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These simple Refried Beans are thick, creamy and powerfully flavorful with just a handful of ingredients. You will never want to eat the canned version again! This recipe has been passed through the Herrera family for generations and are guaranteed to become your new favorite recipe.
I love serving these refried beans alongside some homemade Mexican rice with our meals. Or using these in some Wet Burritos. Or even in some tacos with the best taco meat.
Why We Love these Refried Beans
- Simplicity: This is such a simple recipe, only a handful of ingredients are needed. Plus you can skip the frying step and still enjoy flavorful refried beans.
- Family Recipe: This is a recipe that has been made in the Herrera family for several generations. Perfected in it’s simplicity. One of the most common experiences is walking into Gramma’s home and seeing a large cast iron pan of refried beans simmering away on the stovetop.
- Customizable: thanks to how simple this recipe is, it’s easy to adjust and make your own. If you want a bit of heat add a dash of cayenne. Add more garlic, or more salt. Maybe you want a dash of cumin. But with this base recipe you can make it your own.
- Healthy Side dish: beans are full of fiber and are a great option for serving alongside all your favorite Tex Mex meals.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Pinto Beans: this recipe calls for dried pintos and walks through how to soak and prepare them. You can skip that step and use canned if needed, just make sure to grab cans that have no Salt. Drain and rinse the canned beans, season and mash while frying.
- Oil: Use an oil of your choice for frying in the last step, use a mild tasting oil since it will give flavor to the beans. Some common choices include: lard, corn or canola oil, vegetable oil, or leftover bacon grease (which has a strong flavor, but can be a tasty and fun option.) Pick what works for you, just keep in mind that what you use will flavor the beans, so keep it mild. For this reason, olive oil is not recommended.
Find the complete recipe card below with measurements and full instructions.
How to Make Refried Beans
- Soak the pinto beans, it’s easiest to soak them overnight. If you did not soak them, you can still make this recipe by increasing the water and cooking time.
- Cook the pinto beans covered, then continue cooking uncovered for an hour until they are completely softened.
- Heat oil in a large skillet and fry them while mashing up. Spoon in the leftover broth as needed to reach desired consistency.
Storage
- Storing: Store refried beans in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. As they cool and sit the beans will thicken, you may need to add some broth during re-heating to get them back to the desired consistency.
- Freezing: Store beans in the freezer for 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Expert Tips
- Soaking: Soaking can save some time when it comes to cooking though. So if you soak them overnight, then you don’t need to cook them as long. If you decide the day of that you want to make this recipe, still go for it. Cooking time will be increased.
- Hot Water: If you are cooking your beans over too high of heat, then you may find that your water is evaporating too quickly. At this point you can add more water, just make sure it’s hot water so that the cooking process isn’t stopped or slowed by adding cold water.
- To mash or not to mash: If you do mash them, use a potato masher and really it’s up to you how much you mash them. Do you want them lumpy? No lumps? Not mashed at all? It’s completely up to you. Or add them to a blender or processor to make them completely smooth.
- Bean Broth: As the beans cook, the water will become broth-like. This is what you will spoon into the beans while mashing to get the consistency you want. If you want a thicker consistency, then use less water. If you want a thinner consistency, then you will use more broth.
- Save the leftover broth and use it to stir into your leftovers. As they sit in the refrigerator and chill, they will thicken. Using the broth when you reheat will ensure that you don’t lose any flavor when thinning them back out.
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Authentic Refried Beans
These Authentic Refried Beans are so simple, only a handful of ingredients are needed. These are the perfect side dish to any Mexican or Tex Mex meal.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Prepare: Sort through the beans to ensure that they are good and no rocks are mixed in.
- Soak: Rinse with water in a stainer to clean. Or if soaking the beans, place in a medium size mixing bowl and cover completely with water. Let sit overnight. Strain the beans the next day after soaking.
- Cover: Add the beans smashed garlic and onion to a large pot or pan. Pour the water in. Beans should be fully submerged in water.
- Cook: Bring to a boil, stir in the salt, then turn the heat to low and continue to simmer covered. Allow to cook for about 30 minutes, remove lid, stir, and continue to cook an additional 30-60 minutes until the beans are softened and easily mashed.
- Fry: Once the beans are soft, heat lard or oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is heated, carefully ladle the beans, garlic and some of the bean broth into the skillet. Allow the beans to "fry" in the oil while mashing. Add more bean broth as needed to get desired consistency to the beans.
Video
Notes
- Pinto Beans: this recipe calls for dried beans and walks through how to soak and prepare them. You can skip that step and use canned beans if needed, just make sure to grab cans that have No Salt.
- Soaking Beans: Soaking the beans can save some time when it comes to cooking though. So if you soak them overnight, then you don’t need to cook them as long. If starting with dried beans, increase cooking time to 2 -2.5 hours.
- Beans not softening: If the beans are old, they will take longer to cook and might not become soft enough to mash.
- Hot Water: Very important to this recipe. If you are cooking your beans hotter, then you may find that your water is evaporating too quickly. At this point you can add some more water, just make sure it’s hot water so that the cooking process isn’t stopped or slowed by adding cold water.
