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Fat Free Refried Beans

July 7th, 2009 |

Author: admin

This is my recipe for fat free refried beans. There are numerous recipes for refried beans. Most of them use ham and lard or other variations containing a lot of fat. Refried beans are excellent for healthy eating or for losing weight – providing they are prepared without adding fat or fatty meats.

First you will need to cook the pinto beans. You should soak the beans in water overnight, then on the following day it takes about 3 hours to cook them. This recipe uses some chili powder, cayenne pepper and other seasonings to add spice. You will sauté some chopped onions in water (that’s the fat-free way to cook them), then add crushed or minced garlic, then add seasonings to gradually infuse more and more flavor. At the end of the cooking you will add some fresh squeezed lime juice. You add it at the end to keep from cooking away the flavor.

Note: This recipe calls for 4 cups of cooked beans. If you cook 3 1/2 cups of dried beans it will divide up into about 2 batches of 4 cups of cooked beans.

Fat Free Refried Beans

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked beans
1 cup chopped onions (about 1/2 large onion)
1 tbsp minced or crushed garlic
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice (about 1/4 lime)

Mash the beans in a bowl with a masher and set aside for now. Add chopped onions to a heavy skillet and cook until soft and beginning to brown a little. Add 1 tbsp of water at a time to keep skillet moist and to keep from burning the onions. Then add garlic and continue cooking until the onions are a light brown color. Add mashed beans to skillet and mix thoroughly, then stir in the chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt. Continue to cook the beans in the skillet and stir with a spatula until it is a thick paste. At that time, add the lime juice and thoroughly mix it into the cooked beans. Turn off the heat once the lime juice is mixed in to avoid cooking away the lime flavor.

Shown below is a photo of all the ingredients. Starting in the upper right corner and moving counter-clockwise: crushed garlic, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder, onion, lime and dried pinto beans.

Start by cooking the pinto beans. Please see this post for complete instructions. After cooking the beans, use a masher to mash them while in the pot.

Chop the onions …

Place the chopped onions in a large skillet.

Measure out portions of the other ingredients and set them aside in dishes. Shown below (left to right): all the dry ingredients in the dish on the left (ground cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder and salt), then crushed garlic in the middle dish followed by fresh squeezed lime juice in the last dish.

Sauté the chopped onions in water, gradually adding more water as necessary – about a tablespoon at a time – to keep the onions from sticking to the skillet or burning. After cooking for about 8 minutes, add the crushed garlic.

Continue to cook the vegetables for about 2 minutes more. Just infuse the flavors into the vegetables.

When the onions and garlic are cooked, add the mashed beans.

Use the masher or wooden spoon and continue to cook the vegetables and mashed beans together. After a minute or two, add the dry seasonings (ground cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder and salt).

Continue to cook and stir the mashed beans with a masher or wooden spoon for another minute or two, then add the fresh squeezed lime juice.

Using the masher, thoroughly mix the fresh squeezed lime juice throughout the mashed beans. When everything is all mixed together, the refried beans will be done.