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Our Cheater Restaurant Style Refried Beans taste exactly like what you get at your favorite Mexican restaurant! Creamy, flavorful, and easy to make, this is a perfect side for any homemade Mexican dishes.
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The Easiest and Tastiest Refried Beans
I have to tell you—I am absolutely obsessed with these “cheater” restaurant-style refried beans! Why are they “cheater,” you ask? Well, because we’re starting with canned refried beans. Yep, no need to spend hours in the kitchen soaking and simmering dried beans. This recipe lets you whip up a creamy, flavorful side dish in just minutes. I always pair these with my favorite Restaurant Style Mexican Rice when making Mexican Dishes. Bonus: these beans are naturally gluten-free, so everyone can enjoy them!
I love how easy these beans are to make, and trust me, they taste so much better than anything you’ll find in a can. They’re perfect for dipping chips, spreading on tacos, or serving alongside all your favorite Mexican dishes. Have you ever noticed how the beans at restaurants are creamy and smooth, but the canned stuff is so thick it breaks your chips? Well, this is my no-fail method for turning the canned stuff into something even better than what you’d get at a restaurant.
Have a little more time on your hands and want to try a more authentic recipe? Try our easy guide on How to Make Refried Beans.
Simple Ingredients for Our Beans
Just four simple ingredients to make these flavorful beans.
1. Canned Refried Beans
- Why use it? Canned refried beans are the foundation of this recipe, offering convenience and a good base flavor to build upon. They save time compared to starting from dried beans, which require soaking, cooking, and mashing.
- Pro tip: Choose a high-quality brand with simple ingredients like beans, salt, and minimal additives for the best flavor.
2. Sour Cream
- Why use it? Sour cream adds creaminess and a slight tanginess, giving the beans a smooth texture and balancing the richness of the dish. It also helps achieve that restaurant-style consistency that’s perfect for dipping or spreading.
- Substitutes: Greek yogurt (for a lighter option), cream cheese (for extra richness), or plant-based alternatives if dairy-free.
3. Hot Sauce
- Why use it? Hot sauce brings a subtle kick and depth of flavor to the beans, enhancing their overall taste without overpowering the dish.
- Which type to use: A Mexican-style hot sauce like Cholula, Tapatío, or Valentina works best, but you can adjust based on your preferred heat level.
- Customizations: If you prefer milder beans, use less hot sauce, or try smoky flavors like chipotle for variation.
4. Monterey Jack Cheese (Optional)
- Why use it? Monterey Jack is a mild, creamy, and melty cheese that complements the flavors of the beans while adding a satisfying gooey texture.
- Alternatives: Cheddar, cheddar-jack blend, pepper jack (for added spice), or dairy-free cheese if avoiding dairy.
- Optional toppings: Instead of melty cheese, try crumbled cotija or queso fresco for a fresher, saltier finish.
How to Make Cheater Refried Beans
This recipe uses just a few simple ingredients: canned refried beans, sour cream, Mexican-style hot sauce, and cheese. It’s so easy to get that creamy, restaurant style flavor and texture in just a few minutes, here’s what you do:
- Combine ingredients – Combine all the ingredients and place the mixture in an oven-safe baking dish. This can be anything from a cast-iron skillet to a 9×13 glass baking dish.
- Bake – Bake for 10 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
- Stir and Bake Again – Remove the beans from the oven and give it a good stir. Top with cheese and then bake again until the cheese melts. If you prefer to not have cheese over the top, you can always just stop after the first bake and serve.
- Garnish and Serve – When beans are done, garnish with cotija cheese, queso fresco, and/or chopped cilantro.
Tips and Suggestions
- Adjust the sour cream – To get a better flavor and creamy consistency from canned refried beans, adding sour cream and cheese is the answer! You can add more or less sour cream, depending on your desired consistency.
- Kick up the heat – These cheater Restaurant Style Refried Beans have a little more intensity and kick, which I love. They aren’t too spicy, but definitely have a little more spice than a regular can of refried beans. You can amp up the spice by adding more hot sauce, or tone it down by adding less — whatever your family prefers!
