Ha-low ha-low! Friends the black bean obsession of 2015 continues. This time we’re making restaurant style refried black beans right in our instant pot. I don’t mean to be super obvious here, but i’m totally having a Mexican food moment with my ancho chicken street tacos and these insanely easy to make refried black beans that are completely vegan/vegetarian friendly and can be used in about one-thousand different ways other than plopping them on your plate as a side. <– Which, don’t get me wrong, these totally make a killer side dish but aside from that, they’re ideal as a filling for rice and bean quesadillas, work well on tostadas, and that 7-layer dip NEEDS these refried black beans as one of it’s layers. And besides, black beans are good in EVERY way. I’m just a teeny tiny bit of a fan.
Recently, my favorite thing to do is batch cooking. That goes for everything. Whether it’s chicken breasts, black beans, or pot roast. I love whipping up a big batch of these flexible meal items and then using them in different dishes throughout the week. So these refried black beans were served as vegetarian nachos topped with queso, pico and pickled jalapeños, as weekend breakfast migas, and as a side for my shrimp enchiladas. Lets jump right into the recipe. This starts with dry black beans that you do not, I repeat, DO NOT need to soak. The procrastinator inside of me is jumping with joy. You pop them into the instant pot along with a little ground cumin, chipotle chili powder, a little Mexican oregano, and water. Make sure you don’t add salt at this time. Allow the beans to cook for 45-48 minutes. When cooking with beans always remember, if your beans have been in your pantry for a while, they’ll require more time for cooking than freshly bought beans. Mine were in the pantry for a month before I got around to making refried black beans so I pressure cooked them for 45 minutes and they were perfect. Once your beans are cooked, reserve 2 1/2 cups of liquid and drain off the rest. If you’d like chunky black beans, use a potato masher to mash the beans, for smoother, more restaurant style refried beans, use a stick blender to blend. The refried part comes in next: cook the onions and peppers in ghee, oil, or rendered fat, whatever you like. We really like the way these beans taste with ghee! And add it all into the instant pot and give it a good stir. Serve this up for Cindo de Mayo and store the leftovers in your freezer for quick meatless dinners or as a side!
I like to use ghee for this recipe which makes these beans vegetarian, you can use oil for vegans or rendered animal fat for meat eaters!Beans can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months.
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