DIY Cooking: Bacon Refried Beans

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Hey, everybody! Today I want to share a recipe with you that features one of my very favorite ingredients…wait for it…wait for it… BACON! Yes, you all know how I love bacon, so when I decided to try my hand at cooking my own refried beans, you know I had to add in some bacon.

I’ve always been a canned refried beans kind of girl. But I knew I wasn’t getting the best beans possible. I mean, I live about an hour from the Mexican border, so you can get some AMAZING refried beans at the restaurants around here. Like, the kind of refried beans that you want to eat plain, you want to eat them with chips, you mix them in with your rice, maybe you even put some on your taco.

That being said, I’ve always wanted to try and make slow cooker refried beans. They’re seriously so cheap when you make them yourself, and you can add so many unique tastes and spices to cater to your personal tastes. Plus you can make a HUGE batch and freeze it so that you always have yummy refried beans on hand.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups dry pinto beans (pre-cleaned and pre-washed)
  • 1 pound bacon
  • 3 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 6 jalapeno slices
  • 10 cups water

Directions:

Quick Soak Beans:

  • Rinse and sort the pinto beans into a large pot. Add enough water to the pot to completely cover the beans, and bring the water to a rapid boil. Boil the beans for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover the pot and let it stand for 1 hour. Drain the water from the pot and rinse beans.
  • Note: You really don’t want to skip this step! By quick soaking the beans, you really reduce the “gas-causing effects” of the beans (if you know what I mean…and I think you do).

Cook the beans:

  • Add 10 cups of hot water to the drained and rinsed beans in your crock pot.
  • Add in salt, onion powder, black pepper, and jalapeno slices.
  • Cook the pinto beans on high in your slow cooker for 8-9 hours. The first time you do it, you may want to check occasionally and add additional water if needed. However, if you do it over night, 10 cups of water should be sufficient.
  •  Once beans are tender and soft, strain the cooking liquid, reserving 2-3 cups of it.

Re-fry the beans:

  • Cook the bacon and set aside, saving the bacon fat in a frying pan.
  • Finely chop the bacon and add to the cooked pinto beans.
  • Heat up the bacon fat in the frying pan to a medium-high heat.
  • Pour beans into the frying pan and cook about 2 minutes, until beans begin to “pop.” The beans will basically start to crack and pop open.
  • Mash the beans with a spatula or potato masher.
  • The beans will dry out a bit as you cook/mash them. Add in the reserved bean cooking liquid as needed, stirring continuously until you reach the desired consistency.
  • Season with extra salt and pepper as needed.
  • Enjoy!

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24 Comments on DIY Cooking: Bacon Refried Beans

  1. Nelly B
    at (9 years ago)

    My father in law puts bacon is his refried beans and it’s really interesting! He uses turkey bacon though!

    Reply
  2. Mai T.
    at (9 years ago)

    This looks like a lot of calories! But yummy!

    Reply
  3. krystel
    at (9 years ago)

    looks like a really great recipe yum

    Reply
  4. Dorothy Teel
    at (9 years ago)

    This sounds yummy, I have always wanted to try refry beans and this is a recipe that I would like especially with the bacon in it, would be better than the canned ones, that we buy, thank you for sharing this recipe

    Reply
  5. Lisa Coomer Queen
    at (9 years ago)

    Bacon, crock pot and re-fried beans! 3 of my favorite things. Great recipe. Will surely try!

    Reply
  6. Elaine@cookinandcraftin.com
    at (9 years ago)

    I love this I am a big fan of Mexican food and beans!! Yum Yum!! Hope you stop by and visit My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday – Link Party too!! It’s still open…I’d love to have you!!

    Reply
  7. Krysta @ KrystaSteen.com
    at (9 years ago)

    I’ll have to try this! Thanks for sharing at Tips & Tricks – hope to see you again this week! 🙂

    Reply
  8. Sinea Pies
    at (9 years ago)

    Wow! This is MY kind of food. I will have to do the math but I think it could easily fit into the Phase 2 part of a number of low carb diets. I pinned it to my low carb recipe board for future reference.
    Hey, if you have time for a party this week, please stop by my Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop to share this (and other) post. We go live at 7pm EDT Tuesday evening. Hope to see you there.
    Sinea from Ducks ‘n a Row

    Reply
  9. Ronald Gagnon
    at (9 years ago)

    My father used to make whole meals of just bacon and beans (with stone ground bread)
    for the 5 of us on every hunting trip. It was one of my favorite meals

    Reply
  10. alicia szemon
    at (9 years ago)

    yum! all that cheese and bacon! Bacon goes good with anything lol!!!

    Reply
  11. Dale Hunsberger
    at (9 years ago)

    Omg! I so love retried beans! And bacon! And then both together?! Yum, yum, yum!

    Reply
  12. Richard Hicks
    at (9 years ago)

    What a great way to make a tasty dish even tastier with bacon!

    Reply
  13. Kelly O
    at (9 years ago)

    Love cooking in the crock pot. Set it and forget it. My family loves having re-fried beans on chips, so this will be made at my next Football Sunday party.

    Reply
  14. saegan anderson
    at (8 years ago)

    ohh this looks great! i would love to eat this with chips! so cheesy

    Reply