Instant Pot Green Chiles Refried Beans

Refried beans to me are one of the best things about cooking from the West.

Frijoles refritos, the side dish we know in English as refried beans, can be accompanying some of the best Mexican and Tex-Mex food around. From amazing enchiladas, part of a 7 layer dip, or as my favorite, the essential part of Huevos Rancheros. Refried beans can be found in many cuisines across Latin and western America. It is a staple in my cupboard at any time.

A very dear friend at work asked me what I was working on next for my blog. I told him that I was going to make refried beans. He looked at me with a perplexed expression. My friend is from South Africa, and he had never even heard of this “refried beans.” I had him Google what refried beans were, and that actually made him even more confused…lol “Why would someone eat that it looks like (I won’t describe exactly what he said, but it wasn’t pleasant!) and why is it called refried? They don’t look fried at all,” he asked me. It took me a minute to answer as I had grown up with them and eat them almost every week at some point. I had to do some research. Refried beans are sometimes fried once and sometimes not at all so there must be a reason for the name somewhere.

The name refried beans is actually a misnomer. In Spanish, they are called frijoles refritos. In a rough translation, it does mean refried beans. But in reality, as the Mexicans tend to like to quantify their descriptions of things, the real translation means well-cooked beans.

You can find many canned versions of refried beans in most grocery stores. Most of the canned varieties seem to be ok in flavor, but they never seem to be as good as a great restaurant serves. I wanted to see if I could make better ones in my Instant Pot. Yes, You definitely can! I could not keep my spoon out of these, I’m serious, they are so much better and tasty than anything you find in the store.

Using an Instant Pot, they don’t take very long and most of the time is just the cooking. You don’t even have to soak the beans overnight. The Instant Pot cooked them perfectly. In about 1 ½ hours you can be dipping them with your favorite chip and having a margarita or even a salty dog!.

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Instant Pot Green Chile Refried Beans

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

Pressure building and releasing

30 mins

 

Just spicy enough to give these refried beans a bit of zip. It is easy to make in the Instant Pot.

Course: Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican, Texmex

Keyword: Instant Pot, refried beans

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth or water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 oz can chopped green chilies
• 1 lb dried pinto beans rinsed and picked over for stones

Instructions

1. Set you Instant pot to sauté and when it is hot heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the onion, oregano, cumin, and the chili powder. Sauté until the onion is translucent and the spices are fragrant about 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute or so until you can smell the garlic starting to cook. Be careful not to overcook the garlic as it will burn and turn bitter.
3. Pour in about a ½ cup of the broth and stir to deglaze the pot of anything sticking to the bottom. It is important to do this as if something is stuck to the bottom it may set off the burn warning on the instant pot when pressure cooking.
4. Add the remaining broth, the salt, pepper, the green chilies, and the rinsed pinto beans. Stir to combine.
5. Close the Instant Pot Lid and make sure the release valve is set to sealing.
6. Set the Instant Pot to cook and make sure it is set to high pressure. Set the timer for 45 minutes.
7. The Instant Pot will start and come to high pressure. Once it has come to pressure the times will start and cook the beans.
8. When the Instant Pot has finished, it’s 45 minutes cooking time let it release the pressure naturally, usually about 10-15 minutes. Turn off the Instant Pot.

9. After 15 minutes you can release the pressure valve.

10. Stir up the beans to mix everything together. Then pour the beans into a strainer, making sure to reserve the cooking liquid. Return the beans to the Instant pot stainless steel liner. Add back about 3/4 cup of the liquid.

11. Using an immersion blender or a potato masher roughly mash or puree the beans completely to your liking, using more of the liquid to get it to your desired consistency. Keep in mind the refried beans will thicken as they cool. I only used 3/4 cup liquid and that gave me the cossistency like canned refried beans.