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This refried black beans recipe is lightyears better than canned. They’re flavorful and tender, the perfect texture, and they’re naturally vegan. Made in about 15 minutes with canned black beans, they’re perfect as a quick side dish for any Mexican or TexMex recipe.
🫘 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- They’re absolutely packed full of flavor, from the natural earthiness of the beans to the richness of the spices. They’re perfect any way you want to serve them. Load them up with cilantro or drizzle a little queso on top. Smear them in a burrito, scoop them up with chips, or spoon them onto nachos. They’re delicious AND super versatile.
- This recipe is super quick and easy, made in about 10 minutes. We’re using canned black beans so the prep is minimal, with no overnight soaking involved. Perfect if you’re craving a fast but nutritious snack or just realized your tacos need a little something extra.
- If you’re vegan, your refried bean options are surprisingly slim sometimes. Sure, you can get “vegetarian” refried pinto beans from a can, if you’re lucky. Most of the time, taqueria-refried beans are loaded with lard, a pretty clear no-no for the vegans in the house. These refried black beans? Totally vegan.
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- The consistency is entirely up to you. If you prefer runnier refried black beans, feel free to add more water or bean juice if you have extra. If you end up with too much liquid, never fear! The beans will thicken as they cook, so just let them cook a few minutes longer until they’ve thickened up to your liking.
- That goes for the texture of the beans, too! For really smooth refried black beans, you’ll want to mash 100% of the beans as well as you can. They won’t be as smooth as if you ran them through a food processor, but they’ll be nice and silky. If you prefer a little more texture, you just need to mash them less!
- Canned black beans usually contain added salt, so I recommend using low-sodium canned beans OR cutting back how much kosher salt you add to the dish. If you’re using homecooked black beans, be sure to factor in how much (if any) salt was added to the beans when they were cooked.
- Refried black beans are incredibly easy to dress up if you really want to take the flavors to all new levels. Add a little taco seasoning, or mix in garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, oregano, and chili powder. Stir in cilantro, diced green chilies, diced jalapeños, lime juice, or hot sauce. Just be very careful not to overdo the salt!
🤔 How to Cook Dried Black Beans
If you only have dried black beans on hand, use this method to cook them. For an added bonus (and digestive comfort), soak them first. There’s more info on soaking beans in the same link in this section.
Try using your Instant Pot to cook dried beans, too.
Do make sure that if you cook your beans from dried that you give yourself plenty of time to simmer them. If you try to speed up the process by cooking them above a simmer, the outsides will become tough, which is all-around not the best!
🥘 Other Recipes You’ll Love
- Best Restaurant Style Salsa
- Avocado Salsa
- Chimichurri Rice
- Chile Relleno Burrito
- Instant Pot Refried Beans
- Shredded Beef Tacos
- Texas Caviar (aka Cowboy Caviar)
- Walking Taco Casserole
- Avocado Dressing
- Burrito Suizo with Shredded Chicken and Pinto Beans
- 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken
- Ranch Style Beans
- Crockpot Chicken Tacos
- Pickled Beet Tacos
- Mexican Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Refried Black Beans
Made with cooked black beans in about 15 minutes, this is the perfect side dish for any Mexican or TexMex recipe!
servings
Equipment
- Medium skillet
- Wooden spoon
- Potato masher optional
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil avocado, refined coconut, or other neutral oil
- ½ cup finely chopped white onion
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ – 2 teaspoons kosher salt see Notes
- 3 cups cooked black beans canned or homemade; liquid drained, reserved; beans divided
- ¾ cup liquid from can of black beans or ¾ cup water or vegetable broth
Instructions
- Heat medium skillet over medium heat. When pan is hot, add neutral oil and swirl to coat bottom of skillet entirely.
- When oil is hot and shimmering, add chopped onion, minced garlic, and kosher salt. Stir well and cook, stirring constantly, until vegetables are soft and begin to brown, approximately 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add 1 ½ cups black beans to skillet. Use back of wooden spoon or potato masher to mash beans completely, until no whole or partial beans remain.
- Add remaining 1 ½ cups black beans and mash to preferred consistency.
- Cook mashed beans, stirring constantly, until starches begin to coat bottom of skillet and turn golden brown, approximately 3 minutes.
