Easy Homemade Refried Beans: You’ll never want to buy canned again.

briannaschleigerFebruary 7, 2023November 4, 2023Mexican, Recipesbeans, comfort food, food, mexican food, recipe, refried beans

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Beans are a staple in this house. Black, Pinto, whole, mashed… we don’t care. Just give us the beans!! When planning goes out the window or time is of the essence, we grab cans, but usually and preferably, we cook them ourselves. It’ so super simple and tastes SO SO SO MUCH better than anything yuo can get out of a can.

Today we’re all about the Refried Beans:

It’s really straight forward and you can use the stovetop or a slow-cooker. Surely a pressure cooker, but I’ve never used one so it you try it let me know how it goes.

Step One: Prep the beans

This may or may not seem like the most logical step to start with, but trust me, there will be some funky looking beans you’ll want to pick out and maybe even a tiny rock or two. So sort them… and then wash them off.

Soak the beans. Once you’ve sorted them, grab a large or or bowl and let them soak. Overnight or even a few hours. This helps reduce the flatulence-causing compounds beans have in turn making them much easier on your digestive system. Hashtag: the more you know. Hashtag: the musical fruit. Hashtag: why do we call it a fruit?

Step two: Cook the beans

Once they have been washed, sorted and soaked they are ready to start cooking. Throw them in a pot with some fresh water -nobody wants flatulence water- WELL over the beans. Add a little wedge of onion, a couple cloves of garlic and a tablespoon-ish of salt. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer for a few hours. You’ll want to check it periodically to make sure you still have enough water and add more if it looks a little low.

Step three: Finish the beans

After the beans have simmered a couple hours they are ready to blend! They will be nice and soft but not mushy. Scoop the beans out and add them to your blender, reserving a little of the water to get them to the consistency you like. Depending on your blender size, you might have to do this in batches. A submersion blender also works great. The onion and garlic cloves will go in with it all too.

Next, we fry them! You can use any fat you like, but I HIGHLY recommend using bacon grease or beef tallow. The animal fat adds so much depth and flavor… but again, be bland and use olive oil if you want. Get your skillet piping hot with oil and our those bad boys in, carefully. Here is also where you’ll salt it to taste. You’re also welcome to add any other seasonings that suit your fancy, but I typically don’t.

Remember to let them fry. It will be bubbly so lower the heat a bit if you need to and just keep stirring gently to incorporate the fat and seasonings evenly.

That’s it! You made refied beans! Enjoy them with some Carnitas tacos and try not to burn your mouth.

Salsa walk through here!!!

Homemade Refried Beans

Serving Size:

Time:

Approx. 3 cooking hours

Difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients

Bag of dried Pinto beans
1/4 wedge of onion
2-4 Garlic cloves
Salt to taste
Bacon grease (or your choice of fat)

Directions

Wash, sort and soak your dried beans.
Add soaked beans to a large pot with onion, garlic and salt. Enough water to more than cover the beans.
Simmer for 2-3 hours. Until beans are soft.
Blend the beans with the water you cooked them in to the consistency of your liking.
Heat skillet with bacon grease and add the blended beans. Slowly incorporating the fat in with the beans. Let them fry/bubble without burning them.
Enjoy!