When I placed my last order with Fireworks Foods, I’d intended to order refried black beans (frijoles negros refritos), but I ended up with whole black beans (frijoles negros enteros) by mistake…
I thought it was a great opportunity to try making my own frijoles refritos from scratch. A word of warning to my vegetarian friends – did you know that tinned refried beans have sometimes been cooked in pork lard? I only noticed this recently on the ingredients list.
Here’s my easy take on homemade refried beans. It’s loosely adapted from a recipe in Thomasina Miers’ fabulous cookbook…
- 2 x 400g tins of whole black beans (preferably Mexican)
- 50g lard (or butter or olive oil)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ancho chilli powder (optional)
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
1. Empty the tins of beans into the jug of a stick blender (you’ll probably need to do one tin at a time). Make sure to include both the beans and the liquid. Blitz with the stick blender until smooth…
2. In a heavy based pan (I used my baby Emile Henry risotto pot), heat up the lard until melted, then add the onions. Season with salt and pepper and fry until softened. Add the garlic, chilli powder and coriander, and continue cooking for a few minutes more…
3. Add the purêed beans and cook for another 15 – 20 minutes over a low heat, stirring frequently. The mixture will bubble like molten lava and gradually thicken – keep cooking until it reaches a consistency you’re happy with.
Serve as a side dish, a taco filling, or with corn chips. Note that the mixture starts to form a skin almost immediately, so if you’re not planning to eat it straight away, press a piece of parchment paper to the surface before storing in the fridge.
We served our frijoles negros refritos with these fantastic blue corn chips, also from Fireworks Foods. They’re locally made and arrive as triangular pieces of blue corn tortillas (with a shelf life of about three weeks in the fridge)…
They’re easy to fry up in vegetable oil to crisp and delicious, and as they’re unsalted, you can actually taste the blue corn flavour. Surprisingly, they absorbed very little oil during the cooking process…
We adore refried beans, so the entire batch was devoured with gusto at Saturday lunch. I caught Big Boy standing at the stove, scraping the clay pot clean with the last of the corn chips!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Hi Celia, Gosh … you try all types of cuisine. It is something new every week at your house.
Glenda, we do like to explore food a bit… :)
Celia I can practically taste this along with feel the crunch of those chips!
Claire, you’d love this online shop – they have all sorts of things you can’t get anywhere else. Everything we’ve tried so far has been great! (PS. I can see you’re keeping mummy middle of the night hours.. hope you’re getting some sleep! xx)
Interesting recipe, Celia. Even more interesting is the fact that those beans are fried in pork lard! Wow.
Liz, I don’t think the supermarket refritos are, but the proper Mexican ones I bought definitely had pork lard on the ingredients list! :)
You’re just like me – you love trying new things. My husband used to sometimes say to our sons, “Do you like this? Good – enjoy it – you’ll never see it again!” That was a real exaggeration but he did have a bit of a point! These beans look fabulous!!
We try lots of things, but when they’re good they get repeated – often! :)
Actually – I repeated certain recipes often enough to make a cookbook for my twin sons and it makes me really happy to know they use it often! (I just made Crustless Quiche, which I’ll post tomorrow. It used to be one of my sons’ favorites!)
Love these Celia, we eat ‘mainstream’ Mexican about once a month so I might throw these in the mix for a better change. Have you been watching Peter Kuravita and his Mexican show on SBS? It’s really interesting to see the variety and yumminess that is so different from what I had expected xox
Becca, I’ve been taping but haven’t really kept up with the shows – it’s been hard to find the time!
Can’t wait for my Fireworks Foods parcel to arrive: hmm, such an interesting place I did manage to spend about twice as much as planned :) ! To each their own – wish I liked the ‘Mexican Fiesta’ [Kuruvita] . . . . more his presentation than the Mexican food methinks, as I have not been particularly fond of his previous two series either! . . . as far as variety: huge fun for me. Start roughly every month say in Morocco and travel roughly east around the world probably staying the longest in the Middle East these days . . .
Eha, I hope your parcel arrives soon – what fun! :)
This is excellent, Celia! I’ve oft wondered how refried beans were made and thought homemade would have to be better than anything store-bought. Now I’ve got to get me some beans and give it a shot.
BTW … my CSA delivery came today and in it farm-fresh lard. Oh, boy!
John, Pete really liked the ones we made, but I think the flavour of the beans is an important starting point. The original recipe used boiled black beans, coriander root and fresh chillies – let me know if you’d like it. xx
Love refritos. In Mexico they are often served under a fried egg, with a soft tortilla to mop it all up. I love them on quesadillas, and if I have it, add a squeeze of lime juice.
