Slow Cooker Baked Beans - comfort food classic made easy in the slow cooker with dried beans (no cans!). Use a leftover ham bone or bacon for best flavor. This recipe is a family favorite!
We love serving these beans with grilled chicken, pulled pork and a side of coleslaw.
I can now officially say that I used every last bit of our Christmas ham. We enjoyed a hefty part of it for our holiday dinner, the leftovers got chopped and mixed in to make this delicious chowder and I even froze some for a breakfast casserole this weekend. The ham bone had a lot of meat on it and I knew I would use it to make something fantastic. What better dish than baked beans! In a slow cooker, because they are the best cooked slow.
If you are looking for real comfort food to warm up your soul - these baked beans are soft, rich in flavor thanks to the sweet and tangy sauce with chunks of meat or bacon. Pure comfort food!
Ingredients:
- great Northern beans
- ham bone with meat OR thick-cut bacon
- onion
- brown sugar
- molasses
- tomato sauce
- ketchup
- BBQ sauce
- water
- salt, pepper
What if I don't have a ham bone?
If you don't have a ham bone, no worries! You can use bacon slices (the thick cut would be great!) or leftover pork roast chunks would work great too! I haven't tried it with raw meat so I can't say how would that affect the final dish. You need enough liquid for the beans to soak up but not too much because we are not making soup here.
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How to make baked beans in a slow cooker?
- Start by soaking beans (most packages have directions).
- Add all ingredients to slow cooker, set timer to 4 hours (on HIGH setting) or 6 hours (on LOW setting).
- Stir beans and let sit for 30 minutes.
- Remove bone, take off the meat and stir it into beans.
What beans are best to make this dish?
For this recipe, I used one pound of dry great northern beans that were soaked. You can do that two ways (most packages have the instructions on them): overnight soak or quick soak. I have used both methods and had great results each time. To rapid soak the beans, simply place them in a large pot with enough water. Bring to boil and let cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let sit for 1 hr. Drain the beans and use in this recipe.
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Slow Cooker Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 lb dry great northern or navy beans
- 1 medium onion chopped
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup molasses
- 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup BBQ sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2.5 cups water
- 2 lbs meaty ham bone
Instructions
- Soak beans according to package directions.
- In a slow cooker, place beans, chopped onion, brown sugar, molasses, tomato sauce, ketchup, BBQ sauce, salt and pepper. Stir well. Add water and stir again.
- Add ham bone or bacon and stir.
- Set slow cooker on low and cook for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours.
- When done, stir the mixture and let sit for 20 to 30 minutes with lid slightly open.
- To freeze, cool beans completely, then place in Ziploc bags.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on December 30th, 2015 and updated on May 21st, 2019.
Jack Geisz says
I have made a similar recipe with pinto or red beans sometimes with large pieces of celery and or carrots for added favor.
Jola says
My kids love Slow Cooker Baked Beans. They are delicious!
Darlene says
I made a similar recipe for years. Today I made this. It was delicious. Only change I made was, I used maple syrup instead of molasses and I added 1 T of prepared mustard. It was so good. Came home with an empty crockpot. Lol. Just the right amount of sweetness. Thanks for the recipe
Lynn McGee says
If I use bacon,should I cook it first?
Christopher says
I love slow-cooked beans. It's so delicate and delicious. This recipe is on my most visited list
Pamela says
I used canned navy beans to speed up dinner and served with extra BBQ sauce. This will be my go to recipe for spiral cut ham bones!
Marsha says
We have so many pound bags of dried beans we thought this a way to use them and indeed it is. We doubled it and can now freeze some ~~ if there are any leftovers after Memorial Day lol
Laura Clevenger says
Might be the best recipe I've ever made! Soaked the beans for almost 24 hours, drained them and put them in crockpot with the water, onion, ham bone and lots of ham bits. Cooked on high for 2 hours till the beans were soft. Mixed all the other ingredients in a measuring cup and added it to the pot... cooked for another 2 hours on high. Took out the ham bone, stripped off the remaining meat and added that back to the pot. That's really good... thanks for great recipe!
Anna says
Hi Laura! I am so glad the recipe was a hit! Thank you so much for giving it a try and for your comment!
Sheila says
Anyone know how long to make this recipe in an Instant Pot?
Karen says
Made these ahead of time and I'm really glad I did. The only thing I changed from this recipe was the soaking and cook times. Day 1 at 7 am I dumped 2 lbs of dry great northern beans in a pot of cold tap water and went to work. At 7 pm I drained the water off, warm water rinsed the beans for about 2 minutes and then started a 30 minute hot tap water soak while I got all the other ingredients together (including a ham bone with some meat from a few nights before) and prepped my crock pot (add 2 cups of boiling water and let sit about 20 minutes on high. Dump out the water and dry the hot crock pot. Spray with non stick spray) I dumped everything into the preheated crock pot and set on low and let it go overnight (about 12 to 13 hours). A little after 8 am the second morning, I dumped the cooked beans into a pan, pulled out the ham bone, covered the pan with foil and let sit at room temperature until we left for a small family gathering at 2 pm. Popped it into a steam table pan upon arrival and by 3 pm everyone wanted the recipe.
Dave says
Next time you make these try adding 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of liquid smoke. It just gives it a slight campfire flavor. This recipe for is great!
Laura says
Fantastic! I cooked the onion with a little lean bacon first, but followed everything otherwise. I did have a ham bone. I was really worried about only 2.5 cups of water (the bean bag indicated 6 cups), but it came out perfect. First time I've ever made beans. Wish I thought to make some corn bread before we were ready to eat (but there's lots of leftovers). Excellent!!
Love2cook says
These taste amazing. I did notice (like other reviews) that the beans needed longer cooking time. I did mine on high for 7 hours. I added 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to the slow cooker with my beans. Also, I did not add the ketchup or tomato sauce until the last hour of cooking. (Once the beans were mostly tender)
Tina says
I want to love these beans followed exactly but after six hours on low beans are still crunchy so now I put them on high. I guess we will see....I did soak the beans overnight
katherine says
mine did the same. it was disappointing.
Jen Morgan says
My whole family loved this, and my kids are picky. They are used to having Campbell's pork n'beans. I used my leftover hambone and did not presoak, just used about 8 cups of water and the hambone in the crockpot low for 8 hours. No problem with the beans being crunchy at all. I drained them saving the broth. Put together the sauce in a pot: sauteeing the onion in butter first, adding salt, pepper, and then the rest of the ingredients. Brought to a simmer then stirred in the beans and ham. Totally excellent.
Anna says
Fantastic! I am so glad the beans were a hit! Thank you, Jen!
Donnalee says
This recipe worked perfectly for me. Quick soaked the navy beans and then slowcooked 6 hours on low temp.
The combination of ingredients resulted in an exceptional flavour.
I did not add the acid ingredients ( tomatoe based items) until the last 30 minutes as I always had issues with undercooked beans and I read recommendations that indicated not to cook beans with tomatoes and it works for me.
Anna says
Thank you so much, Donnalee! I am so glad the beans were a hit!