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Slow Cooker Black Beans are easy to make, inexpensive, filling, and just plain delicious. They’ll remind you of Chipotle’s black beans with a touch of bacon to take them right over the top.
Meggan’s notes
I love the convenience of slow cookers, but especially when it comes to recipes for dried beans. Dried beans can be slow no matter how you cook them, so I like to remove the pressure and just plan on them taking all day.
Thanks for my culinary training, I know all about building flavors ahead of using a slow cooker. Here, we layer in bacon, onions, red peppers, and lots of spices. And we do it in a skillet to really bring those flavors to life before we “set it and forget it.”
At the end, stir in fresh lime juice and fresh cilantro to make these perfect crockpot black beans pop. If you don’t like cilantro, just leave it out! You’re always the executive chef in your own kitchen.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Dry Black beans: Soaking the beans is optional but recommended. To soak the beans overnight, pick through and rinse 1 pound beans. Cover the beans with 5 cups over water and soak at least 8 hours. Drain and discard soaking liquid. This recipe works with other kinds of beans too (see Recipe Tips and Variations for details).
- Oregano: You can use either Italian or dried Mexican oregano. They have different flavors (Mexican oregano tastes more like marjoram) but both taste great in this recipe.
- Bay leaves: Aka bay laurel leaves, they’re fragrant and in my opinion, a must-have ingredient in beans. Because they’re sturdy, remove and discard them before serving the beans.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a 3-quart saucepan, sauté bacon until it begins to crisp, about 5 minutes.
- Add onions, bell pepper, cumin, and ½ teaspoon salt. Continue to cook about 5 minutes longer, until vegetables are softened. Stir in garlic and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add water, beans, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Pour into a large crock pot.
- Cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW 7 to 8 hours (see notes).
- Remove and discard bay leaves. Add cilantro and lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes at least 8 cups of cooked beans, enough of 8 servings, 1 cup each. Your exact yield depends on the size of the onions and bell pepper that you choose.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: You can pre-cook any type of bean to keep on hand or freeze in portions for later.
- Quick soak: If you didn’t soak your beans overnight, cover the beans with cold water and bring to a boil on the stove for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit for 1 hour. Discard the soaking liquid and use fresh cold water for cooking.
- Other beans: This recipe works with almost any other bean. Pinto beans, navy beans, Great Northern beans, red kidney beans (stove-top only), Cannellini beans, garbanzos, or black-eyed peas all can be cooked in a slow cooker. Depending on their size and age, they may need more or less time to get to the finish line.
- Vegan beans: To make this recipe fully plant-powered, omit the bacon and sauté the veggies in 2 tablespoons olive oil.
- Stove-top beans: It’s easy to cook beans on the stove, too.
- In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, sauté bacon until it begins to crisp, about 5 minutes.
- Add onions, bell pepper, cumin, and ½ teaspoon. salt. Continue to cook about 5 minutes longer, until vegetables are softened. Stir in garlic and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add water, dried beans, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until beans are tender, about 2 hours.
- Remove and discard bay leaves. Add cilantro and lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Frequently Asked Questions
Taste the beans and feel their texture to see if they’re done or need more time. Depending on your crockpot, the size of the bean, or even how old the beans are, they might need to cook longer than the recipe says.
Do you have to pre-soak beans? No you don’t, and in Mexico, people almost never pre-soak their beans. Un-soaked beans take about 30 minutes longer to cook and require more liquid than soaked beans. You would need to adjust this recipe if you don’t pre-soak your beans.
You may have heard somewhere that the universe will implode if you add salt to beans before they are completely cooked. It’s…not true. If you read Kenji López-Alt’s information in his book, The Food Lab, he did some side-by-side testing and determined that salting beans before they are cooked is absolutely fine. In fact, doing so helps prevent the beans from exploding (see page 256 in his book).
Kidney beans phytohemagglutinin, a type of lectin that is very toxic at high levels if not cooked correctly. You MUST pre-soak dried kidney beans and hold them at boiling point (212 degrees Fahrenheit) for at LEAST 10 minutes. This means you should never cook kidney beans in a slow cooker or pressure cooker; only a stove-top method will be safe.
To substitute canned beans use three or four 15-ounce cans of black beans. Rinse and drain before adding to the crockpot and cook until heated through.
