Easy Homemade Refried Beans

5 from 6 votes

A quick, easy, and delicious recipe for refried beans flavored with onion, garlic, cumin, ground Chipotle Pepper, and paprika.

Course Dinner

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword easy refried beans, homemade refried beans, refried beans

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings

Calories 304

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium, until shimmering but not smoking.
Add the onions and cook until the onions soften and become translucent about 5 minutes.
Stir in the cumin, ground Chipotle Pepper, and paprika. Cook while stirring to bloom the spices until they are fragrant (about 30 seconds).
Add the garlic and cook another minute.
Mix the drained pinto beans, stock, chopped cilantro/coriander, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes.
Remove from the heat and spoon out enough stock so that the beans are just covered. Set the reserved stock aside.
Add the lime juice and puree the mixture using a food processor or mash using a potato masher until you reach your desired consistency (adding some of the reserved stock as needed to loosen).
Return to the heat, cook, stirring for an additional 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and finish with the butter.
Taste and season with salt as needed, and add more lime juice if necessary.
If the beans seem dry, mix in a splash of more stock to loosen garnish with crumbled queso fresco cheese, chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes, and sliced jalapeños before serving.

This recipe yields about 2 ½ cups of refried beans enough for 4 to 5 servings.

For the creamiest refried beans, cook the onions until soft, and if you’re mashing instead of using a food processor, cut them relatively small to ensure the mixture blends smooth.
Mash or puree the beans as much as you like. I usually leave a little texture, but it is up to you how smooth you make them.
For an added kick, cook chopped jalapeño peppers in with the onions.
Spices: I use cumin, ground chili pepper, and paprika in this recipe because I have a global audience, but if you are in the US and want to use cumin and chili powder instead (which is a blend of all the spices I use) you can do that too.