Slow Cooker Baked Beans

Slow Cooker Baked Beans with Maple Syrup and Bacon is one of our ‘Go-To” Traditional Holiday Recipes that we use when gathering with a large group, family and friends in celebration of a special occasion or holiday.

I like to use Thompsons White Pea Beans when serving baked beans at all my family gatherings throughout the winter months.  They are an excellent source of thiamin, foliate, iron & magnesium. Baked beans are a good source of niacin, Vitamin B6, phosphorous & zinc as well as a very high source of dietary fibre.

Did you know? 

Baked beans is a dish traditionally containing white beans which are parboiled and then baked at a low temperature for a lengthy period of time in some sort of sauce. This is the usual preparation of the dish in the United States when not using canned beans. Canned baked beans are not baked, but are cooked through a steam process.

Baked beans have its origins in Native American cuisine, and the dish is made from beans indigenous to the Americas. The dish was adopted and adapted by English colonists in New England in the 17th century and, through the aid of published 19th century cookbooks, the dish spread to other regions of the United States and into Canada.

Originally baked beans were sweetened with maple syrup by Native Americans, a tradition some recipes still follow, but some English colonists modified the sweetening agent to brown sugar beginning in the 17th century. In the 18th century the convention of using American-made molasses as a sweetening agent became increasingly popular in order to avoid British taxes on sugar.

Origins and history

According to chef and food historian Walter Staib of Philadelphia’s City Tavern, baked beans had its roots as a Native peoples dish in the Americas long before the dish became known to Western culture. Native Americans mixed beans, maple sugar, and bear fat in earthenware pots which they placed in underground “bean holes” which were lined in hot rocks to cook slowly over a long period of time.

British colonists in New England were the first westerners to adopt the dish from the Native peoples; and were quick to embrace it largely because the dish was reminiscent of peas porridge and because the dish used ingredients native to the New World.They substituted molasses or sugar for the maple syrup, bacon or ham for the bear fat, and simmered their beans for hours in pots over the fire instead of underground. Each colony in America had their own regional variations of the dish, with navy or white pea beans used in Massachusetts, Jacob’s Cattle and soldier beans used in Maine, and yellow-eyed beans in Vermont. This variation likely resulted from the colonists receiving the dish from different Native peoples who used different native beans.

Today in the New England region, baked beans are flavored either with maple syrup (Northern New England), or with molasses (Boston), and are traditionally cooked with salt pork in a beanpot in a brick oven for six to eight hours. In the absence of a brick oven, the beans were cooked in a beanpot nestled in a bed of embers placed near the outer edges of a hearth, about a foot away from the fire. Today, baked beans can be made in a slow cooker or in a modern oven using a traditional beanpot, Dutch oven, or casserole dish. The results of the dish, commonly described as having a savory–sweet flavor and a brownish- or reddish-tinted white bean, however cooked are the same.

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/

Henry Heinz launched his canned baked beans in the U.S. in 1895 and brought them to the UK nine years later.  Source:  Daily Mail.com

Slow Cooker Baked Beans with Maple Syrup and Bacon Recipe

This is a fairly easy recipe to make however it is imperative that you boil your beans to a tender consistency!

Ingredients needed for making Slow Cooker Baked Beans with Maple Syrup and Bacon

Step by Step Instructions on making Slow Cooker Baked Beans –

TIP- This tip works well for me because I like to complete steps in advance.  I prefer to plan two days in advance when making this recipe.  And I plan my schedule as follows –

Steps to take two nights before –

Rinse beans with cold water. Place the beans into a large bowl and cover with cold water, soak overnight in fridge.   

The next day –

Drain.  Place beans in a large pot, and add 5 cups of water.  Cover and heat to boiling then simmer for 30 – 75 minutes or until tender.  This is the most important step to making good baked beans.  It is imperative that you taste the beans to ensure that they are as tender as you like them. If you drain your beans before they are nice and tender, they will not soften in any other of this recipe’s steps.  This is the KEY step with this recipe.

Once tender, drain

The beans are cooked at this point however still requires seasonings and sauce to cook in for 7 hours. 

This is where I prefer to place the cooked beans into a large bowl, cover and place into the fridge until the next morning.  That’s it for now.  And, my reasoning is that when I am serving these baked beans for a family gathering, I tend to serve an early dinner which doesn’t allow me adequate time to complete the steps all in one day.  I don’t like to be rushing and there are generally many other things to attend to when hosting a large family gathering and this allows me to manage my time well.

The following day –

Slice onion and place onto the bottom of a oven-proof casserole dish or slow cooker and set aside.

In a large bowl, add salt, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, ketchup and pepper.  Mix together and add beans to this mixture.  Combine together. 

Pour this mixture into the casserole dish or slow cooker.  Add enough water to cover just to the top of the bean mixture.  Be careful not to add too much water; you will need approximately ¼ cup. Next, mix the beans to allow the water to distribute evenly and this will allow you to only add the necessary quantity of water.

 Add slices of bacon on top.  Cover and bake in oven at 250 F for 7 hours or on low in slow cooker.  Add extra water, if needed. 

If cooking your beans in the oven, remove lid and continue to cook for another hour as this will darken the beans.

Tip – when boiling the beans, taste to ensure they are tender.  Simmer longer if needed.  If you want to make delicious tasting baked beans, it’s imperative that this step is taken.  They need to be tender at this point because the beans will not soften in the oven.  Trust me on this one!  I am speaking from experience.