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Slow Cooker Black Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried black beans picked over, rinsed, and soaked overnight (see notes)
- 2 slices bacon minced
- 2 medium onions peeled and chopped
- 1 red bell pepper stemmed, seeded, and chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes or to taste
- 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Instructions
- Drain and discard soaking liquid. In a 3-quart saucepan, sauté bacon until it begins to crisp, about 5 minutes.
- Add onions, bell pepper, cumin, and ½ tsp. salt. Continue to cook about 5 minutes longer, until vegetables are softened. Stir in garlic and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add water, beans, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Pour into a large crock pot and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW 7 to 8 hours (see notes).
- Remove and discard bay leaves. Add cilantro and lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Notes
- Black beans: Soaking the beans is optional but recommended. To soak the beans overnight, pick through and rinse 1 pound beans. Cover the beans with 5 cups over water and soak at least 8 hours. Drain and discard soaking liquid. This recipe works with other kinds of beans too (see Recipe Tips and Variations for details).
- Oregano: You can use either Italian or dried Mexican oregano. They have different flavors (Mexican oregano tastes more like marjoram) but both taste great in this recipe.
- Bay leaves: Aka bay laurel leaves, they’re fragrant and in my opinion, a must-have ingredient in beans. Because they’re sturdy, remove and discard them before serving the beans.
- Yield: This recipe makes at least 8 cups of cooked beans, enough of 8 servings, 1 cup each. Your exact yield depends on the size of the onions and bell pepper that you choose.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
This was a great recipe we loved! I made them stove top, with 3 cans of black beans. I only had two questions: if using canned beans, how much water do you add? I wasn’t sure what the final consistency should be…like a thicker soup, or drier? I used two cups, and it turned out very tasty, but I served them in separate bowls with enchiladas and Spanish rice, so beans didn’t run everything together. 2nd question: if canned beans using stove top method, how long to cook? One place in recipe says 20 min for canned, but stove top part says 2 hrs. I think I cooked it day ahead about 30 min. to blend flavors, then reheated in 350 oven about 40 min.
Hi Sue, thank you so much for your questions. I’m so happy you loved this black beans recipe! To answer your first question, since you are using drained and rinsed canned beans, no additional water should be needed since the beans are already cooked, they would just need to be warmed up. You can always add some water if you desire. For your second questions, the beans need to just be warmed up, about 15 to 20 minutes. The 2 hours would be if you are using dried beans and cooking them on the stove top. I’ve clarified it in the post to hopefully clear up any confusion. Sorry about that! Again, I’m so happy you all loved them! Please write again if you have anymore questions! Happy cooking! – Meggan
I would like to make these beans for dinner. I have the ingredients but to not have the time to presoak the beans. How much time should they cook on low and how much water should I use if not presoaking?
Hi Alesha, if you are not soaking then you just have to cook them for 30 minutes longer than the recipe says! Hope this helps. – Meggan
Does this freeze well?
Hi Jennifer, yes! – Meggan
Very tasty! I served them up for breakfast in a bowl with Avacado, fried egg and jalapeño hot sauce. YUM
Hi Jennifer, that sounds delicious! Will have to try it sometime. – Meggan
Best ever!
The recipe calls to reserve 3 1/2 Cups of the soaking liquid… what is it used for?
Hi Gina, sorry this isn’t clearly written. In step 3 it says to add water, but it should say “soaking liquid or water.” In the ingredient list it refers to both, so the instructions should refer to both. The only thing is, I’ve been talking to people in Mexico about this lately and one guy said that the soaking liquid has the potential to taste sour. So I am going to test this more and see if soaking liquid should still be an option for cooking FB beans. Having said that, in the past I’ve always used the soaking liquid to make these beans and I’ve never noticed any kind of sour taste. Sorry for rambling! I’ll fix the instructions so it’s less confusing. Thanks. -Meggan
Could I cook on low for 8hrs while at work instead of 4 on high?
Hi Meg, yes definitely! The recipe should say that, sorry for the confusion. Thanks for the question! -Meggan
Am I using the water I soaked the beans or fresh water?
Hi Erica, when I make this recipe I use fresh water. I’m still trying to figure out how much soaking the beans reduces the cooking time and whether it’s worth it (in Mexico, for example, at least the places I go, they NEVER pre-soak the beans). So, for now I’d say use fresh water, and hopefully at some point I’m more knowledgeable on the whole soaking-beans-situation in general and have the posted updated to reflect that. Thank you! -Meggan
I want to make these for a large party have you ever tried doubling the recipe?
