Tex-Mex Refried Beans And Rice

For those of us who are missing our Tex-Mex meal at our local Mexican Restaurants……We can get pretty darn close!
This refried beans and rice recipe can be used along with any Mexican style meal, and you can use the rice just as you would in any other Mexican recipe that involves Mexican/Spanish rice. Think Burrito Bowls, Keto Enchiladas, Stuffed Peppers. We are pretty well known for getting cauliflower rice to taste and feel like the real thing….or at least as close as you’re EVER going to get!! Just follow our guide for getting great cauliflower rice below, but if you’ve been with us a while “YOU ALREADY KNOW“. As per usual, we always recommend the frozen cauliflower rice, we use Green Giant. For some reason, it always gets a closer taste and texture than using fresh cauliflower.

Now for the beans…. we’ve tried zucchini and eggplant, both are very neutral in taste, but we found the eggplant gave us a better texture and absorbed more of the flavor from our “BEAN SPICES”. It’s easy to add Mexican Spices to the eggplant, but hard to replicate that earthy flavor that beans have……That’s where brought in 3 secret weapons.

Chipotle Chili Powder: A little heat, and some smokiness.
Paprika: A little smoky and a little earthy
Umami Powder: Made from dried mushrooms, and then ground to a powder. It gives you that real earthy flavor that is so hard to replicate in beans. And no….your dish will not taste like mushrooms at all!

We’ve served our refried beans and rice today with some of our Smoked Pulled Pork quickly heated in a pan with some of our Red Chile Sauce. It was absolutely DELISH!!
But feel free to also use our QUESO Dip and SALSA, and make a night of it!!

BEANS INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large eggplant (peeled and cubed into 2″ dice)
• 1 small onion (finely chopped)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1.5 tsp of our sazon recipe or 1 pkt Goya Sazon (if it doesn’t offend your keto)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp umami powder (not necessary, but does give it an earthy flavor like beans)
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 2 TBSP bacon grease or Manteca/Lard

BEANS INSTRUCTIONS:

• Heat up oil over medium heat in a med/large skillet.
• Add in the eggplant, onion and saute until the onion is turning light golden, and eggplant is getting soft.
• Add in the minced garlic and all of the dry seasonings, stir until well combined and eggplant starts to become very soft.
• Transfer everything into a blender, add a TBSP or 2 of water and gently pulse until you get it to the consistency YOU PREFER. Some people like it chunky, some people like it like a smooth paste. I probably over pulsed mine just a fraction (in the pictures below), but it was still tasty.
• Serve with a little Monterey Jack melted over the top
• ENJOY!!

MEXICAN RICE INGREDIENTS:

• 2 12 ounce packs frozen cauliflower rice
• 1 can mild RoTel with green chilies (drained)
• 1/4 of a white onion (in a chunk)
• 1 small green pepper (diced)
• 1 cup chicken bone broth/stock
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1.5 tsp of our sazon recipe or 1 pkt Goya Sazon (if it doesn’t offend your keto)
• 1/2 tsp of our adobo seasoning recipe or Goya Adobo Seasoning (if it doesn’t offend your keto)
• 1 TBSP bacon grease, Manteca/Lard

MEXICAN RICE INSTRUCTIONS:

PREPARING THE RICE:

• Microwave the cauliflower rice for 15 mins. The rice should be tender, but still with a little bite.
• Place rice in some cheesecloth, twist and strain out as much of the liquid as possible. (This step removes a lot of the CAULIFLOWER TASTE)
• Set aside

• Add onion, garlic cloves and the can of rotel into a blender, and blend until a smooth puree. Set Aside.
• Heat oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet, add green peppers and saute until softened.
• Add the tomato paste to the green peppers and stir for about a minute until you cook out some of the rawness from the tomato paste. This will deepen the tomato flavor in the rice.
• Now add the tomato mixture from the blender, and the spices. Stir well to combine.
• Once the sauce starts to heat up, add the prepared cauliflower rice. Stir well to coat.
• Add the chicken stock a quarter cup at a time, whilst stirring continuously. Our aim here is to finish off the cooking of the rice, but also not flood the cauliflower with liquid; Because cauliflower doesn’t absorb a ton of liquid, we do not want a soupy rice.
• After you have added all of the stock, turn the heat to LOW, place a lid over the skillet, and allow rice to cook for a further 10 minutes or until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Make sure to give a stir once in a while.
• Fluff the rice up with a fork and serve.
• ENJOY!!

PRODUCTS WE USE:

• SQUARE DINNER PLATES
• KITCHEN AID MEASURING SPOONS/CUPS
• PIONEER WOMAN CUTTING BOARD
• PIONEER WOMAN KNIFE SET
• LE TAUCI SOUP BOWL
• RACHEL RAY NONSTICK SKILLETS
• SILICONE RUBBER SPATULA
• INSTANT POT ACE COOKING BLENDER
• ARTISAN SOUP BOWL WITH HANDLES
• GREENPAN NONSTICK CERAMIC SKILLET

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