An overhead shot of a quart of cooked slow cooker black beans.

Last week, after announcing my resolve to use more canned beans, my friend Rose emailed sharing her opposite, recently adopted stance: after using canned beans exclusively her entire life, she had started cooking beans from scratch, a batch of slow cooker black beans having showed her the light.

Never, she wrote, would she go back to canned.

Ha! What’s a girl to do?

Rose’s note reminded of the joys of cooking beans in the slow cooker (see Slow Cooker Gigante Beans) and of perhaps a slow cooker’s strongest play: bean cookery!

I immediately pulled out my crockpot, dumped in a pound of dried black beans along with a few aromatics, covered it all with water, and let it cook way. Eight hours later, my beans were done, the house smelled fantastic, and I had 6 cups of super-seasoned, perfectly cooked beans on hand to use immediately or to freeze for future use.

My slow cooker black beans landed in these sweet potato burritos, a combination of two recipes: the filling for these sweet potato quesadillas, a longtime favorite recipe, and these homemade flour tortillas, a recipe I had not made in ages prior to this week, but which, like the dried beans, reminded me how much fun from-scratch cooking — sometimes — can be.

PS: Simple Black Bean Soup

Simplest Slow-Cooker Black Beans How-To

  1. Place a pound of dried black beans — no need to soak — into a slow cooker. Black beans, as you may remember from this Black Bean Soup post, never need to be (and in fact maybe shouldn’t be) soaked, regardless of how you cook them: slow cooker, Dutch oven, pressure cooker.
  2. Add aromatics, such as an onion, garlic, a bay leaf, all of which will impart the beans with good flavor. Fresh thyme is nice, too.
  3. Add salt: Opinions vary about when salt should (and should not) be added to beans, but I am of the belief salt does not impede the cooking process and that it adds flavor. I start with 2 teaspoons for a pound of bean, but always add more (often 2 teaspoons more) once the beans are cooked.
  4. Add water and olive oil, if you wish. Olive oil is something I always add to my stewy slow-cooker cooked beans (see here). I think it adds flavor, especially once the beans finish cooking and are cooling in the flavorful cooking liquid. Feel free to omit if you wish.
  5. Store beans in their cooking liquid. Beans freeze beautifully, too, in their cooking liquid. These deli quart containers are great for this purpose.

PS: Slow Cooker Gigante (or other white) Beans

PPS: Favorite Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients for slow cooker black beans on a board.

Here’s the play-by-play: Gather your ingredients.

Overhead shot of dried black beans with aromatics in a slow cooker.

Place dried beans, onion half, garlic, bay leaf, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes into a slow cooker.

Overhead shot of a crock pot filled with black beans, water, oil, and aromatics, ready to simmer.

Add water and olive oil (optional), then close the lid.

A Crockpot on a countertop.

Cook for 6 to 8 hours on high or…

A wooden spoon holding cooked slow cooker black beans.

… until the beans are cooked.

Two quarts of slow cooker black beans.

Store in quart containers. These deli quart containers (BPA-free) are great for this purpose.

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An overhead shot of a quart of cooked slow cooker black beans.

Simplest Slow Cooker Black Beans

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Description

Notes:

  • Don’t be afraid to make these ahead of time, as they continue to develop more flavor as the beans sit in their cooking liquid.
  • Kosher Salt: I always use Diamond Crystal brand; use half as much if using Morton or fine sea salt.
  • Pepper flakes: if you like a little bit of spice, add the the chili flakes; if you don’t, omit or use less. 
  • To make these in the Instant Pot, into the Instant Pot add all of the ingredients listed below along with 6 cups of water. Start with 2 teaspoons kosher salt. Turn the valve to sealing. Set the IP to Manual, High Pressure, 30 minutes. Let it release naturally for at least 20 minutes. Uncover. Taste. Add more salt (I often add 1 to 2 more teaspoons of salt) to taste.
  • Store beans in their cooking liquid. These containers are so handy for that purpose. They freeze well, too. 
  • I love these beans paired with this Sweet Potato Taco Filling. 

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. dried black beans, no need to soak
  • 1 half of a small onion, halved through the core to keep it intact
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 garlic clove, smashed and halved
  • 2 to 4 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste, see notes above
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

  1. Place the beans, onion half, bay leaf, garlic, 2 to 3 teaspoons kosher salt (I always use 3), pepper flakes (start with 1/2 teaspoon if you are sensitive to heat), and olive oil (if using) into a slow cooker. Cover with 8 cups of water. Cover pot. Cook on high heat for 6 to 8 hours or until the beans are done, but start checking at the 4-hour mark — all slow cookers are different and times might vary, too, depending on the age of your beans.
  2. Taste. Add more salt to taste 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Note: The beans develop more flavor as they cool in their cooking liquid, which will continue to season them. 
  3. Store the beans in their cooking liquid. I love these deli quart containers for this purpose. I freeze the beans in their cooking liquid in these quart containers as well.
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 8 hours
  • Category: Beans
  • Method: Slow Cooker
  • Cuisine: American