Easy Slow Cooker Black Beans

These slow cooker black beans are so easy to make and can accompany your meals for days.

Woah. Real quick…this is my first ever blog post 🙂 And who would think starting with beans was a good idea to kick things off? Well not me, but here we are because in our house we eat beans all of the time. So it seems fitting. They are such a wonderfully delicious and healthy food and are extremely versatile. You can take them and make so many other dishes out of them (think: black bean dip, refried black beans, black bean burgers, and so on). Additionally you can throw them in many other dishes for that added flavor and fiber boost. Speaking of fiber…

Health Benefits of Black Beans

Bean, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you…well you know the rest if you were ever on a playground as a child. But the truth is there are so many wonderful health benefits to beans. In every bite you get:

• Fiber: black beans contain both soluble and insoluble fiber which helps with general digestion and maintaining blood sugar levels. Black beans help create a healthy gut microbiome, digestive track, and help you feel fuller longer, which can aid in weight management.
• Antioxidants: these cancer and disease fighting compounds are found in black beans.
• Protein: a great source of plant based protein, which is required for muscle growth and repair.
• Nutrients: black beans are loaded with essential vitamins and minerals, including folate, manganese, magnesium, iron, and potassium. These nutrients, in addition to the fiber, play vital roles in various bodily functions, such as energy production, bone health, immune function, cholesterol levels, blood pressure and heart health.

Ingredients

• Black beans: Any dried black beans will work. The package at my local store is a 32oz container and I make the whole thing.
• Garlic: I always peel my own and use whole cloves, but you can also substitute for garlic powder instead. Use about 1 tablespoon.
• Onion: One medium size yellow onion cut into quarters does the trick. But you can use any onion you have on hand such as white or red.
• Bay Leaves: 2-3 bay leaves. Bay leaves don’t actually change the flavor of a dish that much, but they do add a subtle herbal note. Plus they share a lot of the same health benefits that black beans provide.
• Oregano: Dried or fresh doesn’t matter. If using fresh you typically need about double the amount to get the same amount of flavor.
• Salt: Standard seasoning to bring out the flavor.

Step 1: Wash the Beans

Fill your crock pot with the dry black beans and cover them in water. Use a large spoon or your hand to mix and jostle the beans in the water for about 30 seconds. Then drain the water and repeat 1 or 2 more times. As you are doing this inspect them for any debris or rocks that aren’t beans! Because beans are so small and there are so many, it is possible that small rocks from the soil make their way into the package. Believe me, before I did this I learned the hard way and bit right into a small rock…luckily no teeth were harmed.

Step 2: Add water and ingredients (except salt)

Add in 6 cups of water per pound (160z) of beans. For this recipe there are 32oz of beans, so add 12 cups of water (and even a little more). It may seem like a lot, but the beans will soak up a lot of this water during cooking. Once you’ve made crock pot beans a couple times you won’t need to measure the water, you will just know roughly how much is required.

Then add in all of the other ingredients except the salt and give it a mix.

Step 3: Cook

Now the easy part. Cover your beans with the lid, set to low, and cook for 8 hours. If you need them quicker, cook on high for about 5 hours. Slow cookers my vary slightly, so it’s good to test your beans about an hour before you think they are done. They are ready when they are nice and soft and easy to bite into, but still hold their shape well.

Step 4: Add salt

Finish by adding in the salt when the beans are ready. You can also add the salt in during the last hour of cooking, which helps to bring out the flavor sooner if you are planning to eat them right away. If you aren’t planning to eat them right away, it’s easier to add in the salt at the end, then turn off the crock pot, and let them cool with the lid off for at least an hour.

Why do you add the salt after cooking your beans?

It is possible to add the salt in at the beginning of cooking, however this will often leave the beans with a harder final texture. I have cooked beans both ways and the overall experience of eating beans is much better in my opinion if you add the salt at the end.