How to Make Canned Refried Beans Taste Better

Whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant, I always make sure to order refried beans with my meal. No matter where I go, if they're on the menu, they'll be on my plate. However, as much as I like restaurant style refried beans, whenever I try to recreate the experience at home and eat refried beans from the can the results are pretty disastrous. Instead of the restaurant style beans that I love, canned beans have the consistency of cement and often the taste of cat food. There has to be a better way to do it. Seeing as I won't be making beans from scratch in my dorm room any time soon , I searched online for ways to make canned refried beans taste better and finally found a simple yet proven recipe. So if you like refried beans like me, give it a try.

Coconut Oil.

Beans*

Salsa.

Coconut oil is easy to find in Belize, if a little expensive. It makes your beans taste heavenly! If you can't get that, you'll have to use ordinary oil. (Click here to find out how to buy Virgin Coconut Oil.) Heat about 2 Tbsp in a heavy iron skillet and then put the beans in. If they're canned refried beans*, they're already smashed. If you have previously cooked beans, you can put them in and smash them with a potato or bean masher. (A bean masher has a flat plate with holes in it; a potato masher has a wavy bar. The bean masher works better.) Stir the beans and cook them/it in the oil for a while. You can add water and cover and cook for a little while, but mostly, you just have to get the mix into a thick consistency so you can use it to spread on tortillas.

Now, add a half cup of salsa. This can be canned salsa, like the Salsa Casera we have here in Belize, or it can be Old El Paso® or Pace® Picante Sauce. Stir it in until it disappears, cook a little more to marry the flavors, and your refried beans are ready to hold their own with the restaurant variety.

They'll keep about a week in a sealed Tupperware® container; we use them for lots of things, including side servings for breakfast.

* Easier to get out of the can if it has a bottom that works with a can-opener. (Many of them don't.) Open both ends and push out into the pan.

enjoy