When I made tamales for my husband’s birthday, I also made these easy homemade refried beans as a side dish. I liked this recipe because it used canned beans instead of dried, which makes this recipe quick and simple. These beans had a ton of flavor from a few surprising and non-traditional ingredients. With a few small tweaks I’m including in the recipe, this will be my go to refried bean recipe now.
I made half the suggested recipe and it was enough for my family of 5 so I am going to use those measurements here. You can always double the amounts if you need to feed a crowd. Good refried beans have a decent amount of lard or fat. It helps give them the smooth mouth feel and good taste. I recommend making them as is, but if you are on a lower fat diet you can certainly reduce the fat in them.
Easy Homemade Refried Beans
Ingredients
- 2 cans kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp lard, bacon fat, or crisco
- 1/2 small onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp yellow mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
- cotija or parmesan for topping
Instructions
- Puree the 2 cans of beans and water in a blender. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the lard or bacon fat. Add the onion and 1/2 tsp of salt and cook, stirring occasionally until softened and lightly golden, 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Scrape this mixture into the blender with the beans and blend until smooth, using a little more water if needed.
- Heat a skillet over medium high heat until hot. Add the beans and cook, stirring continuously, until they begin to thicken and darken in color, about 10 minutes.
- Add the ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce and continue cooking, scraping the bottom of the pan, until they darken further and are thickened. Season with salt and pepper and top with cheese and serve.
This sounds really tasty and I bet would also make a great dip with crisps or crudites.
Yes would be great with tortilla chips or in a burrito too 😀