Comments on: Homemade Refried Beans

By: Meg

Meg — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:19:02 +0000

Mine came out a weird gray color too! I was so sad because they looked so yummy and colorful in this picture.

By: Kathleen Bizal

Kathleen Bizal — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:06:47 +0000

I made a double batch of cornbread to go with our big salad for dinner tonight. The kids (and me too) think it is really yummy. It is moist, slightly sweet and we slather tons of butter and honey on our pieces. Heavenly!!

By: Sue

Sue — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:43:18 +0000

I cooked supper tonight – Polish Kielbasa cooked with green beans and potatoes, fried corn, cabbage, cooked apples, Mexican cornbread and Peach cobbler. Sure was good!!!!!!!!!

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:24:05 +0000

Hi!!! I cooked dinner for one last night… I made some Parmesan Pasta and added some tuna (one of the single serving size envelopes) to it and voila! Dinner!!! I had some cucumbers and tomatoes with balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side… Simple, fast and tasty!!! Happy Thursday to all!!!

By: Gaby@GabHousewifeChronicles

Gaby@GabHousewifeChronicles — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:08:43 +0000

Yum! I just made beans yesterday, tomorrow I’m poasting my recipe. I’m Mexican and I made the “Frijoles de Olla” and they have a similar process.
About using the water where they cooked:

Pros: More flavor, more color (depending on the beans color).
Cons: More flatulences and starch

Oh, and another tip. Well, you are doing refried beans, but when you do them brothy, you can add extra flavor by making a “paste”: fry 1/2 onion, 2-3 cloves garlic and 1 tomato, all finely chopped. When fried, add 2-3 tbsp cooked beans and 5-6 tbsp broth and mix in blender. Add to the broth and leave for 10 min to boil. The taste will be so rich! And this is the simpler recipe.

You can always make “Charros beans” by adding chorizo, sausage, bacon to this paste, chile, chipotle.
Or “Drunk Beans” by adding 1-2 cups beer.

Yum!!!!

By: Carlee

Carlee — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:29:36 +0000

The best bean secret I ever learned (and I am going on 5 years of only homemade beans): Cook up some Chorizo, about 2 Tbsp for 3/4 of a crockpot full of beans, and add the Chorizo, grease and all, into the pot of beans after you mash them. So, so good! I also add cumin and corriander, garlic and an onion to the SOAKING water. If you wait to season in the cooking phase, the beans have absorbed all kinds of plain water, and don’t get the same flavor.

By: Cherilyn

Cherilyn — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:42:18 +0000

You can also make them in your crockpot, thus avoiding the scorched pan problem! I cook them on high for a couple of hours then turn it down to low for 4-6 more hours. I used to burn my beans all the time and have never had a problem since I started using the crock pot….happy cook= happy family! You can also chop them in you Cuisinart for a quick “mashing” solution. I put 4-5 cups of soaked beans in my crockpot, add water just below the top of the crockpot, add 2 T salt and cook all day. Smash in my food processor, heat pan with a couple of Tbl of lard or bacon grease until melted, add beans and water or bean juice until it is the desired consistancy…yum. One more note, I grew up in MT with heated tortillas in the microwave and Rosarita beans, yuck! I married a wonderful cook from AZ who introduced me to steamed tortillas on a griddle. What a HUGE difference that will make for your burritos!

By: Donna Savage

Donna Savage — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:12:56 +0000

Sadly, I’m with Amanda on this. We really wanted to like these, but they were just sweet. I was expecting Tex-Mex, and hesitated at the 2T. of brown sugar. Should have followed my instinct. Even after adding extra cayenne AND salsa, plus powdered jalapeno, all we tasted was brown sugar…

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:50:33 +0000

I made these today with a mess of beans I had leftover from a batch of chili that got out of hand. (oops! I didn’t mean to dump the whole bag of beans into that water…) I re-cooked the beans another hour so I’d have that important “water” to reserve. My only complaint is that there is too much onion flavor for our taste. So, after I mashed them I added some salsa (about a cup) to get some acid for balance. Now I’ve got them simmering on the stove again. Looks like we’re having tostadas for dinner!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:20:33 +0000

Made these last night and followed the directions/proportions exactly – well, with the exception of adding 2 tablespoons of bacon fat i wanted to love these, but all I could taste was brown sugar. My husband didn’t taste the brown sugar as much as I did, but he said there was something ‘off’ about them too. Perhaps it’s just not what we were anticipating (thought it would be more like our local mexican restaurants’ refried beans). There is real potential here – the texture and cooking method seems perfect – but the flavor profile just didn’t do it for us. I’m thinking next time we’ll try salt, a pinch of cumin, chili powder, diced jalapenos – more savory than the sweet brown sugar. Thanks for this!! Great thing about beans: they’re cheap, so if you screw up/want to experiment it’s no biggie