How to Make Quick and Easy Refried Beans

Tacos are on the menu line up almost every week. They are fast and everyone loves a good mexican food meal. But taco night wouldn’t be complete without a side of Spanish rice and some easy refried beans!

Remember last week how I showed you how to pressure can pinto beans? When you have jars of pinto beans on your shelf, this process gets that much easier. You can also use canned pinto beans from the store if you haven’t jumped on the pressure canning ban wagon yet!

I can whip up a batch of refried beans in no time…. I often will make some for a quick lunch to wrap in a tortilla with some cheese. A simple bean and cheese roll up will satisfy everyone. Or you can use them in your favorite bean dip with some tortilla chips. I love easy recipes that can be used in so many ways!

I will always be an advocate for doing the work up front to make meal time easy and quick. And having jars of pressure canned pinto beans on your shelf does just that!

If you want to use dry pinto beans from the start, simply cook your dry beans according to your package. You can even use your pressure cooker or instant pot to cook your dried beans if you need it to be quick. Then measure out a pint size jar worth of those home-cooked beans and follow the rest of the steps below.

Starting from dried beans doesn’t make this a quick job, since dried beans take a long time to cook, but it is doable!

Do you need special equipment to make easy refried beans?

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I wouldn’t say you need special equipment for this job. You can simply use a potato masher to get the job done, although I find that they aren’t as smooth when I do that. Sometimes that’s all I have time for though and it works just fine!

The options I am going to mention below will give you creamy refried beans but if you like just a little chunk don’t worry about using any added equipment. I don’t ever want anyone to feel like they need to run out and spend money in order to make one of my recipes.

Now let’s get to the different variations you can use!

There are many ways to do this but the first option is using a food processor or blender. I love using my Vitamix for projects like this! It is such a high power blender that it gets the beans incredibly smooth.

However, the equipment I tend to turn to the most to make easy refried beans is my immersion blender. The reason I like the immersion blender the best is because I can heat all the ingredients up in a pot and then use the immersion blender to make it smooth right in the same pot.

I don’t have added work of cleaning a blender or food processor in the end. The immersion blender top just pops right off and is super quick and easy to clean.

Again, you don’t have to have any of the above options, a simple potato masher will do! I have never tried it, but I suspect even a hand mixer would do the job.

Whatever you choose to use, this is an easy recipe and the best refried beans you will ever taste!

Simple Ingredients:

• 1 jar or can of whole pinto beans
• 1/4-1/2 cups of water or chicken broth, start smaller and add as needed to get the desired consistency.
• 1 tsp dried onion flakes, you can also use onion powder but I would do 1/2 tsp if using onion powder.
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder, you can also use 1 clove of garlic minced.
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

How to make homemade refried beans.

1. Place all ingredients in a medium size pot and turn your stove on medium-high heat. You are just heating up the beans because they are already cooked.
2. Once your beans and spices are heated all the way through, remove from the heat. This won’t take long so the cooking time is about 5-10 minutes.
3. Use an immersion blender, blender, or food processor to blend until completely smooth. You can also just mash with a potato masher until smooth.
4. Serve with any Mexican themed dish you desire!

How to store these easy refried beans recipe.

This recipe easily doubles or even triples depending on your family size or crowd size. I have some family members that like whole beans and others that like refried, so these measurements are perfect for my family.

However, if you’d like to make a big batch for later they will freeze well in a freezer bag. When you are ready to use them, simply pull them out of the freezer and let them thaw out before heating them back up.

If you just have left overs from your batch that you plan to use up quickly, you can store in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week. Reheat as desired!

We love these flavorful refried beans better then the canned version because you can adjust the spices to your liking. You can take this base recipe and adjust to your liking!

For a spicier bean add more cayenne pepper. If you don’t like spice, don’t add the cayenne at all. The variations to these homemade beans are endless.

You can also take the finished refried beans and top with some fresh cilantro or a squeeze of lime juice to add to the flavor of them.

Some of our favorite ways to use these beans is in bean dip, in tacos, or as a delicious side dish with enchiladas. They are like restaurant quality to us and we love them.

No more having to run off to the store to grab canned refried beans, now you can simply make them at home whenever you need them!