slow cooker baked beans - budget bytes
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Slow Cooker Baked Beans - Budget BytesTRANSCRIPT
slow cooker baked beans
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$5.14 recipe / $0.57 serving
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BREAKFAST BEANS & GRAINS MEAT PASTA GLOBAL VEGETARIAN MISC. SLOW COOKER RESOURCES
09.27.11
***Many readers have reported that their beans have not softened after over 8 hours of cooking. Thisseems to only be a problem with this particular slow cooker/bean recipe so I suspect the sugar is theissue. Not everyone is experiencing this problem, so proceed with caution!***
So, you know how I love to cook beans in the slow cooker, right? Right. Well, this week I was cravingsome good ‘ol home cookin’ so I decided to whip up a batch of baked beans in my slow cooker. Ithrew all of the ingredients into the slow cooker at night before I went to bed and in the morning, thesweet and savory scent of baked beans was beckoning me out of dreamland.
FYI, baked beans are REALLY good for breakfast. ;)
Did I mention that you don’t have to soak the beans? Yep, you just toss them in there dry.
Slow Cooker Baked Beans
As a food lover and anumber cruncher I'vedecided that cooking on abudget shouldn't meancanned beans and ramennoodles night after night.This is my web log of goodfood cooked with little cash.My stomach is full and mywallet is too. Read More
TOP RECIPES
Prep time10 mins
Cook time8 hours
Total time8 hours 10 mins
slow cooker baked beans
Total Cost: $5.14Cost Per Serving: $0.57Serves: 9
Ingredients1 large yellow onion $0.876 oz. smoked bacon $1.491 lb. white beans (navy or great northern) $1.18½ cup brown sugar $0.16½ cup molasses $1.10¼ cup dijon mustard $0.24generous cracked black pepper $0.054 cups water $0.00to taste salt $0.05
Instructions1. Dice the onion and slice the bacon into 1 inch pieces. Spread the beans out on a baking
sheet to sort through and remove stones or bad pieces. Transfer the beans to a colander andrinse with cool water to remove dust and debris.
2. Place the diced onion on the bottom of the slow cooker, sprinkle the bacon pieces over top,and then add the rinsed beans.
3. In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, molasses, dijon, and black pepper (do not addsalt yet). Once they are combined, stir in four cups of water. Pour this mixture over the beansin the slow cooker. Secure the lid, turn the heat onto high, and cook for six hours or untiltender.
4. Give the beans a good stir, taste one to test the texture. Add salt to your liking. If you’reunsure, start with ½ tsp of salt and stir it into the bean mixture well. Taste the beans and addmore (just a dash at a time) until it tastes right to you.
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This recipe makes about as much as 3 (15 oz.) cans and they freeze well, so don’t let any go to waste!
Step By Step PhotosStep By Step Photos
The baked beans start with these three items. I chose great northern beans because I like a largerbean. If you want smaller beans, you can use navy beans.
Dice the onion…
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Bacon usually comes in 12 oz. packages but I only used 6 for this recipe. Luckily, bacon freezes reallywell so I saved the other half. Cut the portion that you’re using into small pieces by slicing across thestrips.
Sort through the beans and remove any stones or bad pieces. Doing this on a baking sheet makesthem easy to see while keeping them contained. Transfer them to a colander and give them a goodrinse.
Add the onion, bacon and beans to the slow cooker.
In a large bowl, stir together the molasses, brown sugar, dijon mustard, and cracked pepper.
Stir in four cups of water.
Pour that mixture over the beans in the slow cooker. It should be enough liquid to fully covereverything. Secure the lid and turn the heat onto high. Cook for approximately 6 hours (if you need tolet it go a little longer, it will be okay).
After at least 6 hours, open it up, give everything a stir and test a bean for texture. If they are soft andfully cooked, season with salt to taste.
Bacon-y, brown sugar & molasses goodness!
Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal corn & cheddar pudding
48 Comments
Tina says:04.21.15 at 10:00 am
Just a Tip I learned on Dr Oz…Microwave 3 cups of Water to 1 cup of Beans for 15 Min. Remove from Microwave let sit 15 to20 Minutes Drain, then add to Crock Pot. I have an old slow cooker and encountered thesame issues, But not any More…
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Kath says:04.18.15 at 10:24 am
I’m wondering if the people who reported hard beans after 8 hours were using older slowcookers. I have an old 4-quart one that doesn’t get nearly as hot as my new 6-quart CrockPot.I never had good luck cooking beans in my old one, but I’ve had success with the new one.
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Jan says:12.25.14 at 11:33 am
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Have any of you tried using smaller white beans? I’m going to try that today or tomorrow.
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Karen says:07.19.14 at 5:21 am
I’ve made these twice now for work potlucks with great success! Everyone asks for them now.I cut the molasses and brown sugar in half and add some cayenne for a little kick. I alsosubbed a meaty ham bone from the freezer for the bacon. In the morning I just pull out theham bone and pull off the meaty bits , stir them back in and discard the bones. Wicked good!
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Kelly says:05.06.14 at 8:35 am
So Easy!!! This is one of those recipes that has me wondering why people buy the cannedstuff when this is so easy and so much more tasty! I remember when I was a kid my mommaking baked beans that were essentially doctored up pork and beans from a can. I will besharing this recipe.
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Mellisa says:03.31.14 at 10:10 am
Soak the beans over night: Place in a large pot and fill with water, about 2-3 inches above thebeans. In the morning, drain and rinse the beans.
