Refried beans

Refried beans are a perfect side, a perfect topping for enchiladas, burritos, or tacos, and they're delicious on their own as a dip too! Start a batch using dried beans for the least expensive and most authentic flavour, or use canned beans to save time.

• 1 lb (454 g, or about 2 cups) dried pinto beans
  
  
• 1 tablespoon oil
  
  
• 1 large onion, diced
  
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced, or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin (optional)
  
  
• Pinch of salt

1. The night before cooking, rinse pinto beans and put them in a large pot. Cover with 2 times their volume in water (around 10 cups). Cover and leave overnight to soak.
   
   
2. When you're ready to cook, drain and rinse beans. Put them back in the pot with around 6 cups of fresh water. Bring to a boil over high heat, and then cover and reduce heat. Let beans simmer until tender, around 1 1/2-2 hours.
   
   
3. Use a ladle to scoop around 1 cup of the liquid that the beans are cooking in into a bowl, and set aside. Drain the remainder of the bean water into the sink, and remove pot from heat.
   
   
4. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Dice onion, and mince garlic cloves (if using). Add onions to the pan, and cook until softened, around 5 minutes. Add the cooked beans, reserved bean liquid, and seasonings, and stir to combine.
   
   
5. Use a potato masher or fork to mash the soft beans in the skillet until they're the consistency you like. Cook over medium heat until thick.

• Beans that are old or have been improperly stored may not soften, even after a long time boiling on the stove. If your beans haven't softened after an hour or two, try adding 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the pot, and continue simmering.
  
  
• If mashing the beans with a potato masher or fork is hard on your hands, you can add a portion of the cooked beans and all of the reserved bean liquid to a blender and puree them before adding to the pan.
  
  
• This recipe can be made in a slow cooker; simply add all ingredients to the slow cooker, and cook on HIGH for 8-10 hours, or on LOW for 12. You can sautee the onion in oil before adding it to the slow cooker for some extra flavour.

• To make with canned beans, skip the first three steps. Sautee your onions and seasonings in a large pan, and add 2 540 mL cans of pinto beans, along with either 1 cup of stock or the liquid from one of the cans of beans. Mash and cook over medium heat as usual.
  
  
• Black beans can be used instead of pinto beans.
  
  
• Quartered onion. bay leaves, or a ham bone can be added to the beans as they boil for extra flavour.
  
  
• Beans can be made with bacon. Cook bacon in the pan, and transfer to a plate to cool. Fry onions in the bacon grease instead of in olive oil, and add the rest of the ingredients as directed above. Chop the cooked bacon into small pieces, and stir it into the beans when they're fully cooked.

• Cover leftover beans, and keep in the fridge for 3-4 days.
  
  
• To freeze, cool refried beans completely. Mix in 1 tablespoon of oil or water, to keep them from thickening too much, and transfer to a freezer safe container or bag. Beans will expand slightly as they freeze, so leave a little room in your container. Place in freezer for up to 3 months.

Recipe adapted from the University of Illinois Extension Division

Food is Too Expensive! was funded by the City of Saskatoon through our Healthy Yards partnership, the Cyril Capling Trust Fund of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and the Department of Plant Sciences. Focus group research to inform this work was collected by CHEP. Thank you all for helping us make healthy food more accessible!