As much as I like local, hole-in-the-wall Mexican places, nothing beats making Mexican food at home. It’s easy to leave a Mexican restaurant feeling overly stuffed and loaded down by all of the fried chips, heavy ingredients, and huge portions, but at home, it’s easier to keep your meal on the lighter side without compromising any of the yum factor.
I love making a huge spread of toppings like guacamole, freshly shredded cheese, sautéed veggies, salsa, and sour cream to top my homemade Mexican food. And my favorite of all?Homemade refried beans! They’re loaded with protein with just a little kick of spice, and they’re superbly creamy. Until a year or two ago, I had no idea that you could make refried beans yourself. They’re surprisingly simple, and they’re 100x better than the canned kind. All you have to do is let dried pinto beans soak overnight in water, add some spices in the morning, cook them for several hours, and then mash them with a potato masher. They’ll be ready in time for dinner, with almost no hand-on work! At my house, we love having these on tacos, inside fajitas, quesadillas, & burritos, and alongside chicken enchiladas.
I briefly contemplated buying a slow-cooker for my dorm room just so I could make things like refried beans and soups, but I think that’d officially place me into the “high-maintenance” category. Also, I’m not so sure that slow-cookers are actually allowed in dorm rooms…
So, until I have my own kitchen again, I’ll have to settle for enjoying them at home or defrosted from my freezer. Homemade refried beans freeze perfectly, so I can always bring them back to school in individual portions. Yum!
Slow-Cooker Refried Beans {Vegetarian}
Ingredients
Instructions
Some ideas for keeping your Mexican food on the lighter side:
- Make a “deconstructed” taco or fajita plate! Fill your plate up with all of the normal fillings and toppings while skipping the outer shell or tortilla.
- Go heavy on the fresh & sautéed veggies, lean protein, salsa and refried beans. Go light on the cheese, sour cream, rice, and tortillas.
- Use lettuce leaves to make Mexican lettuce wraps!
Question for you: What’s your favorite Mexican dish?
I love enchiladas verdes and quesadillas. And of course, I love my homemade burritos! They’re the best thing ever at school in the midst of lots of eating out and storebought frozen meals. I also love making a huge Mexican salad with spicy grilled fajita chicken, refried beans, corn, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and guacamole. YUM!
Hayley@healthyregardshayley says
This is awesome! I will have to try it. I also love recreating Mexican food as it is so tasty but I usually walk out of restaurants gripping my stomach.
Liv says
I agree 100%! I went out for Mexican food with friends last night and it was a fun night, but I didn’t feel so great after. It was just really heavy food!
Sam @ Grapefruit & Granola says
Great idea! I’m going to try these sometime soon. I’m also a fan of making Mexican food at home because I eat wayyyyy too many chips when we go out to eat 🙂
Liv says
The chips are just so addicting! You’ll have to let me know if you try making them 🙂
Molly says
What?! You can make homemade refried beans?! I definitely have to try that.
My favorite Mexican dish is tacos, and I know that’s sort of a basic Mexican food, but seriously…tacos are amazing. I love putting cheese, guac, fresh salsa, and lettuce on top.
Cailee says
YUM!!! What a fun idea! Everything looks so fresh and pretty! I love how fresh Mexican restaurants are! …and how simple the ingredients can be!
Liv says
Agreed! Love Mexican food 🙂
Jessica @ kiwiyogirunner says
I adore the slow cooker, I’ll have to try this! I know what you mean about dorm rooms, they are so fussy 🙂 in my first few years of uni I had a bread maker and I’d make sneaky bread in my room and spray air fresher to try and mask the smell! Luckily I got away with it cos my RA was awesome 🙂 burritos and guacamole for me!! 🙂
Liv says
That’s amazing that you made bread in your dorm room!! You’re so domestic 😉 And you’ll have to let me know if you try the recipe!
Jessica @ kiwiyogirunner says
Haha yeah that’s what my floor-mates said! I absolutely will, I am slow cooker-less right now as I’m about to go back to Australia and will be living with a friend temporarily, but when I eventually get one I’ll be right back into slow cooking every day! 🙂
Christine@ Apple of My Eye says
I honestly had no idea that refried beans were so easy! I LOVE getting them when I go out to get Mexican food, but sadly, I don’t really cook that genre of food much at my house because it’s always intimidated me. Not sure why haha! Anywhoooo, I love that these basically do all the soaking/cooking by themselves! Woooo!
Liv says
That’s so funny that you say that because cooking Asian food has always intimidated me and you have so many of those awesome recipes! I think lots of Mexican food can actually be pretty simple– especially things like tacos and quesadillas, and of course, refried beans 🙂
Kristin @ My Year in the Making says
Love this recipe! And great tips on keeping your Mexican food on the lighter side. I love Mexican food but sometimes I feel like it’s so hard to keep it on the healthy end.
Liv says
It can definitely be hard, especially since all of the unhealthy parts of Mexican food are delicious, haha! But I feel so much better when I keep it on the lighter side, and it’s still really delicious, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out 🙂
Elsie @ Sharing Healthiness says
This is the first time I am learning how to make refried beans! I actually had no idea how they were made…I just knew I liked them! Ha! I’ll have to go with quesadillas because I actually like more the tortilla than the cheese 🙂
Liv says
YES, they’re so simple! And I love quesadillas, especially ones with really good tortillas 🙂
misty says
making some today 🙂
Liv says
Awesome! Want to mail some my way? 😉
Melissa says
Yum, I was actually planning to look up how to cook beans! I’m glad I didn’t have to really search for a recipe and found yours instead, haha.
My favorite Mexican food would probably have to be quesadillas. There’s a Mexican place on my campus that makes good ones; plus, they’re fun to make on my own as well.
Liv says
Awesome, you’ll have to let me know if you end up making them! And I love quesadillas– they’re so easy and delicious 🙂