I love refried beans and I use them in a lot of recipes. They are great as leftovers to reheat but they also freeze really well, too. But not all refried beans are made the same, and I’m excluding refried black beans.
Here is my comparison to find the best canned refried beans between 3 popular ones we have bought in the past: Old El Paso traditional, La Preferida traditional, and Ortega traditional.
Our favorite or #1 Best Pick –
See below for a full comparison, why we chose this as our best pick and details between the three.
Traditional refried beans comparison
Comparison: Appearance
Old El Paso looked incredibly chunky with a lot of visible beans throughout and looked thick.
La Preferida had a consistency that looked fairly smooth with very little visible chunks of beans. The color was a reddish tan tint but didn’t looked off in any way.
Ortega was somewhere in between the previous two in that it wasn’t as visibly full of beans like Old El Paso, but had more than La Preferida brand. It was a bit orangy in color though. The consistency was about between the two as well, not thin and not overly thick.
Ortega was definitely the most pleasing visually out of the three.
Comparison: Smell
All of them had a similar bean smell – but the Ortega had a bit of a seasoning aroma to it, which was nice since when we’re making any type of Mexican food, it’s nice to smell the many different spices.
Comparison: Taste & Texture
Since these are all refried beans made by the same type of bean, these all tasted similar, but what set them apart was the texture.
Because the LA Preferida was thin and smooth, it was quite simply a bit too runny and I didn’t like that it wasn’t thick enough to stay on a tostada. Frankly, it was too messy and easily would slide off when trying to maneuver the tostada to eat it.
On the opposite was Old El Paso which was quite thick and had a bity texture with all the chunks of beans. It was very thick and definitely stayed on a tostada, however, it seemed like it was a bit dryer than I like it to be. I would actually add a splash of milk to this to thin it out a little.
My favorite Refried Beans – #1 Best Pick is…… Ortega!
What did you think? Do you have a favorite that your family likes for a certain reason? Tell us in the comments!
