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Home » Recipes » Side Dishes Recipes

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

Published: Aug 15, 2017 · Modified: Mar 23, 2025 by Leona Konkel · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads

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I've tried a few different recipes for baked beans in the past before coming across this recipe for Slow Cooker Baked Beans. The other recipes I tried were all disappointing - mainly, they had no flavor. Another gripe that I had - so many traditional recipes for baked beans go in the oven. Sure, they are baked beans, and that's fine and all, but baked beans are almost always made in the summer, the absolute last time when you want to run the oven for several hours.

[This post contains affiliate links. I may make a commission for purchases made through links on this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.]

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Two years ago I looked for a recipe that went in a slow cooker instead of the oven, to make it friendlier for summer cooking. Since it went into a slow cooker, it didn't make sense to start with precooked cans of beans (another thing that irked me - why cook something precooked for 2-3 hours?!), so I tried to find one that took dried.

slow cooker baked beans

Dear reader, I finally found a good recipe from Tried and Tasty. It used dried beans, in a slow cooker. Still, I am a lazy cook most days these days, so I've simplified it. The original recipe has you soak the beans overnight before cooking them; I don't, in favor of cooking the beans a little longer. (My slow cooker cooks beans well even without soaking, so soak yours in advance if you're concerned that yours won't.) The recipe takes bacon, which if I use, I make a point to cook some for breakfast a few days in advance and make extra. Original preparation has you cook onion and celery in the bacon grease before making the beans; this is definitely tasty, but I now eschew this extra preparation in favor of tossing all the ingredients into the slow cooker and letting it cook without any extra intervention. I've also cut the recipe in half, which still yields 10 servings.

These beans taste mostly of... baked beans, a nicely classic flavor. Too often previous recipes have promised flavors that they don't provide or that are too subtle. These baked beans are pretty balanced but tend toward sweet, so I may cut back on the brown sugar when I make it next. I can't promise I won't tinker with it, but I am pretty satisfied with it and have made it several times as it is.

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Slow Cooker Baked Beans

This recipe for Slow Cooker Baked Beans is sweet and flavorful, and easy to make. 
Prep Time30 minutes mins
Cook Time11 hours hrs
Total Time11 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Servings: 10
Author: Leona Konkel

Ingredients

  • 3 slices bacon
  • ½ cup celery minced
  • ½ cup onion minced
  • ½ cup ketchup
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons molasses
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard ground
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 pound dried navy/white beans (soak overnight, then drain, if desired)
  • 5 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar

Instructions

  • Cook bacon according to package.
  • If desired, fry celery and onion in bacon grease. Crumble bacon and place in a 4-to-6 quart slow cooker. Add celery, onion, ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, honey, dry mustard, garlic powder, black pepper, beans, and water, and stir briefly to combine. Cook on low for 11-12 hours, or on high for 6+ hours. Stir in salt and vinegar. Stir beans until creamy; they will thicken as you stir and as they cool.

Notes

Adapted from Tried and Tasty

 

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Comments

  1. Suzanne says

    February 20, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    I made this! I did not have the celery, molasses, or mustard, and not enough honey. I used a small package of pork instead of the bacon. I did not actually measure most things, but I did measure the water (which was just right) and the salt and vinegar. I added just a little more salt than it called for. I used navy beans that I did soak overnight.
    This turned out very well. I cooked on high, for around 8 hours. Just the right consistency. I'm thinking though it needed a little something, but that could be the ingredients I was missing.
    We were all very pleased with it, and will most likely try it again.
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Leona Konkel says

      February 20, 2018 at 7:44 pm

      I'm glad you liked them!

      I haven't tried it without the molasses, but if I didn't have it, I would substitute in additional brown sugar, and probably add a little soy sauce or Worchestershire sauce since molasses has a dark flavor.

      Reply
      • Suzanne says

        February 21, 2018 at 3:07 pm

        I remember I did add a little pancake syrup, but I bet the soy sauce would be good to try as well. Thanks for the idea!

        Reply

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Leona Konkel, November 2020

Hi, I'm Leona!

I love homemade sweets and baked goods, using real ingredients, not mixes. I also share easy-to-make meals - so that I can spend the rest of my time baking, not making dinner.

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