Smoky Vegan Refried Beans | Slow Cooker
These flavor packed vegan refried beans are made in the slow cooker and have a delicious smoky edge to them! Cooking dried pinto beans in the slow cooker is an economical way to fill your freezer with tasty refried beans for quick and easy weeknight meals.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- 5 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 small/medium onion, chopped
- 2 jarred green chilis or jalapenos, deseeded and sliced
- 1 tsp of cumin
- 1 tsp of oregano
- ½ tsp of chili powder
- ½ tsp of ground coriander
- 2 tsp of smoked paprika
- 2 cups dried pinto beans
- 4-5 cups of water
- 1-2 tsp of salt*
Instructions
- Add the coconut oil, onions, garlic, chilis and spices to your slow cooker. Leave cooking on high for about 30-45 minutes, until the scent of garlic and spice starts to fill the room and you can see the onions and garlic are a little bit cooked.
- Add the beans, salt and 4 cups of water. Leave cooking on a high heat for around 5 hours, or low heat for around 8 hours.
- After a couple of hours cooking, check in our your beans and stir them to make sure the ones at the top get submerged into the water.
- Stir hourly until they are fully cooked. As they start to cook and soften, stir them quite aggressively and mash them with the spoon against the side of the pan to encourage the beans to break down. Add more water (half a cup at a time) as needed, if the beans look too thick or are sticking to the pan.
Notes
*I like the full two teaspoons of salt, but if you tend to prefer less salty food, that might be too much for your taste. One teaspoon will certainly suffice.
Alternative EASY Method if you need to leave the house : Add in all ingredients at the same time. After you add the beans, pour in enough water to go a couple inches above the top of the beans. Cook them on LOW heat for about 8 hours. When they are done, ladle out as much of the excess liquid as you can and set it aside. Use a potato masher or immersion blender to break the beans down, and add the cooking water back in as needed to achieve your desired texture.
Storage : These keep well in the fridge or freezer. They will thicken quite a lot, so you may wish to add a little water when you reheat.
If you're not eating any on the day you cook them, I would add another cup of water when you're cooking them and aim to have them a bit more runny than you actually want them to be. They will thicken when you store them so should end up at the right texture this way.
Serving: 1g, Calories: 95kcal, Carbohydrates: 15g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 616mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 1g