Linda, I could happily subsist on refried beans, I think. I never get sick of the flavour! I love them with annatto rice and pulled pork!
I am glad you used lard! It really makes a difference. In Mexico, we keep adding lard every time we re-fry them ( refritos). yummmmm
Thank you! I didn’t just use lard, I used our home-rendered free range lard. The supermarket stuff we get over here isn’t very nice. Tamales next, I think! :)
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2013/04/15/a-lardy-cake-adventure/
What beautiful bowls you served it in. I love the look of the corn chips. What a great meal and yes, we all love refried beans in this house too xx
Charlie, they’re from our Turkish shop which has now moved to 127 Willoughby Rd Crows Nest. It really isn’t all that far from you! :)
I could easily live on refried beans. We mostly use pintos, but black beans once in a while are really a treat. Your tortilla chips look delicious, too!
The black beans are sooo good, I think we like them much better than the pinto beans now! And I absolutely agree – I think I could live on them too.. :)
I love refried beans on nachos or tacos but I’ve never had them with black beans I don’t think. I’ve eaten black beans in other ways though. Everything looks SO good, Celia!
Thanks Maureen! The corn chips were such a winner – I’ve never had blue corn chips before, let alone ones we got to fry ourselves! :)
Oh that link Celia! Thank you. Have you been watching Peter Kuruvita’s Mexican journey on SBS? It’s well worth a look at this lovely fresh take on Mexican food.
Rose, I’ve only seen the first episode, but I really enjoyed it! Liked his first series a lot too!
I love refried beans! You’ve just reminded me that I must make some more!
Clare, they’re perfect comfort food, aren’t they! :)
Not surprised it was all scoffed with gusto. Really want the Thomasina Miers book too!
Andrea, I’m a big fan of hers, and her book is wonderful!
I guess this must have been a hit and it sounds like you got the pot licked clean. I’ve got a question about those chips – are they soft when you buy them? I’ve seen them in stores here but they’re in bags like potato chips, are already crunchy and have a shelf life of approximately 7 years, 9 months, and 3 days.
By the way, I love that colorful bowl.
Diane, over here, corn chips are almost always sold as you describe – hard, crunchy, already fried and like potato chips. But Fireworks Foods sell their cut up tortillas, and they arrive soft like stale bread, and fry up beautifully! :)
I absolutely adore black beans and grew my own for the first time this year. :-) I harvested my first beans last week and they are beautiful. :-)
I love them too! How clever of you to grow them, Krista! :)
I just had to let you know that at the weekend I made ciabatta: it was good. When I was eating it – a little thought whispered to me ” I can’t believe I made this”. Thank you Celia.
See Jan, when they ask “who’s the cleverest in the land?” the answer would be you. :) I’m so glad you made ciabatta! xx
Going to have to take your word on this one Celia. Not a fan of beans, no matter how hard I try, I just cant get into them. Those chips though… They look amazing. Looking forward to following you again Celia, I sure have missed you and your posts. :) Have a great week.
Hey Anna! There you are, how nice to see you! Hope you’ve been well!
I’m sure yours tasted better having been made from scratch!
Tandy, it was delicious, thank you! :)
I really need to place an order there! Although I do have dried black beans from making this dip for Halloween :D
The slime and pus dip! I’d forgotten about that! :)
Sounds just great, specially as I have freshly made lard sitting in the fridge! Is this a hot dip food, I don’t think I have ever had it? I think those beans are what I call black turtle beans or are they something different? I make them into a black bean soup sometimes, looks like a lava pool of molten mud. Has an almost meaty taste? I do like those chips! I have a tortilla press thing which I begged Brian for one Christmas and have never used, also that nixed cornmeal, maybe I should have a go, so many things to try, so many gadgets…. xxx
Yes, frijoles dip is how we first knew it – hot, with cheese and chilli salsa on top! I think the beans are black turtle beans, but I’m not sure. And yes, lovely mealy taste – adore it. We love our tortilla press, although these locally made soft corn chips that we fry up at home are very fine. xxx
Very Creative Celia. I have made refried beans many times, but not from Mexican black beans. I love them. I think my first efforts would have been in the late 70s when recipes mentioned refried beans and nothing like that was available in the backwoods of surburban Brisbane. Times have changed thankfully, but I still do often cook refried beans and still love ’em!
Love love love these beans Celai I always buy a couple of tins from Fiji markets when i am there. Yew they contain lard, oops but they are so delicious. Why didnt you break out a bowl of these why I visited you? .