Using Beans in Slow Cooker Recipes

!±8± Using Beans in Slow Cooker Recipes

It might interest you to know that beans played a major role in the development of the crockpot. This was because beans take a long time to cook and many people resort to buying pre-cooked beans rather than cooking their own.

However, other people are not happy with the preservatives and salt added to pre-cooked beans and would prefer to make their own recipes using fresh beans instead of canned ones.

How to Prepare Beans for Slow Cooking

You should prepare beans, lentils and peas in advance and then use them in tasty slow cooker recipes. You usually need to soak and cook them before adding them to the crockpot though.

This is because the low setting tends to be too low and the cooking time would be too long. If the beans are old and the water is hard they might not soften up at all. The high setting is normally too high and the cooking liquid evaporates very fast.

A lot of types of beans must be soaked for a few hours or overnight before cooking them. You need to boil these soaked beans with seasonings for an hour or more and then use them for slow cooker recipes which call for beans. This is certainly the simplest way to prepare your beans before slow cooking them and then you can add your beans to crockpot recipes. You can also use a slow cooker to keep stews or bean soup warm while you finish off other dishes.

Cooking Beans in a Crockpot

It is possible to cook beans in the crockpot but it can be tricky. If you want to have a go, cook soaked beans for a few hours on high, checking the liquid frequently and adding more if it is evaporating quickly. When the beans start to soften, turn the setting to low and give them another six to eight hours of cooking time.

You can have success with beans by cooking them in this way but it depends on the hardness of your water, the type of beans you choose and the age of the beans in question. They are not guaranteed to come out perfectly, even though the crockpot was designed with beans in mind in the first place.

For beans which are soft, juicy and full of flavor, it is recommended that you prepare them in the conventional way, by soaking them and then boiling them on the stove. After that you can add them to your favorite slow cooker recipes and they will come out nicely.

Beans are nutritious and most people love their flavor. There are many kinds of beans you can experiment with in your crockpot recipes, including navy beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans and more.

If you have not cooked with beans before, apart from the canned variety, why not try using fresh beans in your slow cooker recipes? You will be delighted with the flavor, texture and overall consistency of the dish.