We eat a lot of black beans in our house.
For a while, I was making this black bean soup about twice a month, and I had to buy two cans of black beans and two cans of beef broth, and it was getting really expensive (Okay, okay, not really expensive. It certainly wasn't like eating steak for dinner every night, but for my tiny grocery budget, it felt expensive).
Also, my husband insists that the soup is perfect when eaten with tortilla chips, so suddenly I was buying 5 things specifically to put in this one soup.
I decided there had to be a cheaper way to get the black beans.
Thankfully, there is!
Making your own black beans in a slow cooker is incredibly simple, and extremely cheap.
They take a few hours to cook, but if you own a crockpot, they are the simplest things to make, and the flavor is amazing! They are way better and fresher tasting than your standard canned black beans.
Plus, this recipe yields about 6 cups, which is enough to make a few recipes.
If you have more than you can use in a week, you can freeze the cooked beans in the freezer for up to two months.
What are you waiting for?
Make these super delicious, very easy black beans! Then you can make this fabulous black bean soup every month like me! Trust me, it's amazing.
For a while, I was making this black bean soup about twice a month, and I had to buy two cans of black beans and two cans of beef broth, and it was getting really expensive (Okay, okay, not really expensive. It certainly wasn't like eating steak for dinner every night, but for my tiny grocery budget, it felt expensive).
Also, my husband insists that the soup is perfect when eaten with tortilla chips, so suddenly I was buying 5 things specifically to put in this one soup.
I decided there had to be a cheaper way to get the black beans.
Thankfully, there is!
Making your own black beans in a slow cooker is incredibly simple, and extremely cheap.
They take a few hours to cook, but if you own a crockpot, they are the simplest things to make, and the flavor is amazing! They are way better and fresher tasting than your standard canned black beans.
Plus, this recipe yields about 6 cups, which is enough to make a few recipes.
If you have more than you can use in a week, you can freeze the cooked beans in the freezer for up to two months.
What are you waiting for?
Make these super delicious, very easy black beans! Then you can make this fabulous black bean soup every month like me! Trust me, it's amazing.
Tools:
- Crockpot or Slow Cooker
- Sharp chef's knife
- Cutting board
- Strainer or colander (in a pinch, you can use a medium-sized bowl and place the cutting board over the top to strain the water out)
Ingredients
- 2 cups of dry black beans*
- 1/2 onion
- 4 cups water, plus 1 cup
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- dash of pepper
*Creative Green Living recommends purchasing these ingredients as organic where available to avoid pervasive pesticides and/or questionable farming practices.
- Dice your onion into bite-sized pieces, removing and discarding the outer layer of papery skin.
2. Rinse your black beans in a strainer or colander.
3. Pour your clean black beans into the Crockpot.
4. Add onions to the Crockpot.
5. Pour water into the slow cooker over the beans and onions.
6. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to the Crockpot.
7. Set your slow cooker to low for 3 hours.
8. After 3 hours, add the last cup water, then cook for 1 more hour on low. Serve in these tasty tacos, in a BBQ chicken salad, in black bean soup, in enchiladas, or in anything else that suits your fancy!
How to Cook Dry Beans in a Slow Cooker
Yield: 12
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 4 hourtotal time: 4 H & 10 M
Avoid BPA and save money at the same time by cooking dry beans at home in your slow cooker or Crockpot! This recipe yields 6 cups of cooked black beans.
ingredients:
- 2 cups dry black beans
- 1/2 onion
- 5 cups water, divided
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- dash of pepper
instructions:
How to cook How to Cook Dry Beans in a Slow Cooker
- Dice onion into bite-sized pieces, removing outer layer of skin.
- Rinse black beans in strainer or colander.
- Pour clean black beans into Crockpot.
- Add onions to Crockpot.
- Pour 4 cups water into slow cooker over beans and onions.
- Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to Crockpot.
- Set slow cooker to low for 3 hours.
- After 3 hours, add 1 cup water, then cook on low for 1 more hour.
Calories
112.21
112.21
Fat (grams)
0.47
0.47
Sat. Fat (grams)
0.12
0.12
Carbs (grams)
20.61
20.61
Fiber (grams)
5.08
5.08
Net carbs
15.54
15.54
Sugar (grams)
0.87
0.87
Protein (grams)
7.05
7.05
Sodium (milligrams)
102.62
102.62
Cholesterol (grams)
0.00
0.00
This recipes yields 6 cups of cooked black beans. Nutrition information is based on a 1/2 cup serving.
Copyright 2016
Landen runs Measure and Whisk, a cooking blog with a focus on real food. She is a firm believer that quality is superior to quantity, and prefers small amounts of good food over large quantities of cheap food. Deeply disappointed in cheap bacon, she prefers to buy $6 bacon less frequently. Because of this, she typically cooks vegetarian meals for her family.
Her blog also features photos of her baby, Fox, and suggestions on how to live an eco-friendly and minimalist life, both in and out of the kitchen. Follow her on Pinterest and Instagram for beautiful food photos and pictures of baby Fox.
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Just fyi and safety of health - always soak your beans the recommended time before cooking them. Lots of phytic acid in beans and black beans need to be soaked. Soaking in the crock pot whilst cooking them isn't what I mean, just in case you were going to point that out. Lol - they need an acidic medium and after they are soaked, THEN cook them in your crock pot - possibly for less time but that I'm not sure of. There are soaking charts out there on the net that show which soaking times for which nuts, beans, etc. God bless and thanks for the recipe! Here's a good site explaining why to soak. Happy Health!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.phyticacid.org/soaking-beans/