They are the all-star side dish at your favorite Mexican restaurant and a staple for any taco Tuesday at home. This Authentic Mexican Beans Recipe takes just a handful of ingredients to create one of America's favorite Mexican dishes. Pass the tortilla chips and let's get this party started!
If Mexican food is as loved in your house as it is in mine, you need a trusted recipe for authentic Mexican refried beans in your back pocket. They are economical, delicious and, when made at home, we can eliminate the salt pork, bacon grease or bacon fat you find in some of the canned stuff.
Using vegetable broth cubes or concentrate, we keep the whole dish vegetarian, and even use olive oil in place of vegetable oil.
Keep reading for easy instructions on how to use dried beans to make this recipe, or make it even simpler using canned and drained beans!
Ingredients you'll need to make this recipe:
Before we get to the step by step directions, a few notes about the ingredients:
Beans: you can start with dry pinto beans, or grab a couple of cans of beans, then drain and rinse them before using. Sustitute black beans or your favorite legume!
Stock: if cooking for vegetarians or pescatarians, use veggie stock. For meat-eaters, chicken stock is a great option.
Jalapeño: as written, the recipe produces a mild to medium spiced dish. For a completely mild experience, reduce or eliminate the spicy pepper.
Full ingredient list and measurements included in the printable recipe card below.
Step by step instructions:
1. Prep and boil beans
To prepare dry beans, soak overnight. Drain and add to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cover and cook until the beans are tender - about 2 ½ hours.
Cooking time can vary based on the freshness of your dried beans, so test and adjust cooking time, as needed. Reserve about 1 ½ cups of the cooking liquid from the bean pot. Drain beans.
3. Cook aromatics
Heat 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large cast iron skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Then sauté diced onions, garlic and jalapeños for 6-8 minutes until very tender and fragrant.
3. Add beans and stock
Next, add the cooked beans to the pan, along with about ¾ cup reserved bean water and the vegetable stock concentrate or bouillon cubes. Stir to combine and heat through.
4. Blend and season beans
Using a potato masher or immersion blender, process the beans until smooth, adding a little bit more cooking liquid as needed to achieve the desired consistency for your authentic refried beans. Add salt and pepper.
5. Serve and enjoy
Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve these flavorful refried beans with cilantro and cotija cheese, extra chilis or limes.
Looking for more Mexican-inspired recipes?
FAQ's and Serving Suggestions
Only all of my favorite things! Baked Fish Tacos, Beer Battered Baja Fish Tacos, shrimp tostadas, Mexican Caesar salad, Mexican red rice, mango habanero salsa and crispy tortilla chips.
Refried beans are usually made with pinto beans but many other varieties of bean are used in other parts of Mexico, such as black beans, Peruano beans or red kidney beans.
If you're looking for a smoky flavor, add a half teaspoon of smoked paprika to the mix. When I'm using this pot of beans as my protein over salads, I like to season them as I would taco meat - with cumin, chili powder and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. A pinch of dried oregano will add an earthy touch - use a light hand as too much will turn your beans bitter. And I always love topping the beans with fresh cilantro.
So many ways! Add an extra jalapeno or two serrano peppers when sautéing the peppers and onions. A full teaspoon of red pepper flakes will dial up the heat. And if you have a shelf full of hot sauce, grab a few options and serve on the side so everyone can customize their own bean experience.
The jury is split on this issue. I still soak my beans overnight, but sometimes I'll do a quick-soak, which involves bringing dry, unsoaked beans to a boil for 2 minutes, then covering and removing from heat. Leave the beans to soak in that just-boiled water for 1 hour. Drain and then re-fill the pot and cook for about 2 hours, testing for doneness. Plenty of people on the interwebs insist soaking and quick-soaking are unnecessary - so if you give the no-soak method a try, let us know!
You can! I have made these beans in a slow cooker and found that soaked beans take about 5 hours on high, or 8-9 hours on low.
My tiny European kitchen doesn't hold an Instant Pot, but I found excellent, detailed instructions on cooking beans in a pressure cooker here.
To store, transfer the Mexican style refried beans to an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 3 days. These beans freeze beautifully. You can freeze in smaller portions before or after mashing the beans and keep frozen for up to 2 months. To reheat, add to a saucepan with a little water and heat slowly on the stovetop until warmed through.
Authentic Mexican Beans (Vegetarian!)
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
1 pound dried pintos (about 2 cups) or 2 cans of cooked beans, drained and rinsed
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 garlic cloves, diced
1 jalapeño pepper
2 teaspoons vegetable stock concentrate (or bouillon cubes)
1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- To prepare dry beans, soak overnight. Drain and add to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer, then cook until the beans are tender - about 2 ½ hours. Cooking time can vary based on the freshness of your dried beans, so test and adjust cooking time, as needed. Reserve about 1 ½ cups of the cooking liquid from the bean pot. (if using cans of pinto beans, drain the beans and use a little water in the next step, instead of cooking water). Drain beans.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Saute diced onions, garlic and jalapeños for 6-8 minutes until very tender and fragrant.
- Add the cooked beans to the pan, along with about ¾ cup reserved bean water and the vegetable stock concentrate or bouillon cubes. Stir to combine and let the mixture heat through. Then, using a potato masher or immersion blender, process the beans until smooth, adding additional cooking liquid as needed to achieve the desired consistency for your authentic refried beans. Add salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Serve these flavorful refried beans with cilantro and cotija cheese.
Notes
You can start this recipe with dried whole beans in a large pot of water, or take a (perfectly acceptable) shortcut and grab 2-3 cans of pintos or black beans - drain and rinse and we're ready to go!
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 120
- Category: Easy Recipes
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Mexican
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