Refried beans (from Spanish: frijoles refritos, lit. 'well-fried beans') is a dish of cooked and mashed beans that is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular in many other Latin American countries. In this dish, after being boiled and then mashed into a paste, the beans are fried or baked (though they are fried only once).
The English "refried beans" is a mistranslation, since the essence of "frijoles refritos" is the reheating and mashing of the beans; 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'."
