These Slow Cooker Refried Beans take only 5 minutes prep, turn on the slow cooker and leave them! No soaking the beans is required.
PinPhoto Credit: Binky’s Culinary Carnival.
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.
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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
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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.
Burritos with Leyden Cheese Sauce
Cumin spiced Leyden Cheese makes these burritos extra special!
Chorizo Huevos Rancheros, literally takes less than 10 minutes! Chorizo Huevos Rancheros is a Cook once, eat twice recipe! Do all the work on day one and enjoy for two days! The first day, you eat Chorizo Tacos.
What is a girl to do when she is craving Chicken Enchiladas but she doesn’t have the ambition to make them? Why come up with an awesome, easy recipe for Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Casserole, of course!
These Stacked Enchiladas are a vintage recipe that has been a family favorite for years. Since they aren't rolled, they are super easy and incredibly good.
These Instant Pot Pinto Beans are so incredibly easy and so delicious! Perfect on all your favorite Mexican dishes and there is no need to even soak them!
This Strawberry Salsa is so versatile! You can literally use what you have in the pantry! One of the reasons I love Strawberry Salsa is that it’s so easy!
What do you do with all of the green tomatoes left on the vines in September, October? Why you make this amazingly delicious Green Tomato Salsa! Green Tomato Salsa couldn’t be easier, and it cans and freezes well!
This Chipotle Salsa has a wonderfully deep, smoky flavor that adds an irresistible flavor to each bite. It's one of my favorite salsas for canning, which means you can enjoy the bold taste of summer even when it's snowing outside!
It is easy to make your own chipotle peppers with the jalapenos in your garden! Chipotle peppers are smoked and dried and indispensable in many Mexican dishes!
This habanero recipe is an easy way to use up all of the habanero left on your plants in the fall! Hot Pepper flakes are a great habanero recipe to add to your pantry! Use a little bit of heat in all of your dishes throughout the year!
There are many methods you can use for dried, or dehydrated peppers. A commercial dehydrator, or the oven, your grill, even your air fryer can be used for dried peppers.
Fermenting peppers is an easy way to lock in heat and build tangy, complex flavor you do not get with fresh peppers. Use this updated guide for exact salt ratios, two safe methods, and clear timelines for a short ferment and a long ferment. You will also find storage tips, flavor ideas, and troubleshooting so your jars turn out right.
Making fermented peppers at home, to make hot sauce, is easy! Fermented Hot Sauce is a great way to use your all of your chili peppers at the end of the season!
Here is another easy, versatile spice mix to make at home! Making your Easy Taco Seasoning will save you a bunch of money and takes less than 5 minutes!
Please ask any questions or share your comments in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you.
I hope you enjoyed the recipe today.
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
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Slow Cooker Frijoles (Refried Beans) with a Mexican Round-up For Cinco de Mayo
Such an easy way to make your own tasty refried beans at home in your slow cooker!
See Step by Step Photos Above!Most of our recipes have step by step photos and videos! Also helpful tips so that you can make it perfectly the first time and every time! Scroll up to see them!
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.
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!
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Notes
Leftovers can be refrigerated for 3-4 days.Reheat in microwave until hot.For longer storage, freeze up to 6 months.Thaw in refrigerator. Reheat per above instructions.
Beth Neels is an entrepreneur, blogger, photographer, author, and recipe developer. She founded Binky’s Culinary Carnival in 2014, focusing on “Crafting delicious recipes with sustainable ingredients.” She has been featured in multiple online publications, including MSN, Reader’s Digest, AP news, and Parade.
47 Comments
I love using my slow cooker whenever I can. This is a great recipe to try at home!
You described my experience with dried beans to a tee! We eat a lot of black beans, so I would absolutely love to get comfortable preparing them from dried, but it is SO frustrating letting them soak for what seems like forever only to still have that crunch. Love the idea of putting the slow cooker to work on this – seems like the perfect tool for the task! 🙂
I love re-fried beans. They are actually one of my favorite things about Mexican food. I’ve never thought to make them in the slow cooker. I’m loving your recipe and will be trying soon.
These look so good! I lLOVE how easy they are to make and all of the ways you used them! I am definitely going to have to try this recipe and add it to my Cinco de Mayo spread! Thank you for sharing! Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.
Being a cheap-skate myself, I like using dry beans but -like you- so unhappy with the cooking process – though I never attempted to cook ’em in my slow cooker – this is brilliant! And, looks mighty tasty!
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!
I love using my slow cooker whenever I can. This is a great recipe to try at home!
I do too! They make life so much easier, don’t they, Lindsey? Thanks Lindsey!
All of these recipes would be great for a Mexican/Cinco de Mayo feast! Yum
Thank you for visiting, Regina, I appreciate your comment!
Yum!! I love refried beans. And your recipe looks fabulous! I also love the round up of recipes, especially the taquitos!! Mmmmm.
Thanks, Elaine! So do I! Taquitos are my all time favorite!!!!
You described my experience with dried beans to a tee! We eat a lot of black beans, so I would absolutely love to get comfortable preparing them from dried, but it is SO frustrating letting them soak for what seems like forever only to still have that crunch. Love the idea of putting the slow cooker to work on this – seems like the perfect tool for the task! 🙂
I feel exactly the same, Monica! I’m so happy I found this idea! Let me know how you like it when you give it a try!
I love re-fried beans. They are actually one of my favorite things about Mexican food. I’ve never thought to make them in the slow cooker. I’m loving your recipe and will be trying soon.
I never thought to try these in the slow cooker. I am going to try this for our next Mexican night.
Neither had I! I always hated cooking dry beans but this makes it so easy, I’m going to do it all the time! Thanks Dannii!
These look so good! I lLOVE how easy they are to make and all of the ways you used them! I am definitely going to have to try this recipe and add it to my Cinco de Mayo spread! Thank you for sharing! Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.
Thanks, again, Luci! Tag them with #binkysculinarycarnival so that I can see them. And let me know how you like them!
These beans looks delicious and I LOVE all of the ways you used them. I am definitely going to have to try this recipe and add it to my Cinco de Mayo spread! Thank you for sharing! http://www.lucismorsels.com/2017/04/white-chocolate-bark-easter-spring.html/
Thank you Luci! They are very versatile! And super delicious!
Being a cheap-skate myself, I like using dry beans but -like you- so unhappy with the cooking process – though I never attempted to cook ’em in my slow cooker – this is brilliant! And, looks mighty tasty!
Agreed, Shashi! All the soaking and hours of cooking and they are still not done enough! These are premier!
Beans in the slow cooker is definitely the way to go! We just had some this week.
I had never seen them in the slow cooker but they are far superior! Thanks for checking out the post, Amy!