Refried beans

Mexican dish

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 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.

Refried beans being prepared in a skillet

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. As described by Rick Bayless, "they're refritos—not fried again, as you might assume, but 'well fried' or 'intensely fried.'"