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    Home » Vegan Main Dishes

    Refried Pinto Beans (Frijoles Refritos)

    Published: Dec 14, 2011 · Updated: Aug 2, 2021 · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Few dishes are more basic to southwestern cuisine than the beloved Frijoles, or refried pinto beans. A good helping of them is a standard sight at lunch, dinner, and sometimes even breakfast. Here's a simple vegan preparation (though they're no longer  prepared with lard as often as they once were, still, take care to ask if you have them in a restaurant). Serve alongside the southwestern egg dishes in tortilla specialties that don't themselves contain beans, such as Stacked Squash and Bell Pepper Enchiladas.

    Serves: 6 to 8

    • 1 ⅔ cup uncooked pinto beans
    • 1 large onion, chopped
    • 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

    Soak the beans overnight. Drain and rinse them and place them in a large soup pot with plenty of fresh water.

    Add the onion and ½ tablespoon of the oil, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer over very low heat until the beans are quite tender, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. A good test of the desired texture is to press a bean between the thumb and forefinger; if it feels soft and mealy, it’s done. Drain and store the beans until they're needed.

    When you’re ready to "refry" the beans, heat the remaining oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add the cooked pinto beans and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Mash the beans coarsely with a mashing implement.

    Add the salt and cook, covered, adding small amounts of water until the beans have the consistency of a very thick sauce. Serve at once or cover and keep warm until serving.

    • Here are more easy bean main dishes.

    More Vegan Main Dishes

    • vegan sloppy joes
      Vegan Sloppy Joes - with Pinto Beans and Quinoa!
    • vegan cream of asparagus soup
      Vegan Cream of Asparagus Soup
    • vegan greek pasta salad
      Vegan Greek Pasta Salad
    • vegan creamy mushroom pasta
      Vegan Creamy Mushroom Pasta

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sylv-e says

      March 06, 2015 at 5:57 am

      Luv your website. Would like to share our family's favorite with you: cook box of Barilla Plus angel hair pasta. Empty a can of canellinni beans in blender with 3 cups plain soy milk, blend then add to cooked pasta. Add one third cup Smart Balance butter and one third Parmesan cheese. You have delish, healthy noodles Alfredo...enjoy ! !

    2. Nava says

      March 06, 2015 at 10:33 am

      Thanks for this simple and tasty recipe! Vegans can use nutritional yeast or homemade Vegan Parmesan in place of the parmesan cheese, plus a little extra salt.

    3. yoshida, not really says

      February 11, 2017 at 4:14 am

      *sounds of dry beans (they're pretty oily!)
      on a ~2010 LG stove, simmering happens for these beans at 2.6, not 1 or "low"

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    Hi, I'm Nicole! I'm the creator behind VegKitchen, and the author of the popular cookbook, Weeknight One Pot Vegan Cooking. Learn more about me here.

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