This is the easiest and best Refried Beans Recipe! Cook and mash them right in your slow cooker, you won’t go back to canned refried beans!
Refried Beans
Refried beans are perfect as a side dish or as a main dish substitute. I like to use them for:
- Side Dish
- Tostadas
- Burritos
- Nachos
- Chimichangas
- Bean Dip
- Seven Layer Dip
They are economical and this recipe makes a lot. Plenty to serve and leftovers for the week, they even freeze really well. Just save some of the reserved liquid to reheat.
Refried Beans Recipe
For this refried beans recipe, we cook the dried beans in the slow cooker with plenty of liquid so they have a chance to absorb the liquid and soften up. No need to soak the beans ahead of time, just put the dried pinto beans right into the recipe. This recipe is pretty forgiving on cooking time. If the beans get very soft and split, it’s fine! They are going to get mashed anyway.
Easy Refried Beans
Traditionally, refried beans are called refried beans because cooked beans are moved to a separate pan with hot butter or oil and mashed and fried. But I’ve tried both ways, and mashing butter into the hot beans tastes the same as mashing beans into hot butter, and there is no need to dirty another pan. So give this refried beans recipe a try, they are easy and delicious.
I love to make these beans on a Sunday and use the leftovers throughout the week. It makes a big batch and they reheat really well!
This is one of our family’s favorite recipes, and one that I make over and over again. I’m so glad to finally get it up on the blog!
- 1 pound dried pinto beans rinsed well, look for darker colored dried pinto beans
- 4 tablespoons chicken bullion powder knorr recommend
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 small onion ends cut off and paper skin removed
- 14 cups water
- 1 stick butter
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
-
In a 6 quart slow cooker, combine beans, chicken bullion powder, garlic powder, onion and water. Cook on high heat for 4 hours. Beans should be soft all the way through. Cooking times of slow cookers can really vary, so if beans still have any firmness continue cooking until completely soft.
-
Once beans are soft, strain beans into a large colander nested inside a bowl to retain the liquid. Set onion aside and return cooked beans to slow cooker. Add butter and mash with potato masher. Stir reserved liquid back into beans by 1/2 cup measurements until desired consistency is reached. Season generously with salt and pepper to taste. Do not discard reserved liquid. The starch in the beans will continue to develop as the beans sit, so additional liquid can be stirred in. Save the liquid to stir into leftover beans when reheating.
I use powdered chicken bullion in this recipe instead of canned chicken broth since so much liquid is required to cook the beans. It's much more flavorful than using plain water but more budget friendly than using liquid chicken broth.
Pair these refried beans with:
5 Easy Dinner Ideas for Busy Weeknights
My five FAVORITE recipes for busy families!
- Quick to make
- Light on your budget
- Easy to clean-up
- and...most important...absolutely DELICIOUS
Which butter brand do you like using? Why do u like the darker pinto beans? I thought that meant they were just older?
I use a variety of butter. The Trader Joe’s butter is one of my favorites! I can’t find a good answer on the pinto beans. The light colored dried pinto beans seem bland to us.
This fuss-free, hands-off version is perfect and delicious – plug it in and let it go!
These were way easier than I thought they would have been. Also, they tasted great! I was able to make this big bunch for a church function.
These look absolutely delicious! Will be great with tacos for dinner tonight! Yum!
I’ll sign up for anything made in a slow cooker. These were so yummy. Can’t wait to make them again!
We all loved these beans!! They were perfect and easy to make!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for solving my taco night side dish issue. I have always bought the canned version and they still were never right. These were easy and delicious!
I followed this recipe and made this the other day. It is so easy to make and delicious. We ate it with tortilla chips while we were watching a movie and we all loved it. Thank you so much for this awesome recipe!
This looks so delicious and easy! I can’t wait to make these for enchiladas tonight!
This is so perfect! A new favorite recipe using my slow cooker!
Hi from Arizona I just ran a crossed your site and wow you have answered a lot of questions I have had about what to do with leftovers so thank you I have made beans like this in a pressure cooker before pressure cooking was cool. I usually end up making red chili but I like having options loving you recipes thanks again
I LOVE that there’s no need to soak the beans! And they turn out absolutely perfect! So good & so delicious! Perfect for my next Taco Tuesday or maybe Fiesta Friday! Lol… 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
Okay, this turned out amazing!! Absolutely loved this recipe.. so easy & so delicious!