This is one of the easiest things that I have learned from family to do. My Mom, Gandma’, and Daddy… I’m sure there are more, but these are the ones that I remember teaching me how to do this. There are two ways you can do this. I prefer the first (pre-soaked) but they are both good and they both work very well. Remember doing this over the stove top is NOT the same. This is just for the Slow-Cooker.
Pre-soaked: I start with two cups of dried beans. It doesn’t matter what kind, as long as they are beans and not lentils. I rinse and sift through them. Then I soak them overnight, about 12 hours. When I soak the beans I use my Crockpot, turned off, and cover the beans with water about 2in. above the beans. Put the lid on and leave them alone!! See easy! In the morning I drain and rinse the beans, the water that is left over after soaking has the indigestible carbs that may give you gas… So that is soaking them. NOW, on to cooking them. Cover them with water that comes up 2 or more inches, cook on LOW for 6-8 HRS. or HIGH for 3-4 HRS. I don’t add anything to my beans, I use them in different recipes so it doesn’t do any good for me to add seasoning. 2cups of DRY beans will make about 6cups of COOKED beans.
Uncooked: Use two cups of dry beans. Rinse and sift though the beans. Really you need to do this with any beans you have. Put them in the Crockpot, cover with 2in or more (not much more) water and cook on HIGH for 5-6 HRS or 10-12 HRS on LOW. Once again you can keep the cooking water when they are done, but I discard the water and rinse the beans.
You can now store the beans in an air tight container for three days in the fridge or Freeze them for three months. I like the zip-lock twist and seal products for this. Re-heating beans from the freezer or fridge is easy, thaw if frozen and warm in the microwave or on the stove-top.
The Ewing Family 