These Slow Cooker Refried Beans take only 5 minutes prep, turn on the slow cooker and leave them! No soaking the beans is required.
I don’t know if you are like me, but if you are, you hate cooking dry beans! I have tried them so many times. They are soaked over night and rinsed thoroughly. Then I place them in new water or stock.
They are then brought to a boil, the heat is reduced and then they are simmered. For 1 hour, taste them, they are not even close to done. For 2 hours they are a little better but still not even close.
So I let them go for 3 hours and they are still slightly crunchy. It drives me nuts, so I just end up using canned beans to make frijoles.
The only thing that draws me back to dried is that dry beans are so cheap and being the cheap-skate that I am, I always want to give them another try.
I usually end up disappointed. For this reason when I learned to cook the beans in the slow cooker, I was elated. Feel free to tweak the spices to suit your taste.
Here is a quick YouTube Video to show you how to go about the process.
What you need
- dry pinto beans
- water or chicken broth
- white or yellow onion
- mild pepper (optional) or substitute jalapeno pepper if you’d like the beans hotter
- granulated garlic or fresh cloves garlic
- cumin
- chili powder
- adobo seasoning
- salt & pepper
How to make them
- Rinse and sort beans. Remove any small stones or foreign objects.
- Place beans in slow cooker.
- Chop vegetables.
- Add remaining ingredients.
Cook beans on low for 6-8 hours until tender. Drain, reserving liquid. Mash beans with a potato masher or use an immersion blender, adding enough of the cooking liquid back to the beans to make them the desired consistency.
Traditionally, after the beans were cooked they were “refried” in a frying pan with lard (you can substitute olive oil).
How to serve them
Beans are delicious served with shredded cheese and used as a bean dip for tortilla chips. Use them in tacos, taquitos, burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas and more.
Serve with all of your favorite Mexican dishes. See a list below.
In a hurry for beans? Check out these Instant pot pinto beans. They are as easy as these but take about 30 minutes total to cook. A perfect time saver when you’re in a hurry.
Here are more delicious recipes to serve with frijoles.
I’ll leave you with Slow Cooker Refried Beans (Frijoles Refritos)! Happy Cinco de Mayo!
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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today!
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Frijoles (Refried Beans) with a Mexican Round-up For Cinco de Mayo
Ingredients
- 5 cups dried pinto beans rinsed and picked over
- 7 cups water
- 2 2/3 cups Chicken beef or vegetable stock (2 – 11 oz. cans)
- 1 medium white onion chopped
- 2 tablespoon garlic, granulated
- 2½ tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon Chili powder
- 2 teaspoon dry adobo seasoning
- 2 teaspoon pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoon salt to taste
- Garnishes:
- grated cheddar cheese (optional)
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients, except for the salt and pepper to the crock-pot. Cook on high for about 9 hours. Adjust salt and pepper after about 8 hours. After the 9 hours the beans should be tender and a bunch of them will have popped open. If they are not quite soft, let them go for a while, checking every half hour for done-ness.
- Use an immersion blender or potato masher to smash the beans to desired creaminess. I like mine a bit chunky. Add more water as needed! Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
- Traditionally, frijoles refritos were placed in a cast pan with lard and fried (hence the term refried) and mashed by hand, adding lard as you go to make a creamy paste. But I find this step unnecessary.
- Serve with shredded Mexican cheese (optional).
- Note This makes a huge batch (about 4 quarts) but the quantities can be reduced or the leftovers can be frozen up to 2 months.
- Inspiration for this recipe came from Food, Folks and Fun
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Notes
Nutrition
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Rika
This recipe is so easy to make. I love how I can dump everything in a slow cooker! Yummy!
Beth Neels
So glad you them Rika. Thanks for checking out the recipe!
Jessica Formicola
these slow cooker refried beans look so much better than the canned version! I can’t wait to make them!
Beth Neels
They are indeed far superior to canned beans. Thanks for checking out the recipe Jessica!
Kristina Tipps
The beans came out great- my 2 year old couldn’t get enough.
Beth Neels
Haha! I’m impressed that you have a two year old who eats beans. My second would not have touched them.
Biana
Yum! Love refried beans, this easy recipe will be perfect for Cinco de Mayo!
Beth Neels
Mexican fare isn’t complete without them IMHO! Thanks Biana!
Sarah Baumeister
I love the ease of making them in a Crock Pot! And the fact that it is only 5 minutes of prep time to have something so delicious. Great recipe!
Beth Neels
Thanks so much Sarah! I’m so glad you liked them!
Gabby
Another one I’ll be trying! I love refried beans. I have some homemade tacos they will go perfectly with!
Binky
I love homemade tacos but haven’t made them in years! I’ll have to dig out the taco press! Thank you for your comment, my friend!
Mayuri Patel
I so hate using canned vegetables and fruits so try and use fresh and dry beans as much as possible. Unlike any other beans, kidney beans and black beans are a headache to use. Sometimes they don’t become soft even after cooking them in a pressure cooker! I would love to try cooking them in a slow cooker.
Binky
They worked out very well! I have always had a hard time with pinto and black beans not getting soft. I don’t have a pressure cooker, it’s on the list! Thank you Mayuri!:)
Joyce
Yay no more canned refried beans! Time to make this at home~! Thanks for the wonderful recipe! 🙂
Binky
This is far superior to canned! Thanks, Joyce!
Melissa
Simple and honestly just great beans. Nothing fancy, nothing fake, just great beans. I did use oil to re-fry the beans as instructed and that was great but lard would even be more authentic and oh so, delicious. I had both Oaxaca and Cotija cheese available for topping. Note: when re frying, scoop out the beans without a lot of juice – you can add a bit more bean juice if needed but there will be a lot of extra bean juice in the pot.
Binky
Thank you so much for your comment, Melissa! I’m glad you enjoyed them. Lard would absolutely be more authentic but it’s hard to find here. I agree about the water, too. Just add as much back to the beans that you need to achieve a great consistency!