Refried Beans Recipe

Rinse the beans in water and remove any small stones, pieces of dirt, or bad beans.

Cook the beans in water.

Crockpot Cooking method:

Put the sorted, washed beans in the crock pot.

Add water almost to the top.

Put on the lid and turn to high.

Stir now and then, as the skin just starts to split they are done.

Strain the beans from the cooking water.

Keeping the beans, not the water... -

Add the onions and oil to a wide, sturdy (not with a flimsy stick-free lining) frying pan on medium high heat.

Cook onions until translucent. (Note the onions are optional, you can skip them if you want. I love them so they always go in at our house.)

Add the strained beans and about a 1/4 cup of water to the pan. Using a potato masher, mash the beans in the pan, while you are cooking them, until they are a rough purée.

Add more water if necessary to keep the fried beans from getting too dried out.

Add salt to taste.

*Optional* You can add a few slices of cheddar cheese, or some (1/2 cup) grated cheddar cheese if you want. I prefer to add cheese as i make up the dishes.

When beans are heated all the way through the beans are ready to serve.

-Tuilelaith's Note-

Many recipes call for soaking the beans overnight and discarding the soaking liquid. I do not do this. My Mother would do this for ham and beans, so I do remember it being done. I do discard the cooking liquid and just add some water back into the frying pan when we are frying the beans. I suppose you could just reuse the cooking water to fry them in, you would get more nutrients that way..

-Also, when you are ready to fry them up, cook some bacon and a sliced onion, at least taking the bacon out of the pan add the beans. It makes for a more true flavor this way.