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| Beans, beans! Good for your heart! The more you eat, the more you……..want. Seriously. We <3 beans. I grew up with a mom who almost always had a pot of beans cooking or already ready to eat in the fridge. She always cooked them by soaking overnight and cooking the next morning. It’s what I know……it’s what I did too. Funny how you grow up doing the same things your mom did, even if you don’t know why. We decided to increase our intake of beans so I set out to find an easier way to make them.When you buy dried beans, you’ll pay a LOT less than beans in a can. I’ve always kept canned beans in my stockpile, but now I’m keeping cooked beans in my freezer instead. They are SO easy to make! I knew tons of people cooked their beans in the crock pot, but I had never done it myself – instead doing it like my mom had always done it…..but my mom doesn’t love her crock pot as much as I do. It’s so easy to do; I’ll be cooking all my beans this way from now on. Come over into the light and eat beans. Have I mentioned they are super yummy? All you need are beans, a crock pot, and water…..and salt. Beans without salt are like Annie without Elmo. I needed a batch of black beans, so that’s what I used…..but you can use any dried bean that you have. |
First you need to rinse your beans and look through them carefully. You’re looking for any bad, shriveled, weird looking beans or rocks. Yes, rocks. So far I’ve not found any rocks in my bags of beans but my mom finds them regularly. You really don’t want to bite into a rock during dinner……so rinse and look them over. You want your family to love beans, not be afraid they’re going to break a tooth. |
Cover your beans with water….lots of water. Most bags say 10 cups of water. I don’t measure. I just guesstimate. Hmmm, this looks about right. You need plenty of water because they’re going to absorb a LOT while they soak overnight. You’ll be quite surprised at how much they’ll drink. |
Notice that I’m using my crock instead of dirtying another dish. The purpose of using a crock pot is to lessen the amount of dishes you have – or something like that. Cover your beans and let them rest overnight. I always do this part right before I go to bed and then I know they’re ready when we’re done with breakfast. It only takes a little bit of planning on your part. It’s easy, but you do need to know in advance that you’re going to do it. That’s why meal planning is so important. |
In the morning (or 8 hours later) pour off the remaining water. Wow! Those were some thirsty beans…..they absorbed a lot of water and now they’re bigger. Do those beans look fat to you? No, it’s just water weight. Now it’s time to cook those babies! NOTE: Cover beans again, bring to a rapid boil on the stove for 10 minutes. This reduces the toxins present in beans. Drain and then proceed as below.DO NOT TRY TO BOIL YOUR BEANS IN THE CROCK ON THE STOVETOP. USE A REGULAR POT AND THEN TRANSFER BACK TO THE CROCK. For an explanation on the toxins in beans, visit Choosing Voluntary Simplicity. |
Cover them with water again. You got rid of the first batch of water – supposedly because it’s going to get rid of the gas or something like that. It’s like the first batch of water captures all the bad stuff and leaves the goodness of the bean behind. Bean behind. That just sounds silly. I have a bean behind. Just put enough water that the beans are covered. I added too much water and had to get rid of some of it when they were done. I get distracted easily. |
You want to cook them on low for 4-8 hours. It really depends on the type of bean you are using. A bigger bean (kidney) will obviously take longer than a small bean (black). I like my beans to have just a little bit of bite left. But since these were for using in Black Bean Burgers I didn’t worry too much about it.ETA: If you’re going to freeze these beans, you might want to undercook them just a tad…..especially if you’re going to add them to another recipe that requires cooking – in order to avoid mushy beans.The cook time can vary greatly with this method. Start checking after 4 hours, especially if it’s a small bean. |
When mine had about 2 hours left, I added two teaspoons of salt (two teaspoons per pound of beans is my rule) and left them to finish cooking. Beans need salt. I’ve tried to eat beans without salt…..it wasn’t pretty. |
You know they are done when they are tender and the liquid looks nice and thick like this. Yummy stuff! It’s great drizzled over cornbread or you can drink it with a straw. |
Nice and pretty….and ready to eat. I cannot get over how easy it is! I went to the market and got several different beans just to cook in my crock pot. I’m full of excitement like that. You can eat them now or…….. |
You can prep them for the freezer. When they were cool, I labeled the containers and popped them in the freezer for later use. I love cooking stuff in advance to use for later in a recipe. That makes cooking a LOT easier. |
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Did not boil my beans, therefore, did not get toxins out. Will they cook tender in the crock pot?
Yes, they will.
After setting my crock pot on high i was going to cook dried navy beans for 8 hours over night and my beans never did come to a boil.
Should I start the boiling process on the stove top and then transfer them to the crockpot?
How much water do I put for 1 1/2 pounds of dry beans.
I mean when I measure with a measuring cup, not just measuring so many inches above the beans.
