This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.
Homemade Slow Cooker Baked Beans are a tasty and inexpensive dinner menu addition. Skip canned baked beans and try this DIY side dish that’s infused with bacon.
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
- Navy beans: Baked Beans are traditionally made with navy beans, but you can use small white beans or super-size with great northern beans. To soak beans overnight, add 4 quarts water to a large bowl and add 1 pound of rinsed beans. Soak at least 8 hours. To quick-soak beans, add 1 pound of rinsed beans to a large saucepan and cover with 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil. Boil rapidly for 5 minutes, then remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour.
- Molasses: This robust, sweet syrup accentuates the sweetness of the brown sugar (brown sugar is a mixture of cane sugar and molasses). I love the flavor that results from using brown sugar and molasses in a 2:1 ratio.
Step-by-step instructions
- Drain soaked beans well. In small bowl, whisk together ketchup, brown sugar, and molasses.
- In the bottom of a slow cooker, add beans, water, bacon, celery, onion, and bay leaf. Add sauce and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours or LOW for 8 to 10 hours, or until beans are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This Slow Cooker Baked Beans recipe makes 12 generous side dish servings.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Baked beans can be made up to 3 days in advance. Reheat over the stove until an internal thermometer reaches 165 degrees.
- Oven-baked beans: Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. In the bottom of a Dutch oven or large saucepan, add all ingredients except salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cover and and bake, stirring every hour, until the beans are tender, about 4 to 5 hours.
- Ham bone: Instead of bacon, add a meaty ham bone and 1 cup chopped leftover ham to your slow cooker. Remove the ham bone before serving.
- Fun flavors: For a different flavor, add 4 cloves minced garlic or 1 tablespoon brown mustard to the slow cooker. Or, substitute half of the ketchup for your favorite barbecue sauce.
Favorite barbecue entrees
Grilling and Smoker Recipes
Grilled BBQ Chicken
Grilling and Smoker Recipes
Best Bacon Cheeseburger
Pork, Ham, and Lamb Recipes
Best Barbecue Ribs
Grilling and Smoker Recipes
Wisconsin Beer Brats
Join Us
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Sign up for our weekly newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for our latest recipes! Tag all your glorious creations #culinaryhill so we can eat vicariously through you.
Slow Cooker Baked Beans
Homemade Slow Cooker Baked Beans are a tasty and inexpensive dinner menu addition. Skip canned baked beans and try this DIY side dish that's infused with bacon.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried navy beans picked over and soaked overnight (see note 1)
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons molasses (see note 2)
- 3 cups water
- 1/2 pound bacon chopped
- 1 cup celery diced
- 1 cup onion diced
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Drain beans well. In small bowl, whisk together ketchup, brown sugar, and molasses. In the bottom of a slow cooker, add beans, water, bacon, celery, onion, and bay leaf. Add sauce and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours or LOW for 8 to 10 hours, or until beans are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Navy beans: Baked Beans are traditionally made with navy beans, but you can use small white beans or super-size with great northern beans. To soak beans overnight, add 4 quarts water to a large bowl and add 1 pound of rinsed beans. Soak at least 8 hours. To quick-soak beans, add 1 pound of rinsed beans to a large saucepan and cover with 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil. Boil rapidly for 5 minutes, then remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour.
- Molasses: This robust, sweet syrup accentuates the sweetness of the brown sugar (brown sugar is a mixture of cane sugar and molasses). I love the flavor that results from using brown sugar and molasses in a 2:1 ratio.
- Yield: This Slow Cooker Baked Beans recipe makes 12 generous side dish servings.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Baked beans can be made up to 3 days in advance. Reheat over the stove until an internal thermometer reaches 165 degrees.
- Oven-baked beans: Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. In the bottom of a Dutch oven or large saucepan, add all ingredients except salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cover and and bake, stirring every hour, until the beans are tender, about 4 to 5 hours.
- Ham bone: Instead of bacon, add a meaty ham bone and 1 cup chopped leftover ham to your slow cooker. Remove the ham bone before serving.
- Fun flavors: For a different flavor, add 4 cloves minced garlic or 1 tablespoon brown mustard to the slow cooker. Or, substitute half of the ketchup for your favorite barbecue sauce.
Nutrition
Serving: 0.5cupCalories: 273kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 15gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 521mgPotassium: 702mgFiber: 10gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 148IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 80mgIron: 3mg
Did you make this recipe?Tag @culinaryhill on Instagram so we can admire your masterpiece! #culinaryhill
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.
Worked out Perfectly!!!