- Try some onion – Dice green, yellow, or even red onion and add to the refried beans for more flavor.
- Add some seasonings – Try adding a dash of cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt.
- Top with cilantro – Garnish with cilantro to improve refried beans taste.
Recipes that use Refried Beans
Refried beans are the perfect side dish all on their own, but they are also great as an ingredient in a wide variety of recipes! Use them to add flavor, creaminess, and a protein boost to your favorite dishes, including:
- Burritos and Tacos: Spread a layer of refried beans on tortillas before adding your choice of protein, veggies, cheese, and toppings for delicious burritos or tacos.
- Enchiladas: Use refried beans as a filling for enchiladas along with shredded chicken, beef, or cheese. Top with enchilada sauce and bake until bubbly.
- Quesadillas: Spread refried beans on one tortilla, top with cheese and another tortilla, then cook until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are crispy.
- Bean Dip: Warm up refried beans and serve as a dip with tortilla chips. Add toppings like melted cheese, jalapeños, sour cream, and salsa. You can also serve cold and make a 7-Layer Bean Dip.
- Tostadas: Spread refried beans on crisp tortillas and add toppings like lettuce, diced tomatoes, cheese, and salsa for a tasty tostada.
- Navajo Tacos: Much like tostadas, you can layer the refried beans with some chili and toppings on some Indian Fry Bread for a delicious meal.
- Nachos: Layer tortilla chips with refried beans, cheese, and toppings like sliced olives, jalapeños, and guacamole for loaded nachos.
- Mexican Pizza: Use these refried beans to make your favorite taco pizza or Mexican-style pizza.
- Mexican Lasagna: Layer corn tortillas with refried beans, cheese, and a meat or veggie filling to create a Mexican-style lasagna.
- Use as a Chili Thickener: This is one of my favorite secrets for thickening chili! Add refried beans to chili for extra thickness and flavor. They work particularly well in Mexican-style chilis.
Frequently Asked Questions
These beans are called “cheater” because they use canned refried beans as a base, saving you hours of cooking while delivering restaurant-quality flavor and texture.
Absolutely! Monterey Jack is great for a melty topping, but you can also use cheddar, a cheddar-jack blend, or even crumbled cotija or queso fresco for a different flavor profile.
These beans have a mild kick from the hot sauce, but they aren’t overly spicy. You can easily adjust the spice level by adding more or less hot sauce to suit your taste.
Yes! You can prepare the beans, store them in an airtight container in the fridge, and reheat them when you’re ready to serve. If you’re adding cheese on top, add it just before reheating.
Yes! To make it dairy-free, skip the sour cream and cheese or use dairy-free alternatives like vegan sour cream and plant-based cheese.
Absolutely! You can add diced onions, garlic, or seasonings like cumin and garlic powder for extra flavor. Fresh cilantro makes a great garnish.
While baking enhances the flavor and creates a smooth, creamy texture, you can heat the mixture on the stovetop over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until hot.
Yes! Let the beans cool completely, then store them in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat before serving.
More Mexican Food Recipes
I use these restaurant style refried beans and our Restaurant Style Mexican Rice for sides every time I make Mexican food at home, we honestly never make a Mexican dish without these two sides anymore. Here are some of my favorite dishes to serve with our beans and rice:
- Carne Asada Burritos
- Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
- Sweet Pork Baked Burritos
- Pizzadillas (Pizza Quesadillas)
- Hatch Chiles Rellenos
- Chicken Tostadas
- Taco Bowl Recipe
- 75+ Best Mexican Recipes
Cheater Restaurant Style Refried Beans
Ingredients
- 1 can refried beans
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl combine the refried beans, sour cream, and hot sauce.
- Pour into a oven safe skillet, glass pie pan or 9×9 dish.
- Bake at 400℉ for 10 minutes, or until its hot and bubbly.
- Remove and stir well. Optional: Top with grated cheese and heat in the oven for 3 more minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve with tortilla chips and with our Restaurant Style Mexican Rice for a complete side dish to any Mexican meals.
