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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.
Simplest Slow-Cooker Black Beans How-To
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Store beans in their cooking liquid. Beans freeze beautifully, too, in their cooking liquid. These deli quart containers are great for this purpose.
Here’s the play-by-play: Gather your ingredients.
Place dried beans, onion half, garlic, bay leaf, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes into a slow cooker.
Add water and olive oil (optional), then close the lid.
Cook for 6 to 8 hours on high or…
… until the beans are cooked.
Store in quart containers. These deli quart containers (BPA-free) are great for this purpose.
Simplest Slow Cooker Black Beans
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Total Time: 8 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups
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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.
- Olive oil is something I always add to my 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.
- Pepper flakes: if you like a little bit of spice, add the the chili flakes; if you don’t, omit or use less. 1 teaspoon will not make for especially spicy beans, but there will be a nice kick.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dried black beans, no need to soak
- 1 half of a small onion, halved through the core to keep it intact, peeled
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 garlic clove, smashed and halved
- 2 to 4 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1/4 cup olive oil, optional
Instructions
- Place the beans, onion half, bay leaf, garlic, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, pepper flakes (if using), 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.
- Taste. Add more salt to taste. I add 2 more teaspoons, but start with 1 or a 1/2 teaspoon and adjust from there. Note: When you first taste a bean, do not expect to be wowed. The beans develop more flavor as they cool in their cooking liquid, which will continue to season them. As noted above, I find they taste even better on day 2.
- 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.
- Category: Beans
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: black, beans, slow, cooker, crockpot, dried
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Theresa Keller says
Very similar to the way I cook pintos in my slow cooker, love them with jalapeño cheese cornbread I usually add a little bit of bacon drippings in with the evoo, and 1 jalapeño sliced in half & seeded for flavor. Al good in tacos & with chicken or pulled pork 🙂
alexandra says
Oh Theresa! That all sounds amazing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Theresa Keller says
MY correct email is
alexandra says
Got it 🙂
Bates says
My slow cooker is going right now with beans and I have to say looking forward to a delicious dinner that requires no work is a real treat.
alexandra says
I don’t know why I don’t break out the slow cooker more … it’s such a treat. Also hi 🙂 🙂 🙂 xoxoxoxo
Bates says
Al same method would work for dried pintos? I am going to make the vegetarian chili again this week. I made it this weekend for my sibs and everyone raved but for beans I did 1 can of black, kidney, pinto and a cup of puy.
alexandra says
Yes! I would do it exactly the same. So happy to hear the chili was a hit. Hope you liked the beans. I’m presently eating them cold straight from their quart container.
Brittany says
WOW….I have no idea why I ever used canned beans. I certainly won’t in the future. Are there beans that wouldn’t work with this method?
★★★★★
alexandra says
So nice to hear this! Honestly, I think you can use it with every bean … I use it for chickpeas and for various white beans. The only concern would be for a very “fresh” dried bean that might get over cooked in the process, but I think that would be very unusual. So glad you liked these!