Refried Bean, Zucchini and Corn Gratin Recipe (2024)

Fessing up, first of all - I used canned refried beans because I'm tired and it's hot out. Still, the recipe turned out great. We ate it as a main with tortilla chips, salsa, and guac.

I loved this, but it was a lot of work the first time. The first time I used black beans and found them hard to refry; pintos work better. Make the zucchini ahead or at the same time as you prep the beans. Might even try roasting it to reduce the hands-on time at the stove.

Loved this! Cooked the black beans yesterday and put it all together today. Used the chipotle chile in adobo and subbed two roasted padron peppers from the freezer for the serrano. Wow, this was delish. Reminded me of a Mollie Katzen recipe from Moosewood cookbook I used to make, but SO much better! I'll definitely make this again. BTW, I made extra black beans and froze them with liquid. Now I'm ready the next time I have a surplus of zucchini!

This has become a staple for our vegetarian family. We also use canned black beans, season them more simply than the recipe suggests, and pump up the grated cheese a little. It's delicious, filling, and brings protein to the growing teens.

My family loved this dish and wanted seconds. I used dry beans cooked as the linked recipe states. The refried beans alone were delicious and worked well with both the zucchini and rich corn polenta. Used non-dairy milk and nutritional yeast in the polenta which didn't take away the enjoyment of the dish at all. Each layer of the gratin would work well served by themselves alongside another main. I'll definitely be making this again.

We loved this. I was skeptical about making the refried beans, but it was easy and turned out great. I used canned beans, and I liked that I got to season them...and no lard like canned refried beans. I don't live in the US, so corn is not always available. I substituted with diced red bell pepper. It was good and the added color was great. I would double the polenta next time.

This tasted good, but was a lot of work, both for the preparation and the dish washing after. I used the full amount of spices and peppers as indicated in the recipe and it had a nice warm, smoky flavor, but was not too hot for my children. I shredded the zucchini because I was already running some through my food processor for another recipe and it was fine. I think I was able to get more of the water out of it that way too. We ate this with tortilla chips and fresh fruit.

This was so good that we finished the first batch in one day and made a second batch the next day! We used shallot instead of onion each time because that’s what we had, and scaled back the oil a bit. It is amazing with frozen corn kernels and we’re going to try it with fresh corn this summer as well. I don’t even like zucchini and I loved this. My kid doesn’t like corn and she loved this. This is somehow so much more than the sum of its parts.

I used instant corn masa mix (cornmeal and lime) to mix with the corn and milk. It was quite thick, but worked very well. I might try a little more milk next time. A delicious dish -- great main course for vegetarians.

I used canned beans, too. I assembled the beans and the zucchini the night before. Then the next night I added some water to beans per the tip at the end of this recipe, and I put together the corn topping, which I doubled. It was great! My boyfriend tends not to like gratins, but he enjoyed this. The different seasonings for each layer refined the dish, I thought.

Not in love. I followed the recipe using pintos. Texturally more like a layered dip, not bad with tortilla chips, but didn’t feel like a meal. I found it oddly sweet due to the corn. The corn meal clumped up. If made this again (which I won’t) I’d do the milk and corn meal first, then add the corn.

Used black beans, probably had to use more than 1/2 of bean cooking liquid. Plussed this up with a bit of salsa verde on top, bringing this recipe from a 4 1/2 to a solid 5.

This dish is a tribute to a Harvest. Making the beans the day ahead makes the timing reasonable. Regarding some finding the dish ‘soupy’- I would suggest to refry the beans longer. Rest assured they will eventually seize and this will correct the liquidity issue for you. If you overdo it just add back a little bean water (or just water) Cooked as described the outcome it a nice firmed casserole. Dice the zucchini I find it tosses in the pan a little more consistency.

I, too, used canned refried beans, and I didn't have any cornmeal/polenta on hand, so I used oat flour and subbed cheddar and parmesan for the cheeses because that's what I had. In spite of all the tweaks, this was fantastic. My seven year old asked for seconds, even though there was zucchini. It was a great accompaniment to our grilled steak. Look forward to making it again, maybe even hewing more closely to the written recipe if I can.

This is delicious, but quite a lot of work -- so do whatever you can in advance, and don't try it if you're short on time. I will definitely use canned pinto beans next time, and I cooked Step 4 in the same nonstick skillet as the previous steps, to cut down on the number of pans I had to clean up. But seriously, I am eating this as I am writing, and it is SO GOOD.

The flavors in this are delicious, but it is a lot of work, even when using canned beans (I heated them in a pot with a splash of water and all the other bean ingredients). I personally found the final dish to be quite soggy, more of a refried bean slop than a layered casserole - perhaps my polenta/corn mix was too thin? Don't get me wrong, it's still good, but just make sure that each of your three components are quite dry before layering.

This was very good - and I don't like summer squash! I buy it all summer so I'm always looking for the right recipe. I realized too late that we were out of canned beans and not enough time to make any so I used lentils. Worked fine, though I'll certainly try it with beans next time.

Made a few modifications - we enjoyed this dish: Used canned fat-free refried beans, diced the zucchini and added low sodium taco seasoning to this layer. Didn’t have cornmeal so made a roux for the corn with chipotle powder. Also sprinkled a Mexican blend cheese between layers and on top. Ran it under the broiler to finish.

I followed the suggestion of making more of the topping. I wish I had not. It made the topping completely overwhelm the other ingredients. The recipe itself was delicious. The suggestions led me astray.

this was great! I love that it used all my CSA veggies. The beans and the corn layers are amazing, squash later was ok, I used some frozen shredded zucchini because i didn't have fresh and think that slicing or dicing them would have been better. I also wonder if maybe using some winter squash (cubed and roasted butternut? acorn squash puree?) might work as well. I loved finding a gluten free vegetarian dish, curious if it could be vegan/dairy free, if anyone has tried these things, let us know!

This was delicious. Made it with three chipotle chilis from the can and without Serrano. Used only Parmesan cheese. Some have said this is more of a dip or needs a side. I wholeheartedly disagree and ate just this with a glass of water for dinner.

This is a winner. I did not have the cheese for the corn layer and subbed in 4 oz. of cream cheese. I make no apology for that. It was delicious. It is the first meal I've been able to taste in my recovery from COVID and I ate a lot of it.

Delicious but disappointing if your are not prepared. While this had good flavor it is definitely more of a dip type of dish that requires it to be eaten with something. Otherwise its just a gloppy plate full of all soft ingredients. They should have recommended pairing with tortilla chip or maybe put on top of rice. Or make CC a proper cornbread topping to give it structure.

I liked this a lot! Seems pretty flexible to use whatever vegetables you have on hand for the middle layer.

This was so good that we finished the first batch in one day and made a second batch the next day! We used shallot instead of onion each time because that’s what we had, and scaled back the oil a bit. It is amazing with frozen corn kernels and we’re going to try it with fresh corn this summer as well. I don’t even like zucchini and I loved this. My kid doesn’t like corn and she loved this. This is somehow so much more than the sum of its parts.

Delicious! Used Trader Joe's canned refried black beans (1 can). Had 3 lbs of zucchini so cooked it all thinking i would only use half of it, but found recipe could accomodate 2-2.5 lbs zuch. Another shortcut is using Cabot habanero cheddar and cutting out the serrano. Used feta on top. Big hit.. Made about 4-5 portions.