My family won't eat them any other way because homemade is THAT good. I've been on a personal journey to make amazing refried beans in my Instant Pot. Partly because the canned version always looks unappetizing. I started testing recipes and found most lacked flavor and/or common sense.
Many called for only 1 cup of beans — already that was not enough for dinner and leftovers. Some included a ton of bean cooking water and then simply instructed to discard it post-cooking. Again, why so much water in the first place, and why throw away the cooked water when it can be used later to reheat the beans on the stovetop and even eaten as a delicious soup? One recipe called for 1 ½ cups of beans in the mini 3-quart Instant Pot. Again, why? Why not use whole numbers? I like easy - I assume you do, too! And, upping the quantity of beans while cutting the water helped the recipe not only fit into the mini Instant Pot, but also made enough for family dinner and leftovers. This recipe can be made in a bigger Instant Pot as well because there is enough water.*
I also learned that adding meat wasn't necessary — these beans scream with flavor. And, this way, my mother-in-law, my kids, and I can safely eat. There was also no reason to add extra spices like some recipes called for — cumin, oregano, or chile powder. Again, you can add them, but I prefer my beans simple and a blank canvas for everything else. The only slight switch I made was to add a tablespoon of ghee along with the oil, which rounded out the flavor profile. Stick with oil if keeping plant-based.
The most important lesson I learned is that the type of bean is important. Pinto beans are ideal because they soften quickly. The Roman bean looks similar but takes longer to cook and does not soften in the same way. Read the package - trust me!
One thing that ramped up flavor was the tarka (taking from our Indian cuisine) of the oil-ghee, onion, and other ingredients. Browning them was a perfect layer of flavor and depth. Some recipes called for cooking this for 10 minutes, which was way too long — 5 is perfect. This recipe is so good that I was literally scraping the last bits of beans out of the pot with my fingers and then licking them clean.
If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is.
xoxo Anupy
P.S. If you love my Instant Pot recipes, consider ordering my latest cookbook, Instant Pot Indian, where I give you recipes for all three key sizes of the Instant Pot and help you make family-style portions with full Indian flavor.
Pressure Cooker Size: 3 quart or larger*
Warm Up: 21 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Cool Down: 10 minutes natural release + manual release
TOTAL: 1 hour 11 minutes
Makes: 4 cups
Two cups of beans soaked in boiling, hot water for 1 hour yield 3 ¾ cups - soak them 2 hours or more and you'll have 4 ¾ cups. On the cooking liquid — the best way to use it is to reheat the beans on the stovetop. Refrigerated beans clump up. Yes, you can microwave them, but I don't like to use the microwave if I don't have to. Instead, I have small pans to reheat my beans. Instead of loosening up with plain water, I just use the jarred cooking liquid so you keep all that delicious flavor intact. You can also add minced onion and jalapeño to the water to drink as a soup — perfect for in-between meals or before heading out to dinner so you don't overeat.
Below, you'll find my beans paired with Spanish rice (basmati rice made with ½ water and ½ tomato puree, Mexican spices, and jalapeño pepper), and avocado with lime juice and a sprinkling of my newest recipe, tomato salt. Let me know in the comment section if you want recipes for the rice and/or tomato salt!
I KNOW the video gets wonky at the end. I need to work on my camera position. The camera goes from horizontal to vertical without any warning, and it's driving me nuts. But, instead of holding myself back, I'm sharing what I have and just trying to improve it daily. Please head to my YouTube channel and subscribe so you never miss another video.
I've been playing around with the best refried beans in my IP for some time. I started as I always do with a recipe in my all-time go-to Joy of Cooking. Though it's not an Instant Pot, it does help me frame a recipe in my head. Also, I don't always love the ethnic recipes in here, but again, for me it's a guide.
In my version of this book that I've had since high school, it's on page 276. They make the refried beans recipe with black beans, which you sure can do, but I wanted to use pinto beans. They also use canned beans — I wanted to use dried. And they sauté just onion and garlic — I decided to add jalapeño. Then, I look at Cooking With Your Instant Pot Mini by Heather Schlueter. The recipe is on page 42. I generally liked this recipe and it got me started, but what I didn't like was that it only uses 1 cup of beans (like most IP recipes), it uses way too much water (4 cups), and then it really does not tell you what to do with the extra water later — do NOT throw it away. It's BEAN BROTH that can be used in all sorts of ways.
Why do I want to share my backstory? So that you see the processes that I go through to truly perfect my versions of recipes, AND so that you see the cookbooks I refer to in my own kitchen. While I typically don't cook from cookbook, I often for recipes I'm unfamiliar with use them as guidelines. No one gets anywhere without standing on someone else's shoulders. Please support other authors as well and buy their books. I will only include titles that I find useful. And just because a recipe may not be perfect to my taste from a cookbook, I still think having the book as a guideline helps and makes a huge difference.
[[ recipeID=recipe-8lyrc5s62, title=Mexican No-Fry Refried Pinto Beans ]]
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by Anupy Singla, Indian As Apple Pie
Servings: 4 cups
Keywords: beans, pinto beans
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Two cups of beans soaked in boiling, hot water for 1 hour yield 3 ¾ cups - soak them 2 hours or more and you'll have 4 ¾ cups. On the cooking liquid — the best way to use it is to reheat the beans on the stovetop. Refrigerated beans clump up. Yes, you can microwave them, but I don't like to use the microwave if I don't have to. Instead, I have small pans to reheat my beans. Instead of loosening up with plain water, I just use the jarred cooking liquid so you keep all that delicious flavor intact. You can also add minced onion and jalapeño to the water to drink as a soup — perfect for in-between meals or before heading out to dinner so you don't overeat.
Linda
August 17, 2025
Thank you so much for developing your homemade refried beans recipe! As I expected, my family loved this recipe. The refried beans were creamy, flavorful, and perfect! This recipe will be on repeat for us. :)
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Indian As Apple Pie replied:
This makes me oh, so happy! Yahoo!!
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