Take your Mexican night up a notch with this easy Refried Beans recipe! They are sooo much better than the canned stuff.
With just a few simple ingredients, and minimal effort, you can have restaurant quality refried beans to serve alongside your tacos, or any of your favorite Mexican dishes.
Make a batch tonight, and be amazed by the flavors…
Beans are such a versatile, not to mention budget friendly, ingredient. We especially love our Puerto Rican Habichuelas Guisadas and Greek Fasolada Soup.
But when taco night comes along, and it often does around here, the only way to go is refried beans.
Why You’ll Love these Homemade Refried Beans
- They are absolutely delicious, and totally customizable.
- You can make them with dried beans, or canned beans for a quick 20 minute fix.
- There are tons of different ways to use them. We’ll give you some ideas later in the post.
Ingredients
- Fat – You need something for sautéing. The simplest options are cooking oil or butter, but lard is most traditional. We usually use bacon grease, as we always keep some in the fridge, and it adds great flavor.
- Aromatics – Onion and garlic.
- Beans – We normally use pinto, but black beans work great too. We’ll include instructions for both canned and dried beans.
- Seasonings – Chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and lime juice.
How to Make Refried Beans from Canned Beans
Start by heating your preferred fat in a skillet, then sauté the onion a few minutes, till it becomes soft. Add in the garlic and cook for another minute.
Drain the beans, but reserve the liquid in a bowl. Add the beans to the skillet, along with seasonings and 1/4 cup of the bean liquid. Simmer for at least 10 minutes.
TIP: Simmering the beans for longer allows the flavors to develop more. We prefer at least 30 minutes. If they get too dry, add in more bean liquid, or chicken or vegetable stock.
Once the beans have cooked, mash them with a potato masher.
You can make them very smooth, or leave them a bit chunkier, it’s all about your preference.
Before serving, taste and adjust for salt and lime juice.
How to Use Dried Beans
First, rinse 1 pound of dried beans in a colander and remove any bits of debris. Transfer them to a large pot and fill it with water till it is a few inches over the beans. Cover and soak at least 8 hours.
Drain and rinse the beans, then transfer them back to the pot and add 10 cups of water.
Bring beans to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
TIP: If using dried beans, replace canned bean liquid with chicken broth in the refried beans.
How to Serve Refried Beans
We like to dress them up a bit. Some topping options are diced onion, jalapeño, cilantro, and cheese such as cheddar or cotija.
They are especially great alongside tacos. Some of our preferred tacos to serve with refried beans are Ground Beef Tacos, Ground Turkey Tacos, and Steak Tacos.
They’re also great with other Mexican mains like Fajitas. Check out our collection of favorite Mexican Recipes for more pairing ideas.
They can also be a topping for tostadas, a dip for tortilla chips, a filling for burritos, or the base of a bowl meal.
Leftovers and Storage
These homemade refried make great leftovers. Refrigerate them in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Reheat on stovetop, or in the microwave. You will want to add some additional water to your desired consistency, as they do thicken up when refrigerated.
They also freeze great in an airtight container for 2-3 months. Cool the beans completely before freezing. Thaw overnight in the fridge the day before eating them.
Make these easy refried beans the next time you crave Mexican food, we’re sure you’ll never go back to that bland and boring canned stuff.
Trust us, that few extra minutes of your time will be so worth it once you take that first bite.
Pin or bookmark this great recipe so you always know where to find it. And be sure to subscribe to GypsyPlate, we’re always cooking up new recipes for you!
Homemade Refried Beans, on our Gypsy Plate… enjoy!
Try these other great side dishes!
Mexican Street Corn Salad
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
Moroccan Couscous
Creamed Corn
Saffron Rice
Spicy Noodles
Farro Salad
Refried Beans
Take your Mexican night up a notch with this easy Refried Beans recipe! They are sooo much better than the canned stuff.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp oil (or use butter, lard or bacon grease)
- 1/2 small onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 30oz pinto beans, drained but not rinsed (reserve some of the liquid)
- 1/4 cup bean liquid, or broth
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- salt to taste
- lime juice to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil (or butter, lard or bacon grease) in a skillet, then sauté the onion a few minutes, till it becomes soft. Add in the garlic and cook for another minute.
- Drain the beans, but reserve the liquid in a bowl. Add the beans to the skillet, along with seasonings and 1/4 cup of the bean liquid. Simmer for at least 10 minutes.
- Once the beans have cooked, mash them with a potato masher to your preferred smoothness.
- Taste and adjust salt and lime juice before serving.
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 278Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 5gCholesterol 1mgSodium 170mgCarbohydrates 43gFiber 14gSugar 2gProtein 15g
Nutrition information calculated by Nutritionix.
Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.
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Your site is wonderful, colorful and full of directions to make the foods. I’ve never made Mexican Food. I’ve been to Mexican restaurants, some good, some bad. I’m overwhelmed with all these choices I don’t know where to start. I had Albondugas soup when I worked in a Mexican restaurant. I really loved it. I’ve never seen it in any restaurants I’ve been to since. I’d like to make a complete meal at once, rather than make the recipes one by one. I really don’t know what goes together. Also, I’m alone and don’t want to make such large recipes. I know I can cut some in half. I hope it’s the same for all the recipes.
Your site was the first one I went to and I was so impressed that I’m going to use your recipes. When I Google too many places I get annoyed with everybody has a different recipe for the same dish. It makes me crazy! I hope you have some suggestions. Hey, maybe you could make up a menu for each day. I hope to hear from you. Usually when I write comments on different sites I never get an answer.
Thank you, Roberta, I’m glad you found us!
For a collection of all of our current Mexican recipes (including a few others from around the internet), you can checkout our roundup of favorite Mexican Recipes.
If that list seems a little overwhelming, we do have a great recipe for Albondigas Soup, which you mentioned. Another favorite Mexican soup that we love is Caldo de Pollo.
Some really easy main courses that I recommend are Picadillo, Steak Fajitas and Pollo Asado. You can pair them with rice and these refried beans for a complete meal.
We also have quite a big assortment of different tacos. Most of them are pretty quick and easy. But sometime when you really want to go all out, definitely give Birria Tacos a try. They’re kind of an all afternoon affair, but are so worth the effort!
I hope that helps narrow things down. Be sure to let me know which recipes you try!