Crock Pot Pinto Beans
Crock pot pinto beans are simple to make, and super versatile to enjoy by themselves, or in other recipes just as you would use canned beans.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry pinto beans
- 6 cups chicken bone broth (or any stock - I recommend vegetable or chicken)
- 1 cup water
- salt and pepper to taste Honestly, mine didn't need any. The broth and ham flavored them perfectly. Taste them first.
- 1/2 onion I used yellow, any type works
- 1/2 pound diced ham (OR ham bone/ ham hock with or without meat scraps still on it)
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
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Rinse off your pinto beans, and drain them using a wire mesh strainer.
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Add them to the crock pot, along with the broth, water, onion, ham and bay leaves.
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Put on the lid, and cook on high heat until the beans are to desired tenderness. Mine took 7 hours.
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Serve as is, freeze, or use in other recipes, as you would canned beans.
Recipe Notes
- Recipe makes 8 entree sized or at least 12 side dish sized portions.
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Nutritional information is approximate and was calculated using a recipe nutrition label generator.
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BROTH Notes: I used my homemade chicken bone broth in this recipe. I had some that needed to be used up. I did have to add a cup of water to get enough total liquid (7 cups).
If you are doing this without ham, I for sure would recommend broth - any type. My top two would be vegetable or chicken stock, but any broth or stock will work.
You will need 7 cups of total liquid. I would recommend using broth/stock for at least half or more of that.
If you are using ham, you could probably get away with using only water and still having enough flavor, as long as you still add the onion and granulated garlic (around 1/2 teaspoon).
- To adapt this to a vegan/ vegetarian recipe, skip the ham, and use vegetable stock or water + Better than Bullion Vegetable Base.
- Certain factors can affect the cook time, especially the age of the beans. Cook them until they reach desired softness. I like mine very soft, starting to fall apart, and that took 7 hours for me.