My Brilliant Hack for Making Canned Beans Taste as Good as a

Ingredients

Try It with These Recipes

Bean and cheese tostadas

Alongside steak fajitas

Bean and cheese burritos

Directions

Why It Works

These beans come together in about 10 minutes, but taste much closer to homemade refried beans than the store-bought cans.

This method can be applied to any beans you prefer.

How To Make Semi-Homemade Refried Beans

Cook onions. Halve and thinly slice a small onion, then cook in a small saucepan over high heat with a tablespoon or two of the fat of your choice — bacon fat, schmaltz, butter, and olive oil are all great options. Fry the onions until they are softened and crispy in spots.

Add the beans. Dump a can of pinto, black, or cranberry beans and the can liquid into the saucepan along with a few teaspoons of taco seasoning (you can adjust this to your taste). Cook for a few minutes to warm everything up and thicken slightly, about 5 minutes.

Mash the beans. Remove the saucepan from the heat and roughly mash the beans with a potato masher or a fork. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar and season with kosher salt to taste.