There are some quick soak methods, but I usually soak my beans overnight. Pre-soaking willmake it so the beans are not hard.
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Niyah says:03.02.14 at 1:28 pm
For softening hard beans there’s a couple of things to watch out for:1) Try soaking your beans in salt water instead of plain tap. If your water is hard you couldactually be toughening your food instead of softening it. Or you could bypass this all togetherby soaking in distilled/purified water.2) If your beans are still hard after hours of cooking then the pH balance might be off. LikeSara Kasari said adding some baking soda can quickly help your beans along. If the recipecalls for something like vinegar or wine, consider waiting until your beans are soft beforeadding it.
Now for this particular recipe the sugar and calcium from the molasses in combination withpossible hard tap could result in the crunchy results people are experiencing. So hopefullythese tips will help.
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Beth M says:01.23.13 at 10:40 am
Kathie – Yep, that should work :)
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Kathie Boselowitz says:01.23.13 at 10:31 am
Can you add liquid smoke in place of the bacon for the vegetarian versions of my children?
Thanks,
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Sara Kasari says:01.11.13 at 5:22 pm
I, too, had the “bean problem”. I thought I’d be start by soaking the beans overnight, but itdidn’t help. After many, many hours of crockpot cooking, the beans were just not soft and Ithought I’d have to start again but then decided to add some baking soda. Bam! It fizzed upfor a bit and then worked out perfectly. Couple hours later everything was soft and delicious.
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seaward says:12.31.12 at 12:40 pm
Ah! Yeah, that makes sense, durr. I just finished making them without a presoak & they’re notrunny at all! Thanks :)
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Beth M says:12.26.12 at 6:33 am
Seaward – Hmm, it’s been such a long time since I made this. It sounds like the reason theywere runny is because the beans were presoaked. They probably soaked up quite a bit ofmoisture while presoaking, so less of the liquid was soaked up during cooking. I think the onlyway to make it less runny once they’re already cooked is to transfer it to the stove top andsimmer it until some of the water evaporates away.
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Kristine says:07.10.15 at 3:06 pm
Instead of doing the simmering can I just put less water to begin with if I’m pre-soaking thebeans? Unfortunately I need this for a 2pm party so that means I’m already starting them at8am, I’m worried I won’t have time to work the stove etc when I’m working on a bunch ofother things. Thoughts? 2 or maybe 3 cups of water instead of 4?
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Beth M says:07.12.15 at 7:01 am
I’m sorry if this didn’t get to you in time. I think I would try 3 cups, but I haven’t tested therecipe with pre-soaked beans, so unfortunately I can’t say for sure. :(
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seaward says:12.25.12 at 9:47 pm
These came out really well, but they were really runny.I did soak the beans overnight, then used 2tsp of liquid smoke instead of bacon. They werepretty much done at 6 and a half hours, but sososo runny. I took out a cup of the beans,mashed them, and stuck them back in. Then I cooked for another hour and a half with the lidoff.That helped a little bit, but they were still so runny! Was it because I didn’t use bacon? Is thereanother way to thicken it?They’re still crazy delicious, and I’m gonna make another batch tomorrow. Just curious ifthere’s anything else I can do.
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Sarah says:10.13.12 at 1:57 pm
These were wonderful! I didn’t have any problem with the beans getting done but they didtake the full 8 hours. I used turkey bacon and didn’t need to use so much. Am making againtoday and will just add 1 slice for flavor. Thanks so much for this recipe!
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Mom says:10.13.12 at 12:41 pm
This comment has been removed by the author.
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raycosm says:08.18.12 at 12:43 pm
I just bought a 3qt slow cooker and this is the first recipe I tried. I just finished throwingeverything in and suddenly ran into the problem of my slow cooker being too small by a LOT.So a word of warning to anyone about to try this: if you have a 3qt slow cooker, CUTEVERYTHING IN HALF!
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Anonymous says:07.04.12 at 10:22 am
I made these for a BBQ about a month ago and I have to say the house smelled so awesome Ihad to try them! (I do not like beans) I loved them! I had no leftovers! My husband requestedthese again today for a BBQ we are having. I can’t wait to smell that amazing smell. Yummy!!Thanks for the recipe!!
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L'orraine says:07.01.12 at 11:04 am
Bean softening issue. Problem would be the dijon mustard – if it’s prepared with vinegar.(Some are, some aren’t.) I learned the hard way that using any acids with beans/lentils causethem to stay very firm (any vinegar would have to be added after cooking, as in making asalad with beans). My traditional BB recipes always relied on mustard powder (for this reason,I’d guess).
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Alison says:03.22.12 at 7:54 am
if you have hard water it will take a lot longer to cook the beans… add some baking soda tothe water and you won’t have any trouble… but I’m pretty sure that beans have to be boiled,to kill that fungus thing?
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Anonymous says:03.05.12 at 9:45 pm
Instead of soaking the beans I put them in a little bit of water and bring to a boil on the stovetop for 20 minutes. Then drain the water off and put in the crockpot. That cured the crunchybean problem. It is a lot less time than soaking them.
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Beth M says:03.05.12 at 5:37 pm
Michelle (and others) – I think the issue might be with the sugar and perhaps the minerals inthe water in your particular area. I put a warning at the top of the post to let people knowahead of time. I hate that so many people have had ruined beans!
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