goodly handful of chopped onions for every, say, 2 cups of cooked beans. Fry those onions till they are golden and luscious. Add garlic. Plenty. And a fullsome teaspoon of whole cumin seeds per handful of onions that you used. Now throw in your cooked beans and a tsp of dried thyme (again, per unit of onions), and stir it all together and fry it till they start to break down just a bit. Mash them with the back of your spoon. Add water if necessary, but let it begin to brown on the bottom before you do -- that is the caramelization you want to give depth of flavour to your beans. Add cayenne or jalapenos, salt, and then about a tablespoon of vinegar.

You will find that the combination of cumin, thyme and vinegar will make the best beans you have ever had.

[barefootfarmer]

snoozy how can I possibly NOT try your recipe after that opening line? Cumin seems to always be the secret ingredient in mexican food. I made a tomatillo salsa the other day and the cumin really lifted it to new heights. Vinegar, huh? Alrighty- I'm gong to try this one out, too. Thanks!

[wolfmom]

True Mexican Refried Beans are made with pinto beans. And yes, cumin is the go to seasoning in Mexican food.

Here's an easy slow cooker refried bean recipe

One onion peeled and halved
2 c. dry pinto beans, rinsed
1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
one big pinch of cumin
6 C water

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cook on high for 8 hours. Remove onion chunks and drain excess liquid until the beans are at your desired consistency. Mash beans with a potato masher.
If you are not sure of how much water to drain off, drain beans saving bean water in a pot and add as needed while mashing.

note: I love onions so I mince them, then saute them until clear in a little water. I add the onions and water to the beans in the slow cooker. I also use canned chopped green chiles and I don't use any salt.

Eat with a warmed flour tortilla.

Reheat with a little lard if you have it in a fry pan for that extra refried bean flavor.

You may also want to check out the beans for small stones that once in a while get into the bean package while you are rinsing them.

[snoozy]

How can they be truly refried beans if they are not fried?

[manygoatsnmore]

Sept 1, 2015 1:31:00 GMT snoozy said:

How can they be truly refried beans if they are not fried?

To be re-fried, don't they have to be fried in the first place?

[spacecase0]

I figure it is like a refrigerator
can't you just frigerat things in the first place ?
it is the same hardware to do either one...

the original re fried is to kill the bacteria from yesterdays left overs
but if you have a refrigerator (or frigerator ) and actually use it for your leftovers, then this is kind of a moot point
whatever gets you the texture and flavor works just fine (as long as we have all this modern technology)

[oregoncactus]

I love refried beans! Here is what I do:

Soak 4 cups of beans overnight. I use 3 cups pinto beans and 1 cup black beans.

Heat 4 T coconut oil in a pan. Saute 2 chopped onions, 4 cloves of garlic, and 1 fresh jalapeño. While these are sautéing, drain beans and place in slow cooker. To the slow cooker, add 1/4 cup coconut milk, 3 T cumin, 2 T paprika, 1 T chili powder, 1 dried chipotle chile, 1 dried guajillo chile, and black pepper to taste. When onions, garlic and jalapeño are softened, add the veggies and oil to the slow cooker. Add water just to cover. Slow cook for 8 hours or until the beans are soft.

Remove chipotle and guajillo chiles. Add salt to taste and puree with immersion blender to desired texture.

I freeze them in the small canning jars if I need to save them.

[naturefreak17]

I have been going through my recipes and writing them on recipe cards. In doing so I've found that I have 4 recipes for refried beans (without the refry). I tested them all and finally found my favorite recipes. The first one is with cooked pinto beans.

4 cups cooked pinto beans (drained if using canned)
2 cups chicken stock (I use a homemade veggie bouillon mixed with water)
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat all ingredients together and then mash with a potato masher. It's as easy as that. If it's too runny add less stock.

My other recipe is made from dry in a slow cooker, they are SO good.



2 cups dried pinto beans
1 tsp minced onions (dry)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp chili powder
5 cloves garlic, minced (or 5 tsp dried minced garlic)
1 tbsp salt (can use less if stock is salty)
4 cups chicken stock (again, I use homemade veggie bullion which is quite salty so I use about 1 1/2 tsp salt)

Toss all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on high for 7-8 hours. Puree with an Immersion blender when cool.