- Oil: this is used for frying the beans in the last step, use a mild tasting oil since it will give flavor to the beans. Some common choices include: lard, corn or canola oil, vegetable oil, or leftover bacon grease (which has a strong flavor, but can be a tasty and fun option.)
- To mash or not to mash: If you do mash them, use a potato masher and mash to desired consistency. You could also use a blender for a completely smooth texture.
- Consistency: save the bean broth from cooking the beans and spoon into the beans while mashing to get the consistency you want. If you want a thicker refried bean, then use less water. If you want thinner beans, then you will use more broth.
- Save the leftover bean broth and use it to stir into your leftover beans. As they sit in the refrigerator and chill, they will thicken. Using the broth when you reheat the beans will ensure that you don’t lose any flavor when thinning them back out.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 90kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 5g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Fiber: 3g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
The recipe for Homemade Refried Beans was originally published on January 29, 2016. Updated July, 16, 2021 and April 9, 2024.
Original instructions did not include any frying of the beans.
Photography done by the talented @KJandCompany.co
Quick question!
I’ve already cooked the bean without garlic to have just regular beans. Can I warm them up on the stove and add garlic then?
Absolutely! Just stir in some minced garlic and cook the beans until warm.
I wonder if Kim lives at a high altitude where cooking and baking require different methods. I live in mile-high
Denver Colorado and I too had trouble cooking beans. I soaked them overnight and cooked them for more than
4 hrs and they were still a bit hard. After doing some internet research, I heard of a trick that works. Add about
a half of a teaspoon of baking soda to the water when cooking and voila’! Success!
Delicious… better than can anyday. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much Kim!
Serene, thank you so much for this recipe. I so admire your kindness in replying to all, even the negative comment. I found your recipe b/c I’ve been turning my life’s path towards clean and fresh food. I’m Slovakian and CHERISH my grandmother and great-grandmother’s recipes.
I can’t wait to try this. I appreciate this healthy version.
Thank you so much Denise! And my great grandparents were from Czechoslovakia 🙂 I wish I had some of their family recipes. Luckily, my husbands family makes up for it with tons of their recipes!
Made these beans tonight. The family loved them. Followed the instructions to a T came out perfectly.
Thank you
So glad you enjoyed! Thanks 🙂
Super easy and tastes great! Thank you for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed!
Hi Can you make in advance and serve the next day? (I’m serving a mexican themed dinner for my annual cookie party and thought these beans would be a great addition!) Any chance you have a pumpkin enchilada recipe that you are willing to share?? Thank you!
Hi! You definitely can make these ahead of time. If they seem dried out when you reheat them just add a bit more water and mix thoroughly. And sadly, no I don’t have a pumpkin enchilada recipe. I do have a couple of other enchilada recipes though if you search on the site, there’s cheese enchiladas and a tequila lime chicken enchilada.
When I make my beans I put an onion with garlic. Another way to make them is to cook with a ham hock only and you need no salt because of the hocks flavor. So good!!
My best friend growing up was Tina Gonzalez. Even as a kid of 5 I remember her whole house smelling like these wonderful beans she cooked up on the stove every day along with her flour tortillas. I LOVED her beans and this recipe sounds exactly like what she gave us. She never fried them but they were the perfect consistency coming out of the pot. Thank you so much for posting this recipe, I will use it for years to come. Nothing like fresh homemade beans. Sheila
Obviously I forgot to mention that it was Tina’s MOM who made the beans not the 5 year old Tina. HA!
Thanks so much Sheila! What a wonderful memory 🙂 And I agree! Nothing better than some homemade beans!
That is so bullshit
Refried beans are to be FRIED…
And we don’t put cheese in top …
what’s with the garlic?
Silly people….ask a Mexican how to do refried beans and
And ask you about hamburgers and
bye
Jorge, I’m sorry that you feel such a strong dislike towards this bean recipe. I’m pretty sure that there are several ways to make beans, and this just happens to be one way. This is also the way that my husband’s Gramma Herrera has been making beans for her whole life, and how she learned to make them from her own parents. So I guess..I did ‘ask a Mexican’ how to make them since she’s the one who taught me this recipe.
Rude much. Her title isn’t “the only way to cook beans”.” Grow up and respect “her families recipe”.
I have thought of cooking my own refried beans but never investigated for a recipe. Am glad I did and will cook up some this weekend but will add onions as mentioned by someone else. Also, what about tossing a little bacon in with these goodies. Would also tell Jorge to clean up your response, there are many ways to cook Meican or Italian, Chinese or whatever, so get your butt off your shoulders and maybe appreciate differing recipes.
Jorge, I work with 16 Mexican girls who all have their own recipe for beans because they come from different regions of Mexico! Just like in Italy the sauce for pasta is very different in northern Italy as opposed to southern Italy. However, every girl I asked as to how they prepare “refried beans” said they did not fry them! Now some of them did add other ingredients like Mexican Onion that you boil with then take out before mashing the beans but that was about it. Thank you Serene for this simple, healthy recipe.