Refried Beans a Good Hard Time Recipe

refried beans

My wife was raised on a ranch by her Mexican grandmother.  They didn’t have a whole lot of money and most of the cooking was done outside.  She learned how to make great Mexican food.  What we get in most of the restaurants has been changed to make it more Americanized.  This often adds ingredients that were not normally used in real Mexican cooking.  The following recipe for refried beans is a good example.

You will see that this recipe uses very basic ingredients and is easy to make.  If you store beans, you should have everything you need to make them.

Ingredients for refried beans

  • 1-cup beans
  • 1-quart water.
  • Lard or bacon fat
  • Salt
  • Chili powder and garlic are optional

Clean and check your beans for dirt or rocks (we buy ours in 50-pound sacks from the warehouse).

Put the beans into a pan with the water and let soak overnight.  If you have a pressure cooker, you can cook them in it without soaking.  After the beans are finished soaking, drain them and put in pan, one quart of water to 1 cup of beans.  Cook the beans until they are soft.  Add the salt and spices during the last ½ hour of cooking.  Adding salt too early makes the beans hard.  Mash the cooked beans.

Now refry the beans.  Get your pan really hot with lard or bacon grease.  Add your mashed beans and cook until creamy looking and starting to bubble.

Serve them with tortillas and rice and you have a complete protein.  These refried beans can be used as either a main or a side dish.  They are tasty, filling and good for you.  I like refried beans with some hot peppers thrown in, to make them spicy.

See also  Toasting bread the old-fashioned way.

Howard

A Must Read
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

2 thoughts on “Refried Beans a Good Hard Time Recipe”

  1. Howard,

    Frijoles refritos y huevos rancheros, yum!

    Maybe I missed it, but did you in the past have a how-to recipe for making your own tortillas at home? My buddy Jim in San Antonio, TX says that flour tortillas were a later invention, because the Bureau of Indian Affairs distributed flour on the reservations and used what they had. He says his great grandmother told him as a kid that traditionally tortillas, at least in the Texas border country were always corn flour (masa harina) treated with slaked lime.

    A reprise on home-made tortillas for us Anglos who have learned to like Tex-Mex would be greatly appreciated.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top