Learn to make refried beans from scratch with Chef Tom! This step-by-step video will empower you to create delicious, fresh refried beans that will make your Mexican and TexMex dishes even better. Get ready to ditch the canned beans!
WHAT YOU'LL LOVE
- An overnight soak sets up even cooking. Soaking the dried pinto beans overnight before simmering means they cook through evenly instead of ending up with a mix of soft and still-firm beans.
- Bacon and dried chiles flavor the cooking liquid, not just the final dish. Simmering guajillo and ancho chiles right alongside the bacon and beans infuses smoky, chile flavor deep into the beans themselves before they're ever mashed.
- The onion does double duty, raw and cooked. Splitting the onion so half simmers with the beans and half gets fried fresh in the lard gives the final dish both a mellow cooked sweetness and a fresh onion bite.
- Reserved cooking liquid controls the texture. Holding back a cup of the bean broth to stir in while mashing means you can dial in exactly how thick or loose you want the final refried beans, rather than guessing with plain water.
Refried Beans
Tom Jackson
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Side dish
Cuisine
Mexican
Servings
8
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Calories
325
Learn How to Make Refried Beans and you'll never get your beans out of a can again. In this Tips & Techniques video, Chef Tom will show you the steps to make this staple of many Mexican and TexMex dishes that the whole family will love.
Ingredients
- 1 lb pinto beans
-
1 tbsp Jacobsen Salt Co. Kosher Sea Salt
- 4 slices bacon
- 2 each guajillo chiles
- 2 each ancho chiles
- 1 each medium yellow onion, divided (half in the pot with the beans, half diced when fried)
- 4 cloves garlic, divided
- 1 bay leaf
-
1/4 cup Pork Fat Lard
-
1 tbsp Cattleman’s Grill Mexicano Taco Seasoning
-
Jacobsen Salt Co. Habanero Sea Salt, to taste
Directions
- Rinse beans. Place in a container. Cover with water by a couple of inches. Cover and let soak overnight.
- The next day, drain and discard the water. Place the beans in a dutch oven. Add enough water to cover the beans by a couple of inches. Add the slices of bacon, dried chiles, half of the onion, two cloves of garlic and the bay leaf. Bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid. Simmer for about one hour, until tender. Reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid. Strain off the remaining liquid. Discard the bacon, chiles, onion, garlic and bay leaves.
Melt the lard in a 12” skillet on the side burner of a gas grill. Add the other half of the onion, diced. Cook until softened. Add the remaining two cloves of minced garlic and beans. Mash with hand masher while cooking. Add reserved cooking liquid to thin to desired consistency.
Season with one tablespoon Cattleman’s Grill Mexicano Taco Seasoning and Jacobsen Salt Co. Habanero Sea Salt, to taste.
Recipe Note
Recipe FAQ
Why soak the beans overnight before cooking?
An overnight soak hydrates the beans evenly, which helps them cook through at the same rate. Skipping the soak often leads to some beans staying firm while others turn mushy.
Why simmer bacon and dried chiles with the beans instead of adding them later?
Cooking the bacon, guajillo, and ancho chiles right in the simmering liquid lets their smoky, savory flavor soak into the beans over the full hour of cooking, rather than just sitting on the surface if added at the end.
Why use half the onion in the pot and half fried separately?
The onion simmered with the beans mellows and sweetens over the long cook, while the fresh diced onion fried in lard adds a sharper, more pronounced onion flavor right before mashing — together they balance each other out.
Why reserve a cup of the cooking liquid?
The reserved liquid is what lets you control the final texture. Beans thicken as they cool, so having extra broth on hand lets you loosen the mash to your preferred consistency.
Can I make this recipe with canned beans instead of dried?
You can, though you'll miss out on the deep flavor the bacon, chiles, and onion build into the beans during the long simmer — that infusion is the main advantage of starting from dried beans.
How indoor-friendly is this recipe?
5 out of 5 — this is entirely a stovetop recipe. A side burner is a nice-to-have, but any stovetop burner and a dutch oven will get you the same result.
Recipe Highlights
Overnight soak: Hydrating the dried beans overnight sets them up to cook evenly, avoiding a mix of underdone and overdone beans in the same pot.
Simmering aromatics directly in the beans: Cooking the bacon, dried chiles, onion, and garlic right alongside the beans infuses their flavor throughout the pot instead of just seasoning the surface.
Splitting the onion into two preparations: Using half the onion simmered and half freshly fried gives the finished beans two distinct layers of onion flavor instead of just one.
Reserving cooking liquid for the mash: Holding back a cup of broth to stir in while mashing gives precise control over the final texture rather than relying on guesswork with added water.
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Nutrition
Nutrition
- Nutrition Serving Size
- 3 oz
- per serving
- Calories
- 325
- Fat
- 11 grams
- Saturated Fat
- 4 grams
- Cholesterol
- 17 milligrams
- Sodium
- 453 milligrams
- Carbs
- 40 grams
- Fiber
- 9 grams
- Sugar
- 3 grams
- Protein
- 16 grams
