Homemade Garlic Refried Beans

Homemade refried beans with LOTS of garlic are one of my favorites!

Course Beans and Lentils, lunch

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword dinner, garlic, tefried beans

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 30

Total Time 1 50

Servings Servings

Calories 250kcal

Author Barb

Ingredients

2 cups dried pinto beans
1 Tablespoon olive oil
½ onion trimmed of both ends, peeled, and roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon dried Ancho Chile Pepper
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
2 Tablespoons dry powder for chicken stock Knorr's
8 cloves garlic peeled but left whole
2 bay leaves
¼ cup peanut oil canola, or vegetable oil, vegetable shortening, lard, or bacon grease (I used bacon fat)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 275°F.
Put the pinto beans into a colander. Pick through and remove any foreign objects and dried, shriveled or dis-colored beans.
Rinse them well and set aside.
Put the olive oil into a large Dutch oven; heat to medium high and saute the chopped onions until almost brown. Add the Ancho Chile Powder and oregano and saute for one minute.
Add the beans to the post and cover them with 2 to 3-inches of fresh water; add dried chicken stock, then stir in the garlic and bay leaves.
Bring to a boil, put the lid tightly in place on the dutch oven and place in the oven for 60-90 minutes (*See notes), or until the beans are quite tender.
Add the fat of choice to a cast-iron or other heavy-bottomed 8 to 12-inch skillet over MEDIUM HIGH heat. When it is shimmery, use a ladle to transfer about 3 cups of the cooked beans and liquid to the skillet.
When this comes to a boil, add 2 more ladles-full of beans and liquid. Let it return to a boil and repeat the process (2 ladles then boil) until all the beans have been added then drop the heat to MEDIUM LOW.
Stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon to help break up the beans. Keep simmering until most of the beans are broken up and the mixture is creamy and thick. There will still be some whole beans visible in the pan(**See Notes). Keep in mind that the mixture will continue to thicken as it cools.
Taste the beans and adjust with salt if desired.

Notes

The final cooking time on the beans is largely dependent on how old your dried beans are. This doesn't necessarily mean that if you just bought them they're newer. That's okay, it's a product that's MEANT to be shelf-stable for years.

Just have a little patience, add more water while it's in the oven if it starts running out too soon, and you'll be rewarded with delicious beans!

*If you want a smoother end-product, you can use a potato masher in the pan to help break up the beans while they cook. If you want an ULTRA smooth finished product, you can whirr the cooked beans in a food processor fitted with a metal blade.

As previously mentioned, I simply used an immersion blender to help break up the beans; leaving the overall mixture chunky.

Nutrition