Recipe: Cooking Dried Beans in the Slow Cooker

COOKING DRIED BEANS IN THE SLOW COOKER

Cooking dried beans in a slow cooker can be tricky because of the variations in electrical power and the types of minerals found in your local water. Beans need sufficient heat to tenderize them; dried beans cooked on low heat setting for 8 to 10 hours may not be tender. We found three ways to cook dried beans, and you can select the one that best fits your schedule.

The most convenient way to cook a dried bean is to put all the ingredients in the recipe into the slow cooker (cover the crock pot) and cook on the HIGH heat setting until the beans are tender. We used this method for most of the dried bean recipes.

Another method is to cook the beans (with ingredients in the recipe) 2 to 3 hours on HIGH heat setting, then reduce to the LOW heat setting for 8 to 10 hours. This is a little less convenient because you have to be available after a couple of hours to reduce the heat setting.

A more traditional method for cooking dried beans is to first place just the beans and water to cover in the slow cooker. Cover crock pot and cook on the HIGH heat setting 2 hours. Turn off the cooker, and let beans stand 8 to 24 hours. Change the water. Add remaining ingredients in the recipe, and cook on the LOW heat setting 8 to 12 hours or until done. This method allows the flavors to blend and offers more of an oven-baked taste.

Adapted from source: Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Cookbook