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Glite Dictionary
refried beans

refried beans

4 1.2
Dried beans that are cooked, mashed, and fried and often served with Mexican food
  • noun
  • /ˈriːˌfraɪd biːnz/
translation icon : frijoles refritos
  • Chili rellenos: stuffed peppers, deep-fried, covered with cheese and smothered in a red sauce, served with refried beans and Mexican rice.

And there's some sweetness in refried beans, isn't it?

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Examples

  • You need a can of refried beans, cream cheese, Taco seasoning mix, Taco sauce, sour cream and cheese and you just mix that all together.

  • "Last chance for some decent Mexican," she said over her plate of enchiladas and refried beans.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • I'm putting some refried beans on tortillas.

  • Monday became Mexican Night, with dollar margaritas and all the rice and refried beans you could eat.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Stir it into refried beans or cooked rice for an instant fiesta side dish.

    Blog text (5)

  • Served with refried beans, Mexican rice, and a stack of handmade flour tortillas.

    Blog text (18)

  • Carnitas on tortillas with cheese, refried beans, salsa, and vegetables.

    Blog text (12)

  • In the morning, it is common to have corn tortillas toasted with the ever-present mashed refried beans.

    Blog text (17)

  • While he eats his modest scrambled eggs and toast, they wolf down Amazonian platters of huevos rancheros, refried beans, and tortillas.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • My favorite dish is tacos filled with refried beans and cheese.

Synonyms

frijoles refritos
vsrefried beans
  • US
5.2

A Mexican dish of cooked, mashed beans fried with fat and spices

is the English name for that same cooked, mashed, fried bean dish
refry
vsrefried beans
  • US
2.5

A side dish of mashed cooked beans cooked again in oil, common in Mexican food

is the general name for the dish rather than a serving term

Surface Forms

refried beans singular
refried beans plural

Morphology

refried + bean

The phrase is compositionally built from 're-' (again) + 'fried' + 'beans', so a learner who knows those parts can infer it means beans that have been fried (again). The precise cooking detail that they are mashed is a recipe-specific nuance not encoded in the words, but the core meaning is directly derivable and cross-linguistically transparent.

Etymology

Refried beans comes from Spanish, where the phrase meant 'well-fried' rather than literally 'fried twice'. Cooks boil and mash the beans and then fry them in a pan, so the word refried points to that extra frying step and explains why it means cooked, mashed beans served as a side.