These Slow Cooker Refried Black Beans are great alone or for a side dish to your favorite Mexican meal.
I love homemade refried beans but I often skip serving refried beans with a meal if I my 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. Years ago my mom gave me an old 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.
The next step after the beans have cooked is to blend up the beans. A friend of mine made pinto refried beans in her crock pot 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 crock pot 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.
Here is my YouTube video of this recipe, you can follow me on YouTube, here.
Have a great week and enjoy these delicious beans!
- 1 pound black beans (soaked overnight before starting 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 water
- ¼ cup butter (1/2 a stick)
- 6-quart or larger
- 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 a emulsion blender like 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!
I used my 6-quart Crock-Pot® for this recipe. I recommend this size or larger for this recipe.
You may also like: Slow Cooker Homemade Potato Soup
Cindy says
September 12, 2017 at 10:58 amDo you add any water to the crockpot?
Sarah Olson says
September 12, 2017 at 11:27 amYes! Add the 5 cups of water. I’ll fix that in a bit here when I’m home.
Cindy says
September 14, 2017 at 12:29 pmI kind of figured but just wanted to confirm. They look yummy. Thanks for responding.
Roe says
September 12, 2017 at 2:56 pmI am vegan so I will use vegetable broth instead of the bullion and water. What can I use instead of the butter – or just omit?
Sarah Olson says
September 12, 2017 at 4:46 pmMaybe a touch of earths balance vegan butter? I used to use that butter, it’s pretty good!
Paula says
September 14, 2017 at 6:57 amCan this be frozen in portions to use later?
Krystal says
October 16, 2017 at 11:09 pmAre you able to can or freeze these, and if so how long would they be good for?
kirtiyadav says
October 17, 2017 at 4:48 amThis is perfect recipe for my chips and nachos. I am going to try it this weekend.
Bethany T. says
July 3, 2018 at 4:38 pmHave you tried this with pinto beans? I’m sure it would still be great with just that substitution
Sarah Olson says
July 4, 2018 at 2:33 pmYes! I think it would work fine!
Kitty says
June 9, 2019 at 12:41 pmAre the nutritional values the same as your refried pinto beans?
Also, do you have a recommendation for canning these beans?
Thanks!
Sarah Olson says
June 9, 2019 at 12:45 pmI believe the nutritional values are very similar. I’m unsure if they are safe to can. Though I know they will freeze well.