Refried Beans

My kids love refried beans and we buy the vegetarian/low fat canned type all the time. But they don't taste like restaurant-style homemade refried beans. Tom's been playing with this recipe for a couple of years now to come up with a vegetarian version we like that replaces the richness of pork fat or lard with other flavors like lots of garlic, onion and adobo sauce.

This recipe is not difficult and the ingredients are cheap, but it's not something you whip up quickly and the beans should soak overnight. Make it on the weekend when you'll be hanging around the house.

Refried Beans (Tom style)

soaking and boiling step ingredients:

Dried mayocoba beans, about 2 cups (if buying by the pound, about 1 lb.)

Note 1 – if you can’t get mayacoba beans, use pinto or pink beans

Note 2 - for best results, use beans within a few weeks of purchase – they will cook faster

1 onion, chopped coarsely

6 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tblsp. oil

1 tblsp. epazote (optional)

1 tsp. salt (Important: Add salt after boiling, not before)

frying step ingredients:

Olive oil – about 1-2 tablespoons per batch (Note for non-vegetarians – you can also use pork or bacon fat)

(optional) butter to add richness to the olive oil, about 1 tablespoon per batch.

1 onion, finely chopped per batch

2 cloves garlic, minced per batch

Boiled beans from previous step

Adobo sauce (from a can of chipotles in adobo), about 1 tsp. per batch

½ cup queso fresco crumbles, for garnish (optional)

Sort and rinse the beans. Tip for picking through beans – use a white dinner plate, spread out beans (about ½ cup at a time) on the plate so that you can see any pebbles or broken beans easily. Pour the sorted beans from the plate into a colander/sieve. When entire batch of beans is sorted and in the sieve, rinse thoroughly. Put beans into a large pot and cover with about 6 cups water. Soak overnight or for at least 4 hours. (or quick soak: boil beans for 2 minutes, then let them stand for 1 hour).

Drain the soaked beans. Add back to the pot and cover with 6 fresh cups water. Add onion, garlic, epazote, and oil. Bring slowly to a simmer. Cover partially and simmer over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, 1-2 hours. Check occasionally and if needed add water to cover.

Beans should be a bit soupy but not swimming in liquid. If there seems to be too much, drain off some of the liquid but reserve to add back in. Add the tsp. salt. Using a potato masher, mash the beans (we like them fairly coarse but suit your own preferences.) Heat the oil and (optional) butter in a heavy, non-stick pan (we use a cast-iron skillet).

Note that the frying ingredients above are a little non-specific. This recipe makes 2-3 “batches” in our skillet. For each batch, heat oil and fry onions and garlic until mostly cooked. Add adobo sauce. Immediately add beans and stir. Fry/turn until beans are heated through and flavors blended, adding liquid as needed so that they don’t become dry. Repeat until all batches are cooked.

Garnish with queso fresco crumbles and serve as a side dish or in tacos, enchiladas, etc. We had them with homemade corn tortillas. This recipe will easily serve 8 people for tacos/sides.

Stuff My Kid Can Cook

It was one of those weekends where no one had been grocery shopping yet, during the Lenten time of food discontent when nothing fresh is in season and even new curries and chiles fail to inspire. 

“What should we make for dinner?” “I don’t know, what do you want?” [pause] “no, really, what should we make for dinner?” (are we the only ones who do this? No, don’t tell me.)

I looked at the ten-year-old. “What should we have for dinner?” And he said “I’ll cook dinner, no problem."

And he did. He looked at what we had in the pantry and refrigerator (not much), and thumbed through a couple of books, and found a recipe I’d never noticed before in the Betty Crocker cookbook. And then he followed the recipe and made it. And it was good. 

Thus, a page was turned and another seat-of-pants cook was born into the house of Stuff My Kids Will Eat.

Refried Bean Bake

from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, 1986 edition

1 can (17 oz) refried beans [James used vegetarian]

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 eggs

1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese (6 oz)

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1 jar (12 oz) Mexican salsa

Mix beans, onion, green pepper, eggs, ¾ cup of the cheese, the chili powder and garlic powder. [I’d whisk the eggs first although the recipe didn’t specify this] Pour into ungreased square pan, 9 x 9 x 2 inches. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven until hot and firm, about 30 minutes. Heat salsa, stirring occasionally, until hot; serve with beans [James chose to spread the salsa on top of the casserole.] 8 servings, 190 calories each. 

James also provided green onions and cilantro garnish.