About the beans:
- Dried beans (NO CANS!): The key to authentic refried beans is using dry beans. Canned beans will not result in the same texture or flavor and it's just not the way Mexican refried beans are made! You can find dry beans in the Mexican food isle at the grocery store.
- Pinto beans: refried beans are usually made with pinto beans but black beans can also be used.
How to Make Refried Beans:
1. Rinse and soak beans. Sift through the dry beans, removing any unwanted pieces from the bag. Add the beans to a large pot, cover with water and soak overnight.
2. Boil beans. Drain beans, add them to a pot and cover them with fresh water. Add onion to the pot and a couple dashes of salt. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for one hour.
3. Fry beans. Heat lard or oil in skillet. Add the garlic and stir. Add the beans, cumin, oregano and ¼ cup of reserved water from the bean broth.
4. Mash. Gently smash the beans with a potato masher or fork as they cook. Continue stirring and mashing until you get the texture you like and the beans are the consistency of soft mashed potatoes. Add more bean broth liquid if necessary. Taste and season with additional salt if needed.
5. Serve. Top with shredded cheese, if desired.
For Instant Pot Refried Beans (No Soaking):
1. Rinse beans. Rinse in a colander, removing any unwanted pieces that may be in the bag.
2. Add to Instant Pot. Add the beans, onion, and salt to the instant pot and fill the pot with about 7-8 cups of water.
3. Pressure cook. Turn valve to sealed and cook on high pressure/manual for 45 minutes. Allow the pressure to naturally release for 25 minutes. Remove lid and test beans to make sure they are tender.
4. Sauté beans. Drain the beans, removing the onion and reserving ½ cup of the bean broth water. On SAUTE mode, add lard or oil. Once hot, add the garlic and stir. Add the beans, cumin, oregano and ¼ cup of the bean broth. (You could also chop the reserved onion and add it to the pan).
5. Mash. Cook, gently smashing the beans as they cook with a potato masher or fork. Continue stirring and mashing until you get the texture you like and the beans are the consistency of soft mashed potatoes. Add more bean broth liquid if necessary. Taste and season with additional salt if needed.
6. Serve. Top with shredded cheese, if desired.
For Crockpot Refried Beans (No Soaking):
1. Combine Ingredients. Add all ingredients to the slow cooker. Cover with fresh water.
2. Cook on high for 8 hours, or overnight.
3. Drain. Drain the beans, removing the onion and reserving ½ cup of the bean broth water.
4. Sauté beans. Add lard or oil to a hot skillet. Add garlic, beans, cumin, oregano and ¼ cup of the bean broth. (You could also chop the reserved onion and add it to the pan).
5. Mash. Cook, gently smashing the beans as they cook with a potato masher or fork. Continue stirring and mashing until you get the texture you like and the beans are the consistency of soft mashed potatoes. Add more bean broth liquid if necessary. Taste and season with additional salt if needed.
6. Serve. Top with shredded cheese, if desired.
Adaptations:
To use canned pinto beans: substitute 2 cans of pinto beans, drained but liquid reserved.
Cheesy refried beans: Top your refried beans with Mexican cotija cheese or stir in your favorite shredded cheese.
Refried black beans- substitute one pound of dry black beans.
Add bell peppers- Finely chop bell pepper and sauté it with the garlic in step 7 of the recipe.
Spicy refried beans- remove the stem from a jalapeño peppers and finely dice it. Sauté it with the garlic in step 7 of the recipe.
Consider serving these with:
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Recipe
Homemade Refried Beans
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry pinto beans , about 2 cups
- 1 large onion , quartered
- 2 Tablespoons lard or oil
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1-2 teaspoons salt , or more, to taste
- ¾ teaspoon ground cumin , or more, to taste
- ½ teaspoon Dried oregano , or more, to taste
Instructions
Stove-top Refried Beans:
- Rinse pinto beans in a colander, removing any unwanted pebbles or pieces that may be in the bag.
- Add the beans to a large pot, cover with water and soak overnight.
- Drain soaked beans and return them to the pot. Add fresh water to cover the beans up to two inches above them. Add onion to the pot and a couple dashes of salt.
- Bring beans to a boil, cover and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Check the beans and if they’re not completely cooked after one hour, let them simmer a few minutes longer until they’re done.
- Drain the beans, removing the onion and reserving the bean broth water.
- In a large skillet (preferably an iron skillet), heat lard or oil over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and stir. Add the beans, cumin, oregano and ¼ cup of the bean broth. (You could also chop the reserved onion and add it to the pan).
- Cook, gently smashing the beans as they cook with a potato masher or fork.
