Refried Pinto Beans in Mini Bacon Cups

How fun is this delicious side dish? Actually, the cups are so adorable, they make a great appetizer and/or snack for TV binging (football games included!).

But I should start with a little confession: I didn't plan this dish ahead of time. The truth is, I was making tacos and needed a side dish beyond rice. I checked the pantry and I had a can of refried beans (I typically make my own, like my Refried Black Beans and my Refried Pinto Beans, but I found a can so...). I checked the fridge and I had 4 strips of bacon and some shredded cheddar cheese. I decided to turn the bacon into a vessel to hold the beans, and then I covered the beans with cheese. No joke, that's how these amazing bite-size treats were created. You know how I like to play with my food.

About the serving size: I halved each strip of bacon, so I ended up with 8 pieces, and made 8 mini cups. That was perfect for 4 people (as a side dish). But I also had leftover refried beans (from a 16-ounce can), so feel free to create more mini cups. Just remember that 1 strip of bacon makes 2 mini cups. One can of beans will fill about 24 mini cups.

Extra refried beans? Serve the extra refried beans on the side. With my extra beans, I transferred them to a shallow baking dish, covered them with shredded cheddar and baked them (covered with foil) at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the beans were warm and the cheese was melted. They were awesome too.

Refried Pinto Beans in Mini Bacon Cups

4 slices bacon, halved crosswise
1/2 cup refried pinto beans or refried black beans (or follow the links above to make refried beans from scratch)
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Arrange each piece of bacon (half of a strip) in the bottom of 8 cups of a mini muffin pan, wrapping the bacon around the inside of each cup. Try to cover the bottom as much as possible (so the beans don't fall through).

Nestle a second mini muffin pan on top, making sure you're not crushing the bacon cups. This keeps the bacon from shrinking and losing its "cup" shape.

Bake for 20 minutes (the bacon will be cooked, but not crisp).

Remove the top muffin pan and, when the bacon cups are cool enough to handle, drain them on paper towels. Drain the fat from the muffin pan.
You have two options here, depending on how you like your bacon.

For softer bacon, return the bacon cups to the muffin pan and fill each one with the refried beans. For crispy bacon, fill the bacon cups with the beans and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Top the beans with the cheese (do the same if you're using a baking sheet).

Bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese melts (same with the baking sheet method, and the bacon will crisp up).

Serves 4 (2 cups per person)