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If you want to learn how to save money and eat healthier by cooking dry black beans in your crockpot, you’ve come to the right place.  It’s a very easy process and I’ll walk you through it step-by-step.

How to Cook Dry Black Beans in the Crockpot

I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit this, but this was my first time cooking dried beans.  I use a lot of beans in my recipes, but I always buy canned.  Cooking dry beans always seemed so confusing and time-consuming to me.

Well, no more!

How to Cook Dry Black Beans in the Crockpot

Here’s why I wanted to learn how to cook dry beans in my crockpot in the first place:

  • Most cans have BPA in their lining and I don’t think that’s healthy (You can read more about this debate in this article from the EWG.)
  • Dry beans are a lot cheaper than canned (I spent $1.99 at ALDI buying dry beans and ended up with enough beans to equal nine cans, which would have cost me $5.31 at ALDI (a savings of $3.32) or $9 on sale at my local grocery store (a savings of $7.01).  Consider the savings if you buy organic beans!)

The process is super, super simple: Soak the beans in water overnight, strain them, and then cook them in your crockpot with water during the day.  Easy-peasy, I swear!  Here are some more details…

How to Cook Dry Black Beans in the Crockpot

Yields: 13.5 cups of cooked black beans (which is equivalent to 9 cans)

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds of dry black beans

Directions

  1. Before you go to bed, add the dry black beans to your crockpot (I use a this 6-quart model), and fill the crock with water to an inch of the top.
  2. Let the beans soak in the water overnight. (This makes them easier to digest than cooking them without soaking.)
  3. In the morning, drain and rinse the beans and put them back in your crockpot.
  4. Add new water to an inch of the top of the crockpot.  Add the lid and cook on “low” setting for 6-8 hours or until beans are tender.
  5. Drain the liquid and use your beans!

You can eat your beans immediately, store them in refrigerator for up to a week, or freeze them for up to three months.  I like to freeze my beans in quart-sized plastic freezer bags.  Each can contains about 1.5 cups of beans, so I either add 1.5 cups or 3 cups to each bag so that I can defrost the equivalent of 1-2 cans at a time when cooking.

How to Cook Dry Black Beans in the Crockpot

Thoughts or questions?  Please leave a comment below.  I’d love to hear from you.

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[…] from New Leaf Wellness shows us how to cook dry black beans in a slow […]

Hope T
Hope T
9 years ago

Can I safely assume this process works for most dry beans? Our family loves beans and use them just about every meal. This would be fabulous for our food budget! Thanks for sharing!!

Lori
Lori
9 years ago

http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/crockpots-slow-cooking-dried-beans-phytohaemagglutinin/

You may want to read the above link and decide to boil the soaked beans for at least 10 mins. before putting them in the slow cooker.

Heather
Heather
9 years ago

I do this all time with many different kinds of beans. However, to save time, I put the crockpot on High for 4-5 hours.

Jessica
Jessica
9 years ago

I do this same thing, except I use sandwich sized ziplock bags. I found those are big enough to fit a can’s worth of beans, and are generally much cheaper than the quart size. My kids also love the beans straight out of the crockpot with a little salt (and sometimes chili powder) as an afternoon snack.

Lydia @ Thrifty Frugal Mom

I can’t wait to try this! It seems so much easier than cooking them on the stove. I gradually got away from cooking my own beans even though it was cheaper, just because it seemed too complicated. But I don’t think I have any excuse now! 🙂