I love homemade refried beans but I often skip serving refried beans with a meal if I only option is canned. There is something special about homemade refried beans, they are creamier, and of course, they don’t have that tin flavor that the canned beans have. You will see a different way I do my onions for this recipe. Lets we enjoy the Slow Cooker Refried Black Beans Recipes through my experience.
One year ago my mom informs me of a classic Mexican cookbook (which I’ve misplaced) in this old cookbook for their refried beans they said to burn onion slices in a skillet, this adds flavor to the beans. I don’t burn my onion, but I give the slices a nice char. You won’t believe the flavor the onions give to the beans and the great aroma they put off while cooking all day in the slow cooker.
Slow cooker refried black beans are great alone or for a side dish to your favorite Mexican meal.
The next step after the beans have cooked is to blend up the beans. My sister made pinto refried beans in her crockpot for a teacher appreciation luncheon, they had so much flavor. She told me her secret was butter! That makes sense because smashing the beans in the crockpot instead of frying them in a pan you miss out on the added fat flavor. When I blend up the beans with my emulsion blender, I take out half of the liquid, then add a half stick of butter, blend it up until almost smooth. I like my refried beans to have some texture still.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound black beans (soaked overnight before starting the recipe, see below)
- 1 large white onion, thick sliced
- cooking oil
- ⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 4 chicken bouillon cubes
- 2 whole garlic cloves
- 5 cups of water
- ¼ cup butter (1/2 a stick)
Slow Cooker Size:
- 6-quart or larger
Instructions:
- Soak the beans overnight in more than enough water to cover.
- In the morning, drain the beans and add to the slow cooker.
- In a large skillet set to medium-high heat, add the cooking oil. Add the thick-sliced onion rounds and brown them on both sides until they are really toasty. Add the onions to the slow cooker.
- Add the cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic cloves, chicken bouillon cubes, and water. Stir.
- Cover and cook on low for 9 hours.
- When the cooking time is done, take out at least half of the juices from the beans, and set aside, you can use this if too much liquid was taken out.
- You can either put the beans in a blender, mash by hand with a potato masher or use an emulsion blender as I did in my video. If your beans seem too stiff, add some of the reserved liquid.
- I did not need to add any salt for my beans, but if you think they need a bit of salt this is the time to add it to taste.
- Serve and enjoy!
Rita C. Donnell (Jennifer) has spent the last 26 years studying and practicing nutrition science. She has used a larger part of this time in improving people’s livelihoods. Read More
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