Worked out perfectly!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
You’re so welcome, Tamara! Take care! – Meggan
Ok, so I had to use all northern beans and I didn’t have a few ingredients but simple, scratch baked bean recipes are surprisingly hard to find! That said, I used this as inspiration and they’re absolutely delicious (even without the bay leaf, molasses, and mixed beans!). Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Hi Kels, thank you so much for writing! I’m so happy you were able to use this recipe as a jumping-off point for some delicious beans! You’re so welcome. Take care! – Meggan
Very good recipe! The molasses, brown sugar and ketchup work well together. I felt the recipe needed more so I doubled those three ingredients. I precooked my beans so only used 1 cup of water and thickness was perfect. Brought it to a party and everyone loved it. I had doubled the recipe and had half left so added 1# bacon, 14 oz Kielbasa and 1# ground beef to the remaining (single recipe) beans. Wow, not sure what to call this but the flavor is amazing. Have tried bean recipe after bean recipe and couldn’t get it right. This one is great! Thanks!
You’re welcome, Anita! Adding more bacon, Kielbasa and ground beef sounds delicious. Thank you for trusting my recipe! – Meggan
I have made this recipe several times. Always a crowd pleaser. I even made it vegetarian and omitted the bacon and it was still delicious. Will never eat canned baked beans again!!! EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT RECIPE, my family asks for this every bbq!
Thank you Suba! So glad you all loved it. – Meggan
Hi Meggan,
I hope this question hasn’t already been answered but… Can you freeze the baked beans? I’m going to soak my beans tonight. The recipe sounds delicious, I can’t wait to try it ❤️ Thank you.
Hi Lori, I haven’t frozen these myself, but I don’t see why they won’t. I would make sure to freeze it in an airtight container and make sure to leave some headspace for expansion. Enjoy! – Meggan
Hi Meggan, I decided to add home made beans to my cooking list for Christmas. So I’m going to prepare these beans before time. I’m sure they freeze well too!
I have soaked the beans for 91\2hrs and also doubled the recipe. It’s in the crock-pot right now going on the 5th hour, and it smells delicious. I made the recipe exactly to the T, except I added double smoked Bacon instead of the regular bacon. I’ll surely let you know later how they were.
Wow Francine, I can’t wait to hear how they turn out! I bet your kitchen smells delicious. – Meggan
Please help not sure how I manged it but my homemade baked beans come out too soupy and they have already been cooking in slow cooker for over 12hrs on low and I followed everything step?
Hi Kathy! I’m so sorry about your soupy baked beans! I wonder if you may have accidentally included the bean’s soaking liquid in the pot, possibly? I would simmer uncovered until some of the excess liquid evaporates. Sorry again – Meggan
Can smoked turkey he used instead of bacan or a ham bone?
Thanks.
Hi Stephanie, that sounds delicious, I don’t see why not! I haven’t tried that myself, though, so if you do would you let me know how it turned out? I hope you enjoy it! – Meggan
i read that sugar and calcium prevent beans from getting soft. Hence Baked Beans So get your beans too the correct texture prior to baking. Then add the other ingredients That is why the beans retain their texture when baking..the sugar and calcium( molasses) keep them that way.
Could you also do this with canned beans? How would you change the recipe?
Hi Stefanie! You could make these with canned beans and it wouldn’t take very long at all. I would say you’d need 2 or 3 hours on HIGH (just long enough to cook all the other ingredients) or 3 to 4 hours on low. Obviously the beans would already be cooked. You could actually make it on the stove top in probably 30 minutes. Good luck and if you have anymore questions just let me know! Thanks.
Hi, do you add salt to beans on slow cooker recipe for 8 hour soak, and what size slow cooker does this fit. I have a few different sizes and would like to use the best choice.
Hi Cris, there are a lot of divided opinions on soaking beans and salt use so you don’t have to worry too much. I typically soak the beans in salted water, but a lot of better cooks than me just use plain water. I used to discard the soaking water and put fresh in the crock pot, but that isn’t really necessary either (you can use the soaking liquid in your recipe, salted or not). I make these in a 6 1/2 quart slow cooker and it might be half-full or so. You could definitely go with a smaller one. I hope this is helpful. I realize I didn’t give you any very strong answers, but the truth is this recipe is pretty forgiving! Good luck and please let me know if you have any more questions.
Hi Meggan!
Baked beans are immensely popular over here in the UK – in fact, the husband and I now have a ‘beans Thursday’ (don’t laugh!) when we just have baked beans on toast so we don’t have to make a lot of effort for dinner!
I’ve always wanted to try making my own, but never seem to get around to it. Thanks for the recipe, and for the suggestion to make them in the slow cooker!
