Have you ever made homemade refried beans? I hadn’t until a few years ago. It seemed too complicated (dried beans used to intimidate me). Of course, I never tried. It’s just what I THOUGHT. And, thankfully, I was wrong.
I love refried beans. I could eat them pretty much every day. And for many years, I bought them in a CAN! Until I discovered how very easy it is to make my own homemade refried beans. Easy Peasy. With the help of my pressure cooker and Vitamix *, I’m making my own ‘refried’ beans in about 40 minutes. They beat the canned version in both flavor and cost hands down! Not to mention, I know EXACTLY what is in them, and there isn’t anything nasty, fake or toxic. (Bonus points: They freeze well for later so you can make a big batch and be set for a while).
For this fast and easy way of making refried beans, you just need:
Dried beans of your choice (I’m an heirloom bean freak so I love using Orca beans or Mayocoba beans (because both are extra creamy)–but I also use Purple Peacock, Good Mother Stallard, and yes, sometimes just plain old pintos or black beans or any combo of any of the above!)
A carrot or two
A piece of celery
A clove or two of fresh garlic
An onion
Seasonings of choice (I usually add a bit of salt before cooking and then season to taste with cumin, pickled jalapeno, salt, chili pepper, sometimes salsa….this is pretty flexible and easy to customize to your tastes)
A pressure cooker (or InstaPot or other pressurized cooking pot). Don’t worry, though, if you don’t own one, you can still make these beans. It just requires more planning which I will explain in a moment.
A blender or Vitamix.
About an hour of time.
![I love beans](http://citygirlfarming.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/truelove.jpg?w=1024)
What to do:
First, rinse and sort your beans. Then dump them with your veggies (I roughly cut them or snap them into halves or thirds) into the pressure cooker. Add about 3 inches of water (3 inches above the top of your bean level) to the pot and some salt.
Because I only have a 6-quart pressure cooker, I generally only use about 2 lbs of beans at a time (the manufacturers directions when cooking beans say to only fill half way up because they foam when they cook…although I haven’t tested this warning, and I haven’t noticed foaming myself, I still adhere to the advice).
![Adding ingredients](http://citygirlfarming.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/addingredients.jpg?w=300)
Attach the lid and the pressure gauge weight, set it on the burner (on high) and wait for the weight to start rocking. Once this happens, I set the timer for 30 minutes and let it cook, rocking along the whole time.
![Cooked Beans](http://citygirlfarming.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/cookedbeans.jpg?w=300)
Once my timer goes off, I turn the heat off and let the beans sit for a while. It will take a bit of time for the pressure to lessen enough that you can unscrew the top. (You can also hasten this process by removing the weight, which I do eventually, but I let it sit for a bit first).
Once I get the lid off, I let them cool down a bit more (so I don’t overheat the Vitamix with the hot, hot beans). Then, I process the beans (and the veggies I cooked with them) by dumping a couple scoops of the mix into my Vitamix. I also add garlic, cumin, salt, and any other spice or herb that strikes me fancy at the moment. Sometimes I add fresh cilantro or some salsa or tomatoes or jalapenos. It’s all a matter of taste. I make them slightly different each time, depending on my mood and the supplies I have at hand. Oh, and I usually have to add a bit of water.
(A friend of mine, who turned me on to this simple process also adds a bit of lard during the blending process. This adds a more authentic taste, but I skip that addition unless I’ve made fresh lard myself so that I know it’s not nasty non-food like you buy at the store.)
Since I just add a pinch of this and a shake or two of that, it’s essential that I taste the beans as I go. But the bad thing about this is that I then get hungry for some of those warm, delicious beans. So, it’s become a tradition to make a bean burrito at the end of the process. It’s my reward. Mmmmmm. Good.
Even though I eat beans regularly, I still squirrel away a bit of each batch to the freezer so that I’m never without homemade refried beans at a moment’s notice. Try them for yourself. It will ruin you, though. You’ll never look at canned beans the same way afterwards.
Consider yourself warned.
![Finished Beans](http://citygirlfarming.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/finishedbeans.jpg?w=300)
* Disclaimer: if you order a Vitamix from the link above, you’ll get free shipping, and I’ll get a small commission ( a win/win deal)…but I want you to know I’ve had my Vitamix for years and think it’s the best kitchen appliance I own…so I’d be telling you of its great wonders anyway, just because it’s a great product. I’m just sayin’.