Hi Jennifer! Although I haven’t tested specific recipe this way, I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t work out just fine. I have doubled other slow cooker bean recipes with no problems. If they aren’t the right texture, just add to the cook time. Hope you have a great time at the party! -Meggan
I’m going to take some ingredients from your black bean recipe, add it to a recipe for chicken soup, which should make a real stick to your ribs type of soup for cold winter nights.
Looking for frugal simple scratch made, tasty recipes for lunches. This looks good.
A store near work has beans in bins for low cost. I bought black beans for extra nutrition.
I have everything but the cumin right now.
Want to try this recipe for a large group. Can this be made and then frozen until the day before?
Hi Audrey, yes definitely! Beans can handle anything. 😀 Thank you, I hope you love it!
Thank you for all the Chipotle recipes! My kids were commenting how my attempts weren’t quite right so we shall see😊.
can I use canned beans. if so what is the difference in cooking them
Hey there! Sure, you can used canned beans. Since they are already cooked, it would just be however long it takes to heat them up. So maybe 2 hours on high? 3 to 4 hours on low? That should be about right. Just cook them in there until they are hot. 🙂 Thank you for your question! I’ll test it out myself when I get a chance and update the recipe notes. Take care!
How much canned black beans would you use?
Hi Melissa! You would need about 4 cans. And the cooking time would be reduced a lot because you just need to heat the beans through, not actually cook them. I hope this helps! Thank you for the question! I’ll update the post with this information.
Okay don’t laugh at me but I’ve never had black beans! I’m planning a “Chipotle” night for my family and was going to make this. I always get pintos at the restaurant, as does my husband, but my oldest always gets black beans (she doesn’t like pintos). Do these taste anything like pintos? LOL But my main question is have you ever tried it with chicken broth instead of water? I was just curious if that may give the flavor a bump. My soaking water for pintos is always very dirty looking the next morning, so I’m a little hesitant on using that.
Hey April, no laughs over the beans! No big deal. Obviously at some point in our lives, everyone is trying black beans for the first time. 🙂 I don’t think black beans taste like pintos. However, I do think in general all beans have a similar taste and texture. So, they taste as much like pintos as kidney beans do. If that makes sense. You could definitely make these with chicken broth instead of water, but you really don’t need to give them a flavor bump. I’d say the bacon in cumin in particular make the beans quite flavorful, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on such as garlic, a bay leaf, and red pepper flakes. And when you stir in the cilantro and lime juice at the end, that’s quite bright and fresh as well. But use chicken broth! It’s no problem at all. And it’s okay if you want to dump your soaking water. Use fresh. No biggie. If you have anymore question just let me know! Thank you April! I hope your Chipotle night is a success. 🙂 I have some of the other recipes from there too, the chicken, pork, rice, vegetables, guac, corn salsa, and tomato salsa. Good luck and take care!
Just wanted to come back and say everything was a hit! We really enjoyed it all and our daughter loved the black beans. We also made the corn salsa, the rice, pintos, and the chicken (which was amazing). Took some time for everything to come together but it was totally worth it! Thank you so much for these fabulous recipes! Will make again!
Thank you so much, April! I’m glad you loved the food, it sounds like quite the feast! I really appreciate the feedback. I need to post a pinto beans recipe. Take care. 🙂
This is a great recipe. Thanks! I don’t always plan ahead enough to leave time for soaking over night. I often make a ton of beans and then freeze them in manageable batches so that they can be thawed and served a little more quickly.
I really want to do more of this in my life! I picked up some 16-ounce containers recently so I can start batch-cooking and stocking my freezer, everything from brown rice and quinoa to beans like these. Great idea! Thanks Abby!
Made them today with some enchiladas. Soaked over night, Cooked on high for 2 hours and then dropped down to low for 3 hours. They were just about perfect. It was my first time using dry beans and it was too easy to not do again. The only problem? I made an entire crock pot full for 4 people! I think I’ll be eating them for the next few days.
That is always the problem with beans! You start with one pound and suddenly you have more beans than you can shake a stick at. I’m so glad you tried them and that it went well. They are super easy and the flavor is great. Thank you so much for your comment! #EdlhubersForever
I’ve been looking for a simple and delicious recipe for beans! This is perfect. Thank you!
Thank you Rebecca! I agree with you, it’s nice to have a fairly simple, yet still delicious, way to eat more beans. 🙂 Have a great week! Thanks again!
YUM! I can eat beans all by themselves! You’re right, they DO fill you up!