Hi Helen! I think baked beans on toast is basically the best idea ever. So delicious and satisfying. You have baked beans for breakfast sometimes too, right? You crazy brits! 🙂 Always lovely to hear from you! Hope you’re well.
I make lots of beans and always have them on hand. Older beans do take longer to cook – but they will cook. Adding salt to soak water is argumentative. Test Kitchen adds it, others do not. What’s nice about adding it at the end, is you can season it how you like it. It makes no difference to the finished flavor. Test Kitchen also adds a dab of baking soda to the soak water. Since I don’t pre-soak or discard my water, If I remember, I add it to my cook water.
Something I found online regarding beans and gas production: ” nutritionfacts.org › Ask the Doctor Nov 8, 2012 – Answer: Yes indeed, research dating back more than 25 years (“Effect of Processing on Flatus-Producing Factors in Legumes“) found that adding baking soda to the soak water of dried beans before cooking (about 1/16 teaspoon per quart) significantly decreases the content of the raffinose family of sugars.” Those indigestible sugars are what makes the beans “noisy.” Don’t add too much soda for the obvious reason. However, to reduce the intestinal side-effects of beans, eat them more often so your gut bacteria can adjust. That’s about all I know about beans. Further, pairing beans with rice forms a complimentary protein so your body actually digests them better. :-))
I LOVE how versatile and filling beans are. And yours include bacon? YUM! Love that tip from Dave!
I decided to make my mother’s baked beans for neighborhood night out in our new neighborhood. Due to the move, I could not find my recipe, so on a lark, I googled Hill’s Baked Beans. To my surprise there was Culinary Hill in the first few matches! I am using the traditional bean pot, and plan to put them in the oven before I leave for work in the morning. Beans are soaking now. Thank you to my wonderful niece for sharing our family beans recipe!
Hi Aunt Bonnie, what a wonderful surprise! 🙂 The photos for this recipe are pretty bad and need to be reshot, but the recipe is solid gold as you know. I’m glad you made them and so happy you are using the traditional bean pot. Grandpa Jack’s pancake mix is on the blog too! Thanks for stopping by the blog. 🙂 Take care!! XOXO
I’m definitely going to try this but my only question is I always was told not to add salt to beans while soaking or at the start that it makes them tough, is this a problem or does the salt help keep the beans from turning to mush?
Hi Jerry, that is really interesting. I have always added beans to my water when soaking beans, I think America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Illustrated teaches that. I have never had a problem with it making beans tough. I do the same thing for my slow cooker black beans which soak in salted water for 8 hours or so before going in the slow cooker. I don’t know if the salt prevents them from turning to mush or if it just adds flavor. I’ll have to read up on this! Thanks for your question. I’m wondering myself now.
I use my crock pot for all the different beans I cook and lately cooking them on low for 8 hours and they are always done. Soft but not mushy.
Do you think this would be tasty with pinto beans as well? I might attempt this for 4th of July picnic and have a 5 lb bag of pinto beans.
Hi Patty, I think these would work fine with Pinto beans! Been meaning to try that myself, actually. I always have dried pintos on hand too. Happy 4th! 🙂
I did make these today with pinto beans and they were good. I don’t know if it was the bean type or the age of the beans or the fact that I doubled the recipe but after 6 hours on high the beans were still hard. Ended up cooking them more like 11 hours! Good thing I cooked them a day early because they would not have been ready for my afternoon BBQ if it were today. Thanks!
Hi Patty, I do think the age of the beans has something to do with the long cooking time (more so than the doubling of the recipe). I don’t remember the info exactly, but I read about that one time (probably in an America’s Test Kitchen cookbook) so I’ll have to see if I can find that. Glad it worked out, good job planning ahead! 🙂 Also thanks for the update on the pintos.
How do you adjust this recipe to make black beans for a chipotle copy cat recipe?
Hi Mari, I haven’t investigated the exact Chipotle recipe (yet). The main thing is, you need to take out the bacon. Beyond that, I’ll have to look up all the ingredients they use to make sure what I have matches. But, they already taste pretty close without the bacon. Good luck!
Is the bacon precooked, or raw?
The bacon goes in raw. It definitely cooks after being in the slow cooker for so long, and the resulting bacon is soft and chewy. You could certainly precook the bacon. That would mean less bacon fat in the final dish and the bacon could be crispier, if that’s how you like it. I thought about doing it that way myself and might try it at some point.
You will definitely lose something without the bacon fat. I have had beans made with precooked and added raw. Better raw.
Awesome, thanks for that Adam! I wouldn’t want to use ANY of the bacon fat. 😉