I’ve actually had a bag of dried pinto beans in my cupboard for a while, waiting for the opportunity to make my very own refried beans. Although technically, these beans weren’t fried at all! I followed this easy recipe, but left out the cumin and added some red pepper for just a slight kick. Yes, you need to soak the beans the night before, and yes, they do need to sit on the stove for a while, but they require very little hands on time. One pound of beans makes quite a lot, so I stashed some in the freezer for later. I really liked both the texture and flavor of these, and used them the first night to make a bean quesadilla!

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