We LOVE Mexican food at our house and I am always looking for a yummy side dish. I love refried beans, but when you buy them in a can and dump them out and the beans retain the shape of the can . . . ew. It grosses me out. I then found this recipe and I am never going back!! Took 15 minutes to throw it together and THEY WERE AMAZING! My husband said that they were as good as the beans you get at a restaurant . . . and the recipe is so easy that you can't go wrong!
**It makes a lot, but you can also use it to make bean burritos, bean dip, topping for a salad, etc . . .
- 1 onion, peeled and halved
- 3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
- 1/4-1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (I used about 1/4 because I wanted my kids to eat it and not think it was too hot)
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
- 5 cups water
- 4 cups chicken broth
-Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and chicken broth and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
-Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.
-If you want to turn this into a big batch of bean dip, add the following:
2 cups salsa
2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese
2 cups shredded pepperjack cheese
8 oz. cream cheese
16 oz. sour cream
2 Tbls chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
Mix in with the beans and let cook a couple hours longer so flavors can blend. Makes a huge batch so just freeze leftovers!
Oh this looks FABULOUS! I have tried homemade refried beans once and it was great, it freezes really well too!
ReplyDeleteCarlee
www.ladybirdln.com
My girls love bean burritos and would eat them everyday if I let them. I have been using canned beans, but I can't wait to try this recipe for homemade. I shared your recipe on my Must Try Tuesday blog post.
ReplyDeletehttp://therickettchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/07/must-try-tuesday-july-26-2011.html
Thanks for sharing!
Wende
The Rickett Chronicles
Can you cook it on low all day or just high? I'm new to crock pot cooking
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous! Every time that I have made these, I have cooked them on high for 8 hours. I think that if you cooked them on low, I would probably do it for 12-15 hours, just to make sure they are cooked all the way. :) Good luck with slow cooking! I would die without my crockpot! :)
ReplyDeleteMade these tonight for dinner after seeing them on Pinterest. Wonderful! No more canned beans for us.
ReplyDeleteI have been making these for months and I love this recipe! Not only is it so simple, it is delicious.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about it on my blog today and shared your recipe.
http://therickettchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/10/recipe-crock-pot-pintos.html
Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe!
Wende
The Rickett Chronicles
This recipe sounds great! I haven't been successful in making good refried beans. This is going to be my next attempt.
ReplyDeleteCan you sub vegetable stock for the chicken stock?
ReplyDeleteRecipe sounds wonderful!! What is the proper way to freeze them?
ReplyDeleteyou don't have to soak the beans? amazing!
ReplyDeleteI've tried only one other attempt at making homemade refrained beans and they didn't come out very well. I plan to try this recipe soon ~ my son could eat them 3x a day and the cans are gross (and expensive!). Thanks for posting!!
ReplyDelete~Jessica
http://jessicamauk.blogspot.com
Tried this today with a substitution of vegetable stock instead of chicken broth, turned out fantastic! Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe - I made it on the weekend, and it was delicious. best I have ever had. So easy too.
ReplyDeleteSo excited to try this recipe! I think I will try cooking them overnight on low and see how that goes, and also sub veggie stock. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteKristina, Did they come out okay by cooking them overnight on low?
ReplyDeleteThese are the only refried beans we eat now. I made them for my in-laws and they turned out blah instead of amazing as they usually are but I used dried onions & garlic. Lesson learned, use FRESH garlic & onions...it's worth the work.
ReplyDeleteI made these last night. I put them in my crock pot on low around 1am. After lunch today, I strained off the water and "refried" them. Twelve hours was just fine. I could smell the beans all the way upstairs when I woke up this morning. I don't have a potato masher, so I used an immersion blender instead. It took a little longer, since I had to keep scraping it out, but it turned out well. Next time I think I might make these with black beans.
ReplyDeleteI don't like chunks of onions or peppers or garlic in my beans, do you think they could go in a cheesecloth packet and thrown out after cooking the beans? or could I substitute powdered versions?
ReplyDeleteHi! I have never tried the powdered versions, however we have had a couple of people tell us that it doesn't work- the flavors are off. The high heat and long amount of cooking make the onions, peppers, and garlic completely disintegrate and when you mash the beans, they mash right along with them. There are never any chunks of onions or peppers left. I think that you could put them in a cheesecloth, but I don't know if the beans would taste the same. Let us know if you try it!
DeleteTried these this week-- Wonderful and smells sooo good cooking-- I will never buy canned again- Thanks so much for the recipe!
ReplyDeletethanks so much for this, looks easy and way less fat than refried beans with all the oil and stuff!
ReplyDelete