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Baked Beans in the Crock Pot

December 28, 2010

After a whirlwind long weekend of family, non-stop cooking and calorie-packed holiday meals, I feel like it's finally time to kick up my heels, relax and pick a simple, healthy recipe to feed the family. Whenever I'm looking for the path of least resistance in the kitchen, it usually means pulling out my crock pot.

I ate a lot of Baked Beans as a kid, but they were almost exclusively prepared out of a can. Making these fresh, slow cooked, sweet white beans is a real treat that bears practically no resemblance to their canned cousins. And the taste? Whenever I make them my kids couldn't be happier, so after the seeming non-stop parade of rich food during the past week, I think we're all finally ready for something a little bit more healthy as we head towards the New Year!

Baked Beans in the Crock Pot  (Serves 4-6)

  • Prep Time:5 minutes,
  • Cook Time: 8 hours,
  • Total Time: 8 hours, 5 minutes,

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 16 oz. pkg small white beans
  • 1 6 oz can tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
  • 1 32-ounce box vegetable broth
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt

Preparation

  1. 1. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions for 3-4 minutes.
  2. 2. Transfer the onions to a crock pot, pour in remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
  3. 3. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until beans are tender.
  4. 4. Serve.

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Comments






  1. Jaci

    July 13, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    Also, I have found that if you cook baked beans too long the sugars will cause the beans to start hardening up again, not crunchy but dry and too firm. Checking on them every couple hours can save that problem.

  2. Jaci

    July 13, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    Whenever I make any baked beans in the crockpot, I always cook them most of the way before making them “baked beans.” For example, right now I have a batch of great northern beans in the slow cooker, just water, salt, and pepper. They’ll cook about 8 hours until they are just a little crunchy, almost done, then I’ll drain them (keep the water/sauce in case they start to dry out later) and add all of the other ingredients. Then I cook them until the sauce thickens and the beans are the right texture. could be anywhere from 3-6 more hours. just depends on the batch of beans. if they start to get too dry before the beans soften, add some of the water you drained out before. Also, white beans take longer to cook than say, pinto beans. So if you don’t want to spend as much time, try pintos instead. They still taste good and will save a few hours.

  3. Lyndsey

    July 4, 2012 at 9:03 am

    I have found that when I try to cook beans from hard in stuff such as making baked beans in the crock pot, they never cook for whatever reason – the sugar, not enough water, etc. Likely it is because there is not enough water as when I cook hard beans in a crock pot I have to fill it most of the way with water to get them to cook properly. So I cook my beans ahead of time and then slash the time it takes for the recipe to cook in the crock pot.

  4. Holly

    May 26, 2012 at 9:11 am

    I am making these right now for a BBQ tomorrow. I did soak them overnight and other than adding honey (didn’t have maple syrup) and spicy brown mustard (didnt have Dijon) I followed this recipe. Oh, and too lazy to saute onions so added them raw!I will report back when they are done, they smell amazing already!

  5. Zow

    May 14, 2012 at 11:05 am

    I’m making these now, having soaked them overnight (10+ hrs). While they smell amazing, I can report like some of the other commenters that the beans are still very hard after 6 hours of cooking. I’ve changed my crockpot setting to High and am hoping for the best. :)

  6. janelle weems

    February 21, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    i made these (i let them soak overnight) and they were delicious!! making again this saturday for a
    lil fam bbq =)

  7. Heather

    January 3, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    I made these with pinto beans and served them over brown rice. My kids surprised me by eating everything! We had no leftovers. The only thing I will do differently next time is double the recipe. ;-)

  8. Erin

    September 5, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    I have made these twice! The first time I used small white beans and didn’t pre-soak at all. The second time I could only find larger white beans so I did soak them overnight. The sauce does look a little soupy in the slow cooker but it thickens up a little as it cools down. Both times the recipe was so easy and the beans were delicious!

  9. Kristi

    July 30, 2011 at 1:40 pm

    I made these last night and I am thankful I read the reviews!! I used dry organic navy beans and after 12hrs cooking on low the beans were still HARD. I even added 2 extra cups of water–just incase. This morning I added another 3-3 1/2 cups of water and cooked them on high for another 7hrs and they are almost done. I’m so glad I planned ahead and started these last night!!

    I also added bacon and this morning some extra maple syrup. So dispite the crunchy beans the flavor is still really good!

    • Kristi

      July 30, 2011 at 1:43 pm

      I also doubled the recipe, but exactly doubled it. So that is why my cooking time is so much longer, but even still 19hrs for beans??

  10. Anna K

    June 5, 2011 at 9:53 pm

    I made these on memorial day & they were a hit with my 21 month old. They were, however, even tastier the next day! (btw – i soaked the beans overnight & the beans took a full 8 hours to cook to tenderness)

  11. Threya

    April 18, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    in case it helps anyone, navy beans (goya brand) worked perfectly for us. no soaking needed.

  12. Amy

    February 7, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Okay, I made these last night and they turned out really tasty, but they took way longer than 8 hours on low. After 8 hours they were still very ‘soupy’. I put them on for another 3 hours on low and then they were in the crock pot on ‘warm’ all night and this morning they looked more like baked beans. I soaked the beans before.

  13. Kim Gravel

    February 7, 2011 at 9:04 am

    This might be a silly question, but what would you serve this with? I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe this week!

    • catherine

      February 7, 2011 at 3:19 pm

      You can serve this with corn on the cob, or even bbq chicken! This recipe can go with anything! Great for bbqs!

  14. Sara

    January 17, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    I am cooking these right now and they are ocmpletely crunchy after cooking for 6 hours on low. I have turned up to high to see if that makes a difference. I have heard that cooking beans in tomato products will keep them from cooking properly. Wonder if that could be it?!? I thought about not adding the tomato paste until the end but decided to go ahead and follow the recipe.