- Continue stirring and mashing, adding additional bean broth as needed until you get the texture you like and the beans are the consistency of soft mashed potatoes. Taste and season with additional salt, cumin and oregano, as needed. Top with shredded cheese, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
*I originally shared this recipe March 2013. Updated February 2020 with process photos and instructions for making refried beans in the instant pot and slow cooker.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
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This recipe is AMAZING! I’ve never made refried beans before, mainly because I don’t like them, but I’m turning away from buying premade foods and I needed some for a recipe. I followed the recipe exactly (unusual for me) since it’s a new process. These things are delicious. I also saved the bean water and will freeze it when it’s cool so I have it for when I make soup. Thank you for a fantastic recipe. You’ve turned me into a convert.
I’m in my late 40’s and had only the canned refried beans. Holy cow! This is so much better. I read the other reviews, but as with every ethnic food there is no one way to do “authentic” and recipes can vary wildly from region to region. I love this recipe. It’s simplicity makes it highly adaptable to one’s personal tastes.
Can you freeze refried beans and rice or will the beans be watery? Want to take on lake vacation.
Yes, you can totally freeze both refried beans and rice! The beans might look a little watery when thawed, but just give them a good stir while reheating and they’ll come right back to life. Perfect for a lake trip!
Salt during soaking is usually okay, but salting during the early boil can make beans tough.
✅ Fix: Salt after beans are tender.
OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS!! Just made these Refried Beans as a component for my Mexican Lasagna and it’s almost too tasty to use. If I had canned refried beans I’d definitely save these. Used my own self-rendered lard which provided a porky goodness. Didn’t get as smooth as canned which am sure is my fault. Have a feeling these will take my lasagna over the top. Truly hope I don’t use up all the refried beans. Just fantastic!!
The cooking time recommended was not long enough. I soaked them for 24 hrs and then drained & cooked them for roughly three before adding the garlic, etc and cooking another hour. Still not done.
I had a bad batch of beans, after proper soak cooked them all day 10 hours later …still hard!
If the beans are old, just add a pinch of baking soda. You can pre-soak in the baking soda water. Since, you are at the cooking stage, add the pinch like 1/8 tsp. It works fast on softening the beans. Over dosing with baking soda, gives them an off-color taste and turns the beans to mush.
This was awesome! I put mine in a bender and will be making this every taco Tuesday from here out.
Has anyone tried canning this recipe? My family goes through so many beans and I want to start canning them myself to add to our pantry. Thanks!
Hi there, question: your instructions for the slow-cooker are a little confusing. First you say “add all ingredients” to the crockpot but then, later, you say to add the seasonings. Which ingredients get added to the crockpot with the beans?
For the slow cooker, add beans, onion, salt, and water at the start. After cooking, drain and add seasonings, garlic, and lard/oil when mashing on the stovetop.
-Stacy
I made these for the first time today. I am a make from scratch cook including my own stock and soups. This recipe is not hard but it is a pain. It takes a very long time and the mashing of the beans is really time consuming. I definitely recommend using the food processor and wish I had done that from the start. I think the taste is very good but for me, not worth the hours of soaking, cooking and then mashing.
I guess this recipe is just not for me.
For what it’s worth, I ended up using an immersion blender and it went way better than when I was just trying to mash them. I also prepped black beans using a different recipe and I don’t understand the need to soak overnight when the other recipe basically started from the second sentence of step 3, but maybe it’s because we can’t use the bean broth without the overnight soak, idk about that though.
Cook your beans in an Insta Pot. I just made 2 bags worth of beans in one. It takes only an hour and 20 minutes start to finish to cook the beans. Next I will fry in a skillet, add spices and use my immersion blender until the consistency I like. Nothing is easier or faster than this.
Hi Lauren. I just made your refried beans recipe and it’s a big hit! My son-in-law’s goes thru at least 2-3 cans of refried beans a week and here in Australia, that’s near $5/can. This bag of beans ran me about $2.50/bag and produced 2+ cans. We are very happy and will continue to use this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
I made a larger batch for a small get together and I ended up putting the beans in my food processor after they cooked to get soft so I could get a smoother consistency. I added all the onions to puree and then I added salt to taste so 1 teaspoon at a time. I also kept adding the bean water to get the smoothness I wanted, 1/4 cup at a time. The overall flavor is amazing and not to mention, this was my first time making refried beans on my own!
I highly recommend using lard instead of oil because I personally think it tastes better. I also make tamales and other dishes that require lard so I always have it!
This recipe is awesome and I love how I was able to turn into my own preference!