I know I say this often, but don’t forget about the side dishes when you are making your dinner plans. Some recipes are all inclusive and you don’t need to worry about a side dish. But lots of them do need a supporting dish to make for a rounded out meal. Most often you want to go for a starchy type side – like pasta or potatoes or beans. This Recipe for Cheesy Pinto Beans is perfect for all of your Mexican inspired dishes like tacos or burritos or quesadillas.
These beans are not to be confused with refried beans, as there is very little added fat (just the cheese) and they are definitely not refried. I like to smush up the beans as they cook for two reasons, they release the starch to thicken things up. And they give you both textures of the mashed bean and the whole bean. All that said, you could certainly replace the whole beans with cans of refried beans and still have a great side dish.
For the technique of smushing the beans, I suggest using a classic old-school wooden spoon. It has the right shape for the side of a pan and provides enough leverage to smush the beans. I have learned that the plastic style spoons don’t really work for this because the handles have too much give and then you push too hard on the pan and that can get dangerous.
Now Let’s Get Cookin’!
Cheesy Pinto Beans
Ingredients
- 2 28oz cans Whole Pinto Beans
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 cup Cheddar Cheese shredded
- 1 tbsp Taco Seasoning see recipe below
Instructions
- Drain one can of pinto beans.
- In a large pot over medium high heat, and add all ingredients. Bring to a bubble, stirring regularly to get all of the cheese melted.
- Once the beans are soft enough to smush with the back of a spoon reduce the heat to medium low. Every few minutes smush more of the beans and stir the contents to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Continue doing this until the beans are to your desired thickness and texture, at least 20 minutes.
Notes
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Estelle Forrest self-published this cookbook after a lot of playing around in the kitchen. You can purchase your own copy here:
AVAILABLE IN PRINT OR KINDLE eBOOK VERSIONS
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