The Border Table · Source Edition

Refried Beans

Name: Refried Beans
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Tex-Mex
Ingredients: ¼ cup lard, bacon drippings, or a mixture of the two; 1 medium onion, chopped; 3 garlic cloves, minced; 3 cups cooked whole pinto beans, drained; 1 cup reserved bean cooking liquid; ½ cup cream or evaporated milk; Salt, to taste; Optional: 1 teaspoon ground mild dried red chile, preferably ancho or New Mexican; Optional garnish: crema, crumbled queso fresco or Cotija, or grated mild cheddar or Monterey Jack

Soft pinto beans, gently mashed with onion and garlic until smooth enough to scoop and thick enough to stay on the plate.

Frijoles refritos · Adapted from Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison’s The Border Cookbook.

Smooth refried pinto beans with onion, garlic, dry pinto beans, cream, and lard arranged around the bowl — AI-generated editorial image of the ungarnished beans and recipe ingredients; not a photograph of a kitchen test.

Serves6

Estimated total timeAbout 25 minutes

Start withCooked pinto beans

FinishSmooth and spoonable

Make the beans

Soften the aromatics. Warm the lard or bacon drippings in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes.
Mash the beans. Add the drained, already-cooked pinto beans. Mash them in the pan with a potato masher or bean masher.
Make them smooth. Add the reserved bean cooking liquid and the cream or evaporated milk a little at a time, stirring and mashing until the beans are fairly smooth and moist. You may not need every drop of liquid.
Thicken and season. Season with salt and, if using, the ground mild red chile. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the skillet, until the beans form a thick, spoonable paste.
Serve. Serve hot. Add crema or one of the cheeses only if you want the optional garnish.

Choose your finish

The ground chile is optional. So are the crema and cheeses. Leave the beans ungarnished for the smooth base shown in the image, or add one topping just before serving. These are choices within the scanned source recipe, not separate recipes.

Keep leftovers safely

Refrigerate leftovers promptly in shallow containers. Use within 3 to 4 days or freeze them. Reheat thoroughly. USDA leftovers guidance.

Understand it

Why add the liquid gradually?

The bean cooking liquid helps the cooked beans mash and loosen; the cream or evaporated milk rounds out the texture. Adding both bit by bit lets you stop when the beans are fairly smooth and moist, then cook them down to the thickness you prefer.

At your table

Make it a combination plate

Serve these beans beside Mexican Rice, or spoon them alongside Texas Cheese Enchiladas. The beans are also good without a topping.

Source and method

Where this recipe comes from

The owner supplied a scan of “Refried Beans” on page 378 of Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison’s The Border Cookbook (Harvard Common Press, 1995). We retained its ingredient quantities and cooking order while writing these instructions in our own words and separating optional chile and toppings from the base dish. The Border Table has not independently kitchen-tested this edition. The total time is an editorial estimate; the source gives a yield of six servings.

Book listing — authors, title, and publication year.
USDA FSIS — leftover storage guidance.

Adapted 8 October 2026. Tell us if something needs correcting.