Soaking dried beans before boiling them speeds up their cooking time and prevents them from splitting. Simply place the beans in a large bowl, cover with about three inches of water and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. If you don't have dried beans, substitute with eight cups of canned no-salt-added navy beans, and skip the first paragraph.
- Prep time 20 minutes
- Total time 6 hours
Ingredients
Method
In large saucepan, add beans and enough water to cover by 1 inch; bring to boil. Reduce heat, partially cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, about 40 minutes. Drain. (Makeahead: Rinse with cold water until cool; drain well. Refrigerate in airtight container for up to 3 days.)
In slow cooker, stir together beans, onion, bacon, tomato juice, brown sugar, tomato paste, molasses, soy sauce, garlic powder, mustard, salt and pepper; cover and cook on low until thick enough to mound on spoon, 5 to 6 hours. (Make-ahead: Let cool completely; refrigerate in airtight container for up to 5 days. Reheat before serving.)
Tip from The Test Kitchen: Don't have time to soak the beans overnight? Place dried beans in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and cover with 4 inches water; bring to boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand until beans have doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Serve up a side of our Slow Cooker Parmesan and Herb Corn Bread with this recipe.
Nutritional facts per each of 16 servings: about
- Fibre 4 g
- Sodium 339 mg
- Sugars 11 g
- Protein 6 g
- Calories 166.0
- Total fat 5 g
- Potassium 385 mg
- Cholesterol 7 mg
- Saturated fat 2 g
- Total carbohydrate 25 g
%RDI
- Iron 12.0
- Folate 32.0
- Calcium 5.0
- Vitamin A 2.0
- Vitamin C 7.0