- Slowly pour in bean liquid in small increments, stirring well to incorporate liquid after each addition. Bring mixture to simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring and scraping bottom of skillet, until liquid is fully incorporated and beans are heated-through, approximately 2 minutes. Note: beans may look soupy but will thicken as they cool. Be sure to use entire ¾ cup of liquid to prevent beans from drying out.
- Serve as desired with chips, tacos, or other entrée.
- Spices: Feel free to boost the flavors even more by adding your favorite spices. Garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin all do very well in refried black beans, but you could also just use a little taco seasoning. Add any spices you choose to the skillet with the onion, garlic, and kosher salt.
- Beans: You’ll need roughly two 15-ounce cans of black beans to yield 3 cups of cooked beans. I recommend using a low sodium version or quickly rinsing the black beans after draining.
- Salt: It’s important that you use kosher salt in this recipe. If using table salt instead, use only ¾-1 teaspoon total. If you’re using canned black beans, they typically include salt, so you may not want to add as much.
- Leftovers: Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 7 days.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 137calProtein: 6gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 438mgPotassium: 247mgTotal Carbs: 16gFiber: 6gSugar: 0.4gNet Carbs: 10gVitamin A: 4IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 22mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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I have to add that my family loves this so much that I double the recipe! It’s so good and a new staple in our house. I’m very excited about that as we try to move to dishes with less meat. If I have extra bacon grease in the fridge, I use that for a little flavor boost instead of another kind of oil!
I have rated this before. But I just have to say that my family loves this so much that I double the recipe! It’s so good and a new staple in our house. I’m very excited about that as we try to move to dishes with less meat. I prepare the beans in an Instant Pot (it’s easy and less expensive because I buy the beans in bulk at a Smart Food Service… western US). I use all the cooking juices and usually end up using some water too. Also, it might not make much difference, but if I have extra bacon grease in the fridge, I use that for a little flavor boost instead of another kind of oil!
I was wondering if I make this into refried beans (that call for salt, garlic, and onion), should I leave them out since the recipe already has salt, garlic, and onion? Thanks!
I’m afraid I might have already left a review and the question I had was a mistake…
Anyway, everyone in my family loves these refried beans. They are delicious. I don’t know how it’s possible that I haven’t discovered refried beans before and realized how wonderful they are! In fact I halved the recipe a few days ago, and made a full batch tonight!
Instead of using canned beans, I prepared the beans in my instant pot with some spices and onion and garlic, and just the right amount of water (I stirred it and let it sit a while and the juice was so savory, there wasn’t much juice left after they sat). FYI- cooked 1# beans w/4 cups water for 35 min and 20 min natural release in IP. Then I made them into refried beans… my 10 year old did a lot of the work! When we tasted it, we both had to have another taste! My husband said I could make these every week. I think he might get sick of it… but 1-2 times a month would be great! He also said he like the flavor of the IP beans better than canned.
Thank you!
I would probably leave the salt out but a little extra garlic and onion never hurts!
Excellent! I made a 7 layer dip and used your recipe for the retried bean layer. So delicious! Thank you.
Awesome!
I normally buy canned retried black beans but only had one can of whole black beans for our Mexican dinner. I found your recipe on Pinterest and it is a great recipe. I adjusted it for one can but it made plenty for my husband and me. It was delicious! No more canned retried beans for us.
Love it!? I make my own bone broth (the 3day slow cooker kind) Think I’ll add my own broth instead of water. More nutricious this way.
This is a good recipe! I’d cut way back on the salt if I made it again but luckily I had extra cooked beans to add in and balance the salt.
I’m glad that worked for you and you liked the recipe 🙂
I just made this and it is delicious! I used canned black beans but switched tomato juice for the cooking water and it added some robust flavor! Will definitely be making this again!
I’m so glad you loved it, Rachel!
I am totally with you on the beans, wine, and cake, but there’s no recipe listed…?
So sorry! When I merged blogs, about half the recipes were left behind.. then it seems the other half disappeared! VERY frustrating.. yikes. Fixed now, though 🙂 Thanks for being patient!
I will say that *occasionally* I’d pick fruit over cake, but I am 100% with you on refried vs. intact beans. As a kid I remember going out for Mexican and just getting a giant plate of refried beans for my meal. Soo good, and yours look perfect!!
You’re a stronger woman than I! And yes, refried all the way! I never even really ate rice until very recently, so I’d really embarrassingly just double up on those suckers.