Thank you,
Hi Betty! Up in the post I have this part about boiling the beans: NOTE: Cover beans again (after overnight soaking), bring to a rapid boil on the stove for 10 minutes. This reduces the toxins present in beans. Drain and then proceed as below.
DO NOT TRY TO BOIL YOUR BEANS IN THE CROCK ON THE STOVETOP. USE A REGULAR POT AND THEN TRANSFER BACK TO THE CROCK.
I’ve never measured how much water I put in the beans. I just make sure they are fully submerged with some extra water on top. Sorry I don’t know the exact amount.
Hi, I’m confused still about this step. Do I drain the water from the overnight soaking, then boil (with new water? without water? or with the original water just dumping it into a pot and boiling?
Thanks!
Stacy,
Thank you for this way of cooking beans. I have now done this and added in taco seasoning the water during the first soak and then adding salsa in the second time for taco beans.
I’m glad it was helpful!
Is there another fix if I forgot to boil them for a few hours before the crockpot? My beans have been in the crock for 6 hours on low and they are not tender.
Some beans take longer to cook than others. Black beans can be done in 4 hours, but other bigger beans can take 8 hours or more. Some beans never get tender – that usually means they were old beans. I would try boiling them on the stove until they are the tenderness that you desire. 🙂
I’m a little confused. After you soak the beans overnight, you say pour off the excess water, boil and then cover with water. Is that the right order, and if so, what are you boiling?
Soak overnight, then pour off water. Transfer beans to stove-top pot and cover with water and boil. Pour off water, transfer beans back to crock and cover with water a third time for actual “cooking.” I hope that makes sense.
A note about putting the beans in a regular pot for the boiling step would be helpful. My crock just broke on the stove and I had to throw the whole thing (and the beans) away. Next time I’ll start with the beans in a regular pot until the slow cooking step.
Susannah, I’m so sorry – it never occurred to me that someone would try boiling in a crock. I’ll add that. Thanks!
Me either – I was shocked I had never heard of this before!
hmmm, I have never boiled the beans for 10 minutes before cooking in crock pot…will have to check this out.
I’m so glad that you wrote this up. I just tried making some great northern beans for a crock pot baked beans dish, and they are WAY too mushy. But I really would like to learn how to cook with dried beans. If I don’t have a lot of freezer space, would putting them in a ziploc baggie work? I’m wondering if they would just get squashed, but I thought I would ask. Thanks.
Yes, I’ve frozen them that way….just make sure they don’t get squashed by something heavy before they freeze. 😉
Hi Stacy, love your post and articles! Your sense of humor makes me literally laugh out loud because I am totally tracking with you as I am reading! Anyway, quick question, I noticed in the picture of the bean you were getting ready to freeze that you left some water in with the beans, is that important? I am getting ready to move and we are going to have a full freezer and I plan on starting to freeze a lot of things that I could not before, beans being one of them. Thanks for taking time out of your busy life to share with all of us other moms and wives what you are learning as you go along! Living in awe of Him, Suzanne
Nah, I just plop them in there…juice or not. 🙂 Good luck in your move!! I’m right there with ya.
Hey Stacy,
Nice post ~ informative with just the right amount of humor.
Thanks,
brenda
Humor is what I have plenty of. 🙂
Hi, I’m new to your site and I LOVE it!! I just came across this recipe and I wanted to share what I do with my beans. I always do my beans in the crockpot too 🙂 I throw in a lot of garlic cloves, chopped onion, and one or two jalapeno chilies in with my beans… yummy goodness! I’ve got 4 kiddos (only 3 are old enough to eat the beans, my baby is only 6 months) and it doesn’t ever seem too spicy for them. I usually only put the chilies in with black beans and pinto beans; with all other beans (lima, garbanzo, kidney, navy etc) I toss in the onion and garlic. Thanks again for sharing your recipes and knowledge!!!
Thanks for the very nice words! 🙂 🙂
That sounds delish! I usually cook mine plain because I’m going to freeze them. I like to jazz them up if I’m serving them for dinner…..and we love jalapenos! Good idea!
Stacy – before I try freezing the beans for myself. When the beans thaw, is the texture similar to when they come out of a can? Thanks 🙂
Yes, if you don’t overcook them. This batch was VERY well done but I knew it wasn’t an issue for burgers. 🙂
Thank you. Not that I’m planning to over-cook the beans, but I have 4 (6 if I count my husband & the dog) distractions of my own. I’ll just tell them if they distract me then they’ll be eating black bean burgers for a week!
~ Seriously tho’, my oldest prefers to go meatless and I think that she would really enjoy the Black Bean Burger recipe, it’ll be interesting to see what everyone else’s reaction is.
There are two on my site…..I prefer the one with cilantro. 🙂