Refried beans

Refried beans being prepared in a skillet

Refried beans (from Spanish: frijoles refritos, lit.'rehashed or warmed-over beans') is a dish of cooked and mashed beans that is a traditional staple of Mexican[1] and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular in many other Latin American countries. The English "refried beans" is a mistranslation, since the essence of "frijoles refritos" is the reheating and mashing of the beans.

In this dish, after being boiled and then mashed into a paste, the beans are fried or baked, though as they are fried only once, the term "refried" is misleading.[2] As described by Rick Bayless, "they're refritos—not fried again, as you might assume, but 'well fried' or 'intensely fried.'"[1]

  1. ^ a b Bayless, Rick (2000). Mexico: One Plate at a Time. New York: Scribner. p. 185. ISBN 0-684-84186-X.
  2. ^ Rosengarten, David (2003). It's All American Food: The Best Recipes for More Than 400 New American Classics. Little, Brown and Company. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-316-05315-0.