A simple routine of soak, rinse, cook will take at least 8 hours, but only a few minutes of hands-on work by the cook. With a crockpot, most of the cooking of beans can happen without the cook’s presence.
Warnings about Beans and Slow Cookers
Some sources claim that beans will not cook in a crock-pot. While that may have been true 15 to 20 years ago, the Washington Post reports that newer slow cookers cook at a higher temperature than older models. These new models cook most varieties of beans quite well.
Warning about Kidney and Soy Beans
Uncooked red kidney beans contain a toxin known as Kidney Bean Lectin or Phytohaemagglutnin that causes food-poisoning like symptoms. Uncooked Soya beans contain an anti-trypsin factor (or trypsin inhibitor) which prevents the assimilation of the amino acid methionine. Both substances are destroyed in a few minutes by high temperatures. According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, slow cookers may not get sufficiently hot to destroy the toxins in kidney beans especially so cooking these two varieties of beans in crock pots is not recommended.
Ingredients for Cooked Beans
- 1 cup of beans
- 3 cups of water plus water for soaking
Step 1: Soak Dried Beans Before Cooking
Most beans – lentils, split peas, and black-eyed peas are exceptions – should be soaked for at least 4 hours prior to cooking. Such soaking begins breaking down the complex sugars (oligosaccharides) that cause flatulence and reduces cooking time, which reduces vitamin and mineral loss from long cooking times.
Some beans require much longer soak times. Hard beans such as fava, lima, garbanzo, and soya beans should be soaked for at least 8 hours.
Step 2: Rinse Soaked Beans Before Cooking
Many cooks warn to never cook beans in soak water for two primary reasons. First, the by discarding the soak water, the cook also discards most of the flatulence- causing carbohydrates that have been leaching out of the beans during the soak. Second, beans are not washed with water when processed from field to supermarket. Rinsing soaked beans removes dirt and undesirable substances from the dried bean.
Step 3: Cooking Beans in a Slow Cooker
For beans alone, combine water and beans in slow cooker and cook on low for 5-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours, depending on the variety of beans.
About 5 hours on low is sufficient for al dente beans – beans designated for cooking is soups or other crock pot recipes or that will be store in the freezer. About 6 hours should result in soft but not mushy beans. And 7 hours is the choice for beans that will be mashed or should be very, very soft.
Unfortunately, there is no universal cooking times chart for beans. Water hardness, altitude, freshness of beans, and method of bean storage can all affect cooking times. Many bean cooks will cook their beans on low and check them an hour or so before they think they will be done. For a new variety of beans, checking every have hour or so after the 4 hour mark.
See more tips for cooking beans in a crock pot.
Enjoy Inexpensive, Healthful Beans in Favorite Recipes
Considering that the cost of dried beans plus energy cost for cooking is still many times cheaper than the cost of a can of beans, the time invested in cooking dried beans is a real saver over time. With a little planning, a slow cooker makes incorporating this preparing this completely vegetarian protein food an easy addition to a cooks routine.
Jennifer Mueller - Jen is an advocacy communications and media relations professional with a deep understanding of environmental issues. She has ...
Join the Conversation