How To Make Refried Beans - Baby Led Weaning Recipe
Table of Contents
Homemade Refried Beans Recipe
How to make refried beans? Refried beans are an excellent homemade recipe for baby-led weaning, offering a smooth yet textured option that introduces little ones to new flavours and nutrients.
Packed with protein, fibre, and essential vitamins, they provide a wholesome base for meals.
By gently cooking and mashing beans, you can create a consistency that's easy for babies to handle and chew, promoting self-feeding skills.
Adding mild spices to the creamy refried beans allows for flavour exploration while keeping the dish nutritious and safe for developing palates.
This easy refried beans recipe can also be easily adapted with different beans or spices to keep mealtimes interesting.
Kidney Refried Beans
Kidney beans are an excellent choice for baby-led weaning, particularly in this best refried beans recipe.
Their soft texture makes them easy for little ones to grasp and chew, promoting self-feeding. Packed with protein, fibre, and essential nutrients, they provide a nutritious base for meals.
When cooked and mashed, kidney beans can easily be blended with mild spices and a splash of healthy oil, resulting in a creamy, flavourful dish that is both satisfying and wholesome.
Their vibrant colour and mild taste can make mealtime more appealing for babies as they explore new flavours and textures.
Ingredient information
Olive oil - Alternatives oils you can use for this home-cooked beans recipe are avocado oil or an odourless coconut oil would be good alternatives for this recipe. Vegetable oil can work too.
Onion - You can use a red or yellow onion for this recipe, you can use what you have or even use onion granules too.
Kidney beans - You can use red or white kidney beans, or you could use your own beans of choice such as black beans or canned pinto beans.
Feel free to use different kind of beans such as dried beans. Make sure to follow the instructions how to cook before using.
Paprika - Paprika adds a little spice and flavour which is great for this recipe. You could use smoked paprika too.
Or a bit of both. Chili powder can be added if you wanted a little spice, you can add this in afterwards for the adults if you need to.
Cumin seeds - If you did not have cumin seeds you can use cumin powder instead.
Garlic pepper - If you did not have garlic pepper you can use garlic powder, garlic granules or fresh garlic cloves with a little black pepper.
Tomato puree - You can use tomato puree or tomato paste. This is great to use to make a quick sauce with maximum flavour.
Serving suggestion
The refried beans recipe are great served simply with rice of your choice such as Mexican rice, or you could also serve with guacamole or avocado, sliced tomato and cucumber and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt and grated mature cheddar cheese.
This recipe would make for a great side dish too, served alongside a quesadilla for example.
Other recipes you my like: Chicken quesadilla, Homemade baked beans or Butter bean dip.
Storage instructions
The beans can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days, stored in an airtight container, or you could use a container with plastic wrap to cover the beans.
If you wanted to freeze the beans, you will need to store in an airtight container.
Make sure the beans have cooled to room temperature before transferring to an airtight container to the freezer.
To defrost the beans leave in the fridge overnight, and make sure it has fully defrosted.
To reheat the beans, transfer to a preheated oven on 180C or 350F and reheat on a medium-high heat.
Once the beans have been defrosted and reheated you will not be able to re-freeze.
Equipment used to help with this recipe
Saucepan - So many pan sets out there but I particularly like to use pans with a non-stick surface for ease of cleaning and ones that are suitable for different types of hob surface.
Airtight container - I much prefer the click-shut lids on these containers compared to others. They are also dishwasher and freezer safe and BPA free, so very suitable for food use.
Recipe | How To Make Refried Beans - Baby Led Weaning Recipe
How To Make Refried Beans - Baby Led Weaning Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Start by heating the olive oil in a large pot on a medium-high heat, add in the chopped onion, turn the heat down to a medium heat and cook the onion for 10 minutes or so.
- Next add in the cumin seeds, garlic pepper or garlic powder, paprika and tomato puree and stir and cook for 1 minute or so.
- Pour in the kidney beans with the water from the cans. Stir altogether, the cooking time is 15 minutes uncovered.
- Mash the beans with a potato masher and add in 100ml hot water. You could blitz in a food processor to make smooth refried beans.
- Stir the beans and leave to cool before serving to your baby. You can serve with a squeeze of lime juice and tortilla chips if you wish to finish off the dish.
Notes
This refried bean recipe is a great recipe and deliciously vegan and vegetarian.
If you wanted to add in a chicken stock cube for extra flavour if your little one is not vegetarian or vegan, this will add so much flavour to this family recipe.
You can cook the beans in different ways such as in the slow cooker too, add in all of the ingredients including the 100ml of hot water and cook for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
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