Easy Refried Beans recipe….

These homemade refried beans are not only super easy to make but they taste absolutely amazing too and they work out super cheap to make too! In fact, I’d go as far as saying that this refried beans recipe will change your life! **

(**OK, maybe it won’t change your life but I bet you love it as much as I do**)

(It’s IMPOSSIBLE to make refried beans look anything but a mushy mess)

I only discovered refried beans a couple of years ago when I was trying to recreate a meal that I’d had in New York and now I genuinely use them all the time.  I used to buy the tinned version but they can be quite expensive (£1.65 a tin I think) so I thought I’d have a go at making my own.

It took me a while to get around to it though as the day I went to buy the Pinto beans that I needed to make my homemade version, I saw Tesco own brand tins of refried beans on offer for 17p so I stocked up on those and left the Pinto beans on the shelf until I needed them.

We’re all out of the bargain beans now though so I’ve been having a play with how to make my own homemade refried beans and I think I’ve pretty much mastered it so I thought I’d share the recipe so you too can have amazing homemade refried beans! 😂

In case you’re wondering why I’m such a fan of refried beans, it’s because they’re so versatile. I use them in quesadillas, in wraps, on nachos, in tacos, with rice, as a side dish to chicken, as a jacket potato topper and even as a dip.  The possibilities are endless!

I just wish it looked a little bit nicer – no matter what I do with it, it just doesn’t look like something you’d want to eat! Luckily it tastes nothing like it looks. 😂

Easy Refried Beans recipe....

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped (or if you use frozen chopped onions like me then 2 small handfuls is about right
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 fresh green chilli, finely chopped
• pinto beans, cooked according to the instructions on tha pack - mine were boiled for 1hr and 10 mins and then drained ready for this recipe
• Around 150ml water
• The juice of a medium lime (or a medium sized glug if you have it in a bottle

Instructions

1. In a large pan, add the olive oil and the onion and gently fry off the onion until it starts to soften.
2. Add the garlic, salt, chilli, paprika, cumin into the onions and give it a good mix so it's well combined - it should only take a few seconds but it's important that it's well mixed before you add the beans. I try and whizz it about so the onions are completely covered in the spice mix as that's a good indication that it's combined.
3. Add in the beans and about three-quarters of the water and cook it all together for around five minutes.
4. Next up, you need to decide what texture you want your refried beans to be. I like mine to be reasonably smooth as I used mine in quesadillas instead of tomato sauce sometimes or in wraps with taco mince so I tend to take it off the heat at this point and take out about 3/4 of the mix in batches and give it a whizz with my little hand blender until it's pretty smooth. For the rest, I just give a quick mash with my potato masher so the beans are broken down but will still add texture if that makes sense. I'd say as a minimum you want to be mashing the whole mix with a potato masher so it's roughly mashed but I definitely prefer to blend some of it for an overall smoother texture.
5. Once you've mashed and blended your mix to your chosen texture, just pop it back on the heat and cook for a couple more minutes just to finish it off. If you think it's too dry at this point you can add in more water, I often add the rest at this point.
6. Stir through the lime juice right before you take it off the heat and quickly taste it to see if it needs more seasoning. Add extra salt or lime juice if you think it needs it.

 

They last about 3 or 4 days in the fridge and I have tested a batch in the freezer and they came out fine!

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