Best Vegan Crockpot Refried Beans

This is the Best Vegan Crockpot Refried Beans ever! Once you try them out and your palette tastes no additives, you will quickly become an addict. Eat these plain, in burritos or mixed with tostadas, nachos or salads.

Have you ever wanted to make a healthier version of refried beans? If so, this is the recipe for you. I love these, but I don’t like all the extra additives and preservatives in the canned versions. No worries! I’ll just make my own. Making it homemade is healthy, easy and very inexpensive.

This is a recipe that hits home for us on two levels! It is a great for meal prep/freezer meals and is extremely frugal. The cost of the beans is just pennies so it is a great meal for those weeks when money is tight.

🍲 Ingredients

All you need is six ingredients and one of them is water! You aren’t going to ever want to buy a canned variety again after you taste them either.

Pinto Beans: This takes a bag of pinto beans. Rinse them and remove any bad beans or anything else you find that doesn’t belong. You don’t need to presoak the beans using this recipe so it’s a dump-and-go.

Garlic: We love the flavor of adding garlic cloves. Adjust the amount you add though.

Jalapeño: We only use half of a seeded jalapeño. It’s not a ton of heat, but just enough to give it the right flavor. You will adjust this based on your own liking.

Onion: Use a regular or sweet onion in this recipe.

🥣 Instructions

These are just so easy you are going to question why you don’t make them all the time.

Step One: Spray the crockpot with nonstick spray. Cut up an onion into quarters and place in the crockpot. Split a jalapeño in half, remove the seeds, and add it to the crockpot. Add seasonings and beans followed by the water. Stir it all together and cover. Cook on high for 6-8 hours.

Step Two: Once they are done, drain into a large pot and allow them to cool. Reserve the water.

Step Three: Once cooled, blend them in a sturdy blender or a food processor. Add small amounts of the reserved water to get the consistency you would like. Alternatively, you can also use an immersion blender inside the slow cooker.

Use immediately or you can store in the refrigerator for up to three days.

🍱 Meal Prepping

These are great for meal prep! In fact, these are one of our family’s favorite recipes to make ahead and make burritos for those emergency meals when we don’t want to cook. I talk about it a lot in the Meal Prep 101. Here are just a few ideas to get you started!

• One way to meal prep this is to cut the onion and jalapeño the night before. Measure out the seasoning and get the slow cooker on the counter so that in the morning it is simply a two minute dump-and-go.
• I love using the refried beans for meals throughout the week. Pull out the frozen refried beans the night before you will use them for the following night’s dinner. Add tortillas, cheese and other toppings and this is a five minute dinner!
• Meal prep this for a Seven layer dip for a party on the weekend. Grab 1-2 cups of the refried beans from the freezer the night before you want to use them. Stir them up and start the layering process of the dip. You can have a dip ready in under 10 minutes and be out the door.
• I love nachos.  I mean L O V E! In 15 minutes, you can make them for dinner on a busy, stressful night. Pull the beans out of the freezer and microwave them on defrost. Once they are ready, layer the beans with cheese, jalapeños, olives over chips on a sheet pan. Cook at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Top with homemade guacamole and sour cream.

Recipe FAQ

Related Recipes

Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!

Vegan Crockpot Refried Beans

Easy to make and delicious to taste! This Vegan Crockpot Refried Bean Recipe is Healthy and Delicious! {WW 0 Purple, 0 Blue, 2 Green, Vegetarian, Gluten Free}

No ratings yet

Print Pin Rate

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Hispanic

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes

Servings: 20

Calories: 32kcal

Author: Ginny

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 ½ cups Dried Pinto Beans rinsed
• ▢ 3 Garlic Cloves
• ▢ ½ Jalapeño seeded and chopped
• ▢ 1 tbsp Cumin
• ▢ 6 cups Water
• ▢ Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

• Combine all the ingredients into a slow cooker. 
• Cook on high for 8 hours. 
• Remove all the ingredients. Save all the excess liquid until you are finished. 
• Allow the beans to cool. 
• Blend the beans in a sturdy blender and add saved excess liquid until you have reached the desired consistency. 

Notes

Meal Prep: One way to meal prep this is to cut the onion and jalapeño the night before. Measure out the seasoning and get the crock pot on the counter so that in the morning it is simply a two minute dump and go.

Storage: These will stay fresh if they are sealed in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. If you can’t use them in that amount of time, freeze them for up to three months.

Freezer Friendly: These freeze so well that we make batches just to freeze them and pull out to eat or make burritos. To freeze: Allow the beans to cool after you have blended them up. Scoop 1 cup servings into freezer safe pint size bags, seal and lay flat to freeze. I like to lay them flat as it saves space. Pull out the night before you plan to use them and place in the refrigerator. Heat in the microwave for 2 minutes and serve as needed. 

Blending: Feel free to blend in a blender, food processor or immersion blender. They will all give you the same end result. If you are going to use a blender with a lid, just make sure the beans have cooled down so they don’t explode all over the kitchen. 

Nutrition

Serving: 0.5cup | Calories: 32kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 2g | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 100mg | Fiber: 1g | Vitamin A: 10IU | Vitamin C: 0.7mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 0.6mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @savorandsavvy or tag #savorandsavvy!