Crockpot Refried Beans

This Crockpot Refried Beansrecipe was my first attempt at making refried beans.  A very successful attempt I might add.  It doesn’t seem right to be calling these refried beans since they never quite make it to the frying pan.  These are delicious, healthy ( fat-free), homemade refried beans loaded with lots of flavor and protein.

We have a quaint little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant that opened up 3 or 4 years ago in our small town.  It has become our favorite haunt and we frequent it more than any other eating establishment around town.  With that said, keep in mind that there aren’t many other choices around town to begin with.  If the two big chain restaurants aren’t tempting your palate, and you’re not in the mood for the handful of mom/pop choices, you’ll have to drive about an hour (or more) in any direction depending on which way you go.  Now, are y’all ready to hear something crazy?  Here goes…

In all those years of going to our favorite little place I have yet to eat but one thing off their menu.  Whaaat?  I know!  I don’t quite get it either.  Apparently, I just love what I like, and I’m expressing that in some weird repetitious sort of way.  We were just there Sunday with some friends, and my friend thought the waiter had skipped my order, but I knew he hadn’t.  He knew exactly what I wanted and how I wanted it.  Refried beans always come with my beloved food choice and they’re good, but I’m kinda thinking I need to tell them about my recipe.

It’s quite a challenge to take an eye-pleasing photo of a not-so-photogenic recipe.  It wasn’t easy trying to make a blob of homemade refried beans plopped on a tortilla look good.  You’re gonna have to trust me when I say that that refried bean burrito tasted way better than it looks in the photo…because it really did.  Some cheese and a little cilantro topped it off just right.

I can’t believe I haven’t made homemade Crockpot Refried Beans before now.  They are delicious and so easy to make.  After rinsing and sorting the beans, throw them into your crockpot along with a few sidekicks and some seasonings.  Then add the water and let it cook all day or overnight.  They practically make themselves.

One of those sidekicks I was referring to is a jalapeño pepper.  If you like things heated up a little then you can wait and add the pepper later in the cooking process.  If heat is not your thing add it at the beginning.  Don’t skip it – it adds flavor either way.  Just remember a pepper loses it’s strength the longer it cooks.  A pepper cooked for a short amount of time will be far more spicy than one that’s been cooked longer.  I often cook beans and black-eyed peas with a jalapeño pepper.  In fact, I always have one bobbing around in the pot when I make my black-eyed peas.  We grow a lot of these peppers in our summer garden.  Pete loves making homemade pepper vinegar in old decorative bottles to pass on to family and friends.

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Crockpot Refried Beans

Author Serving Up Southern

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry pinto beans, rinsed and sorted
• 6 cups water
• 1 medium onion, peeled and halved
• 2 bay leaves
• 4-6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 fresh jalapeño, halved and seeded
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons of white vinegar or liquid from a jar of jalapeños or banana peppers. I used homemade pepper vinegar.

Instructions

1. Place rinsed and sorted beans, water, onion halves, bay leaves, garlic cloves, jalapeño pepper, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper in the crockpot. Cook for 8 hours on high.
2. When ready; drain the beans, reserving the liquid and discard the onion and pepper halves.
3. Return beans to crock and add the vinegar or liquid from pickled peppers.
4. Using a potato masher, food processor, or blender; mash or blend the beans and garlic adding reserved liquid as needed to reach the desired level of thickness or thinness. I used my immersion blender and prefer mine on the thinner side thus requiring more liquid. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe Notes

If using a blender or food processor you may need to process in batches to avoid overfilling. When finished stir batches together until well blended.

Recipe slightly adapted from Our Best Bites