Refried Beans (vegetarian)
February 5, 2026
About this Recipe
Have you ever purchased a can of refried beans and felt…. underwhelmed? For me, it’s not just slightly underwhelmed, I find canned refried beans to lack seasoning and flavor and in order to make them taste good, I have to put some effort in. The problem with canned refried beans is the lack of control over the foundation of flavor building. It’s times like these where I contemplate would I rather try to zsush something that was built on a subpar foundation? Or would I rather just start from the beginning, building the foundation of flavor for myself with the end result being exponentially better? It doesn’t take much more effort to achieve the latter results, so I rarely, if ever purchase canned refried beans and always make them from what I call “half-scratch”. To make refried beans from real scratch requires that you start with the dried beans, which would give you even more control over the foundation of flavor but that does increase your cook time into hours of preparation.
I enjoy making this “half-scratch” method, using canned cooked pinto beans, that was built with full scratch in mind. I get all the flavor payoff of homemade beans and it all comes together in about 30 minutes. In this recipe I simmer pinto beans in an aromatic base of onions, garlic, green bell peppers and jalapeno. If you don’t like the heat, remove the seeds from the jalapeño! Once the flavors have melded, I mash the beans up and serve. If you enjoy a smoky flavor profile, add a little smoked paprika to the mix. Feel free to add cheese, if you enjoy dairy. I love to have prepared refried beans in the fridge and I’ll eat them all week on tostadas or burritos or just straight from the quart container. That’s how good they are!
Looking for the non-vegetarian version? Click here!
Serves 4
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
2 – 15 oz. cans pinto beans
1/4 cup sunflower, safflower, or canola oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium green bell pepper, seeds removed, chopped
1/2 jalapeño, minced, seeds removed depending on preferred spice level
Salt and black pepper
1/2 – 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- Drain the beans into a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl or 2 cup measuring cup. Add water to the measuring cup until you have two cups total liquid and reserve.
- Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. Add onion, bell pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of black pepper and cook until the edges begin to tenderize, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and jalapeno and cook, until the mixture is tender and onions are translucent, 2 minutes more. Add 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika and cook until the aromas are released, about 30 seconds.
- Add pinto beans and 1 teaspoon of salt and toss to coat in the aromatics. Add the reserved bean liquid and bring the mixture to a hard simmer and cook, stirring until the the liquid had reduced by half, about 8 minutes
- Turn off the heat and using a potato masher, mash the beans in to a coarse mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed and serve.
Follow the link below to watch the recipe on YouTube. Note: the video follows the non-vegetarian method which uses bacon. But the rest of the steps are the same.
