Slow Cooker Refried Beans are a flavor-filled Mexican Side Dish that you never knew was SO easy to make. A perfect homemade addition to any plate, you won’t believe how easy it is to whip out the crock pot, kick the can aside, and make your own refried beans.
Even better than a restaurant, you will be able to taste the LOVE in this recipe.
Homemade Refried Beans
Did you know you can make your own homemade refried beans with nothing more than a few ingredients and a slow cooker? Yes!
Perfect to feed a crowd and can free, these refried beans are not only a side dish but a delicious appetizer dip (just add chips or baked taquitos!) as well.
A true dump and go recipe, these beans are not at all spicy hot and provide a great basis to additional additives like jalapenos and tons of garlic.
It’s totally OK to get creative with your flavors!
Video of Recipe
I also included a video, made at a later day, on how easy it is to make the beans. They were SO hot when the recipe was done, I had to wait till the next day to film the results because it kept steaming up my camera. That means the beans in the video had less moisture than when I made them to eat as they sat overnight. You can easily adjust your water and how much moisture your beans have by the tips below.
Slow Cooker Refried Beans
Note about making Refried Beans:
This recipe makes a lot of beans and I’m adding a note about water.
I used 6 cups of water for 6 hours of cook time. If you happen to cook them longer, add one additional cup. If you are worried about these being runny, you can drain, reserving the liquid, then mash and add the liquid back in until you reach the consistency you like. I did not do this as my 6 cups of water was perfect for these.
- 1 bag, 16 oz, dry pinto beans
- 6 cups water
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper seeded and minced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
Need a slow cooker?
I own this slow cooker
and this slow cooker
.
Crock Pot Refried Beans
Place all Refried Beans ingredients into a slow cooker (crockpot
) and mix well.
Cover your ingredients and heat on high for 6-8 hours.
When cooking is complete and beans are soft, mash beans with a potato masher and mix well. I would not use a power mixer, it does much better as a masher.
Serve your homemade refried beans topped with your favorite toppings.
(Pictured with shredded cheddar cheese and fresh cilantro)
This refried beans side dish goes great with any of the following Mexican recipes:
- Burrito Pie
- Mexican Chicken Chili
- Salsa Chicken
- Mexican Cornbread Casserole
- Enchilada Dip
- Queso Blanco Dip
- Taco Dip
- *NEW RECIPE* Wonton Jalapeno Poppers
Slow Cooker Refried Beans are a flavor-filled Mexican Side Dish that you never knew was SO easy to make. A perfect homemade addition to any plate, you won't believe how easy it is to whip out the crock pot, kick the can aside, and make your own refried beans. Even better than a restaurant, you will be able to taste the LOVE in this recipe. Note about making Refried Beans: This recipe makes a lot of beans and I'm adding a note about water. I used 6 cups of water for 6 hours of cook time. If you happen to cook them longer, add one additional cup. If you are worried about these being runny, you can drain, reserving the liquid, then mash and add the liquid back in until you reach the consistency you like. I did not do this as my 6 cups of water was perfect for these.
Slow Cooker Refried Beans
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Jeanne says
Do you soak the beans first? If so for how long?
Trisha says
I do not soak the beans. 🙂
Holly says
What size crockpot did you make this in and how many servings did you get out of this recipe?
Trisha says
Holly, I really wanna kick my own butt but when I made this, I forgot to measure before we ate…ugg. I am going to put this on my list to make this month so I can update my recipe with that information.
Michelle says
I agree these are the best beans ever!! Made these this past Saturday as part of a Mexican dinner. Everyone- even the non-bean eaters in the crowd loved them. The recipe as written was perfect. I was worried when I mashed the beans that they were going to be too runny but they set up nicely after just a few minutes and were perfect. Thank you for sharing.
Trisha says
Hi Michelle! I am so happy you enjoyed these slow cooker refried beans! It really is just so simple to make them fresh. Thank you for coming back to share your thoughts. 🙂
~Trisha
MollyAnne says
I attempted to make these yesterday. I put all the ingredients in the crockpot, turned it on and went about my day. I came back about 6 hours later only to find out that I didn’t plug it in. So the beans soaked for 6 hours. It was late so I left everything as it was. This morning I plugged it in and turned it on. I think they only cooked for 4 hours. I had to drain a lot of water. The beans are a little on the bland side for me. I eat lots of spicy foods and have a palate for hot. I think next time I’ll put a spicier pepper in it. Otherwise, it turned out great. In my mistake, I learned you can soak the beans and that will reduce the cooking time. Basically, I’m saying, you can screw up and these will turn out just fine. Lol. I’m so happy for this refried bean recipe.
Trisha says
Oh no!! I have def been there on not turning the crock pot on – at least it wasn’t chicken! You are right, this is a basic recipe, so adding more spice is def a great option. I personally always find refried beans a bit bland (even out of a can) unless I spice them up a bit. Thanks for leaving me a note and letting me know how they turned out for you.
Tammy Dudman says
Can you freeze them
Trisha says
Yes, you can freeze refried beans. Personally I would put them in a sealed gallon sized zip lock baggie and then when you want to defrost, put the whole baggie into a bowl of cold water to unfreeze and then reheat. You may have to add a little water on reheat to add some moisture, but the taste should be fine.
RD says
Can you half water/vegetable stock or chicken stock??
Trisha says
No, that would likely burn the beans – you need the water.