Community Pick
Smoky Refried Beans

photo by Nimz_

- Ready In:
- 25mins
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 (15 ounce) cans pinto beans, drained, reserving 1/4 cup of liquid (black beans also work well)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder (less for a lower heat-tolerance)
- 1⁄2 lime
directions
- Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat.
- Add whole garlic cloves and cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes.
- Smash garlic cloves with a fork just enough to break them open and flatten them a little.
- Add pintos and liquid and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
- Add spices and salt to taste. Stir well.
- Turn the heat down to medium-low and smash beans with a big fork. You don't have to smash every single bean. Leave some whole for texture.
- When mashed to your liking, squeeze the lime juice all over the beans and serve warm.
- These beans make a great taco filling or tostada topping. My husband likes them mixed with a little salsa and eaten as a dip.
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Reviews
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I've been making these for years but I always have roasted garlic cloves on hand as well as cilantro pesto that I make and freeze in ice cube trays. So what I do is put a cube of thawed cilantro pesto and a few cloves of roasted garlic in the pan, flatten the garlic with a spoon and then continue from there as directed. Then I top with queso or Mexican 4 cheese and heat in the microwave until the cheese just melts. This ia a simple and yummy recipe. I like the mixture of whole and mashed beans. If you want a tip for mashing, try a potato masher rather than a fork. These can be so easily adapted to different tastes just by adjusting spices. If it's too mild, you can always add jalapenos or even hot sauce to taste. Personally I like the amounts of cumin and chili powder, but I think my cilantro pesto and the addition of cheese adds more dimension.
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I used dry beans so I adapted things alittle bit. Canned beans never digest very well for us. This recipe was wonderful and I really like the addition of lime juice. The beans were great as listed but the DH loves spice so we added some jalapenos and onions for good measure which they wouldn't need depending on what you would be serving them with. Thanks Groovy!!
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Very good recipe. I added double the amount of garlic cloves. In addition to the juice from the beans I also used 1/2 cup of the broth from recipe # 202935 (Simply Carnitas) and they turned out great. I loved the freshness and kick that the lime gives it in the end. Will be using this recipe again for sure.
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Tweaks
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Very good. The first time I made them I used twice as much lime as I was supposed to and they did not taste good. This time I made them I forgot I was out of cumin. So I'm having trouble actually doing this recipe as written! I subbed 1/2 paprika and 1/2 curry for the cumin and that tasted different, but good! I slowly added lime this time... and I prefer it with 1/2 tbsp - 1 tbsp lime only. I think this would be tasty even just with a little bit of oil and the garlic. I will probably reduce the amount of oil in the future.
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quick recipe!! i was outta refried beans and had tons of black beans in the cupboars. otherwise did this recipes about the same except i added some onions, cheap saffron i had acquired, used bottled lime juice as i had no limes, omitted the cumin, and added some 'Rock & Roll BBQ Jalapeno Dust' recipe #212062 as i didn't feel like running to the store for a jalapeno. next time i will add a little salt and try armymomx2's idea of using bacon grease instead of oil.... can you believe we didn't have any bacon grease!!!?? what a sin! thanks groovyrooby!!!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
this is me in my biking get-up. my husband and i go on monthly critical mass bike rides with a group of local folks to promote alternative forms of transportation.
i'm originally from the Midwest, but my husband & i moved down here to Miami, FL, where we are both in a PhD program in anthropology.
for fun i watch lots and lots of movies, read novels, non-fiction, magazines, newspapers, graphic novels, catalogs, pretty much anything i can get my hands on, especially cookbooks.
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my pet peeves are the phrases, "i don't like it" followed by, "i've never had it".