This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.
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.
More Mexican recipes
Chipotle Copycat Recipes
Chipotle Burrito Bowl
Mexican Recipes
Chicken Tinga
Dinner Recipes
Easy Tostada Recipe
Mexican Recipes
Homemade Mexican Rice
Join Us
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 chopped
- 1 red bell pepper 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 fresh cilantro minced
- 2 tablespoons lime juice (from 1 lime)
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.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
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 jalapeรฑo 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 isnโt clearly written. In step 3 it says to add water, but it should say โsoaking liquid or water.โ In the ingredient list it refers to both, so the instructions should refer to both. The only thing is, Iโve 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 Iโve always used the soaking liquid to make these beans and Iโve never noticed any kind of sour taste. Sorry for rambling! Iโll fix the instructions so itโs 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?ย
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