Video
Notes
- You can use an immersion blender or a potato masher to get an even creamier consistency to your refried beans.
- Heat refried beans in a crock-pot or even the instant pot.
- Garnish with diced onion, cilantro or shredded cheddar cheese.
Nutrition Information
Ready to elevate your next Mexican-inspired meal? Try these Cheater Refried Beans and see how easy it is to achieve restaurant-quality flavor at home! Whether you’re dipping chips, layering tacos, or building the ultimate nachos, this recipe will become your go-to side dish.
If you give this recipe a try, we’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and share your favorite ways to enjoy refried beans. Happy cooking! 🌮🎉
Skip the hot sauce. The flavor does not meld with the sour cream.
Worked out fine. An improvement over just the canned.
Didn’t have Jack cheese. I sprinkled with Cojita.
Cojita cheese îs great too!
I love love love black beans so I used a can of refried black instead of pinto. I also sauteed about a half of a small chopped onion, 1 large minced garlic clove, and half a small chopped/seeded jalopeno in bacon grease and then smashed them with my pestal and mortar to add to the beans. Then i added the hot sauce and sour cream. Oh my Lord they were phenomenal!! The sour cream made them so creamy and the flavor was out of this world! I need to double this next time because they were gone and I had none to go with my left over fajitas!
Yum, I will have to give the refried black beans a try!
What size can of beans? 15 oz or the bigger one?
Yes, the 16 ounce can.
We made these tonight as a change, using a can of spicy jalapeno refried beans. Incredible with how just 4 ingredients, these beans turned out soooo amazing. This is our forever go to side dish now for Texmex night. Awesome recipe!!!!
So glad you liked it! I love the idea of using the spicy jalapeño refried beans. YUM!
Somehow had no flavor? We used a good refried bean, Frank’s Red Hot hot sauce. Follow the recipe to a T. Came out so bland and sad. We tried to doctor it up more but no luck.
What style of refried bean did you use? We haven’t had this turn out bland before, it seems like adding more hot sauce and maybe some extra salt could solve the problem but no? What flavor profile were you hoping for? Most refried beans at restaurants aren’t over-the-top flavorful but I feel like this recipe has a good, mild flavor to it. I am not sure what could have gone wrong with this.
This recipe is CRAZY!!!! Blew my mind! You dont taste any of the added ingredients, but all together it changes entire dish!
Thanks for the rave review! So glad you liked it!
My go-to refried beans for all my dinner guests. I use you your restaurant style Mexican rice recipe as well always.. however, when clicking the link from this refried bean recipe to get to the restaurant style rice recipe, the link led me instead to the best guacamole recipe. I use that recipe as well; but just wanted you to know the link in your page is not correctly. Thank you for perfect, easy recipes and keep them coming please!
Thanks for letting us know! We will fix that link!
Sounds good!
I haven’t made it yet, but the next time we have Mexican I certain will
Maybe use half the sour cream, though. A bit noticeable for my tastes.
I worked in a hospital kitchen with several sous chefs and an executive chef. I learned all kinds of shortcuts and tricks. For refried beans the easiest way to make them is to chop some garlic, onion and maybe some cilantro and other spices and salt and pepper, and toss into a commercial food processor or blender with cooked beans and just puree them for 15 or 20 minutes. If you want some kind of fat, toss it in with everything else. Butter is always on hand and easy enough to throw in.
When you’re making food for 800 patients you take as many shortcuts as possible.
Such a great idea, never would have thought of that! Thank you!
I do something similar with my canned refried beans. They really do suck straight out of the can. I add some spices, but use heavy cream at the end (not sour cream) when cooking. For the cheese, you can get creative, but a few spoons of Queso from a can is always a quick standby. I’d like to try to do them from scratch someday, but I usually put my energy and thought into my main dishes.
I used to do something similar when I used canned refried beans. I would buy the one with the least amount of ingredients and then add my own fats and seasonings and stir it all in together in the sauce pan while heating it up.
Love these beans! I always get so many compliments when I make them too. So easy and so delicious! Thanks for a great recipe!