    • catherine

      January 17, 2011 at 7:33 pm

      I’m so sorry, but your beans might have been bigger. I used small white beans. Next time, if your beans are on the medium to large size, you should cook them overnight. Also, tomato paste does not effect the cooking :)

  15. Julie

    January 10, 2011 at 8:43 am

    I used small white beans and soaked them overnight after reading the other reviews. They were super soft after about 8 hrs in the crock pot. I served them over rice and my toddler devoured them. I did not have dijon mustard on hand, so didn’t add any, but it was still delicious.

  16. Karen

    January 7, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    I’ve read from several sources that pre-soaking beans is better for digestion. It decreases the phytic acid in the beans that prevents you from absorbing all the nutrients properly. It also helps with eliminating some of the stuff that causes gas when you eat beans. I haven’t made this recipe yet, but whenever I cook dried beans I always soak them overnight first.

  17. Stephanie

    January 6, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    I used great northern beans (without soaking) and they never got soft. They ended up hard and dried. I definitely recommend soaking first. Next time I will try the white pea beans!!

  18. Anna Bee

    January 6, 2011 at 11:41 am

    I find the differing results so ODD. I also used Great Northern beans (small white beans) pre-soaked for 4 hours, and they turned out GREAT.

    In the past I’ve made baked beans (again, Great Northern) in the crock pot WITHOUT soaking, and it turned out fine that way too, though I think it took a little longer for them to soften. Because of comments here, I thought I’d soak this time just to be safe. I have to say though, I think the beans are better with a pre-soak.

    Thank you for a wonderful recipe – so tasty!! :)

  19. Shannon

    January 5, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    Had to throw out the batch I made, hard and dry…and I quick soaked the beans beforehand. Used Great Northerns from Whole Foods. I literally cooked them for almost 24 hours in the slow cooker, and they never got soft…ugh! The sauce was tasty, though. Maybe will use canned next time. Oh well!

  20. Karen

    January 5, 2011 at 11:29 am

    When I try these again I will soak them first – any tips on soaking beans? I have never done this before. ie – how long? do I add anything to the water? heat at all? Thanks!

  21. Dana

    January 4, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    I used small white beans from the bulk bin and they turned out just fine without presoaking.

  22. Larissa

    January 4, 2011 at 3:54 pm

    Great recipe! You’ve done it again! Mine turned out really yummy and only took about 8 hrs before the beans were soft. I read all the previous posts about beans still crunchy and was a bit worried, but I used white pea beans and they’re terrific!

  23. Laura Degnan

    January 2, 2011 at 8:03 pm

    Whole foods only had navy beans. Will these work Catherine?

    • catherine

      January 3, 2011 at 3:35 pm

      Yes but depending on how big they are , you may need to soak them. I used small white beans

  24. Raquel

    January 2, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    I also used the great northern beans and it took a lot longer, but eventually they turned out great. My 10 month old loved these beans!

  25. Karen

    December 29, 2010 at 8:22 pm

    I have been cooking these in my dutch oven on the stove top on low for 11 hours now and the beans are still very hard. Did I miss something? The sauce tastes good but the beans are crunchy.

    • Kevin

      January 3, 2011 at 1:42 am

      You didn’t miss anything Karen, I am sure you figured out.

      These really need to be pre-soaked.

      I didn’t think about it til after I dumped everything in, then a light bulb went off: “Wait- I didn’t soak the beans, what was I thinking?” I just blindly went along with the recipe. That was a mistake. I had these going for 10 hours on slow cook, with a couple hours extra after and the beans were still tough. I tossed the batch out, and will be re-making another time, with soaked beans. (The sauce was tasty, btw.)

      • catherine

        January 3, 2011 at 3:31 pm

        So sorry to hear that, I did not have to soak the beans. What kind of white beans did you use?

        • Karen

          January 5, 2011 at 11:08 am

          I used small white beans as well – bought them that day at the grocery store. I had to throw out the batch as well. Thought my prob was using the Dutch Oven but maybe I will try again soaking the beans first.. Thanks everyone for the tips!

        • Kevin

          January 3, 2011 at 10:02 pm

          Catherine- small white beans.

    • Anna

      December 31, 2010 at 2:56 pm

      Mine are still crunchy too. And they are not old… I bought them yesterday. I hope they are ready in 4 hours for dinner tonight. I’ve turned them up to high to see if that helps. I am wondering if I bought the wrong kind of bean. They didn’t have anything called a “white bean” at the store. I got “Great Northern Beans” that google said was in the “white bean” family. I am wondering if they are bigger than the ones Catherine used.

      • Anya Webb

        December 31, 2010 at 3:58 pm

        I used small white beans that I bought at the store that morning,
        mine never got soft I had to throw it out,
        i think you just need to soak beans there is no way around it,
        I bought more beans im soaking them tonight and trying again tomorrow

    • Elizabeth

      December 31, 2010 at 11:36 am

      I thought it was common knowledge that you are not supposed to cook beans with salt because it is the salt that prevents them from totally cooking, e.g., staying “crunchy”. I will try again and add the salt at the end or presoak?

      • Whitney

        December 31, 2010 at 2:39 pm

        Elizabeth – salt keeping beans from cooking is just a kitchen myth. Cook’s Illustrated did a study on the subject and determined that salted beans turned out no different (except they were saliter, of course). In fact, in their study the beans soaked in salted water before cooking actually turned out softer than those soaked in plain water.

        However, if dried beans are too old they won’t cook properly. Dried beans should be thrown out after a year. I learned this the hard way after trying to cook up some very old butter beans that never did get soft.