Foolproof and delicious Slow Cooker Black Beans! This easy, no-soak recipe yields tender and delicious black beans with barely any hands-on time. Make them a meal, serve as a side, or use them to stuff your tacos, burritos, and quesadillas!
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"Absolutely delicious, and really easy. I highly recommend this recipe.
I've made these beans so many times now I thought I really ought to come back and leave a review! Even my toddler loves them and they are delicious hot or cold. Fantastic recipe!" - Ellie ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ More reviews →
This Slow Cooker Black Beans recipe is such a staple recipe. Made with just a handful of ingredients and barely any prep time they are deliciously seasoned, SO tasty, super easy, budget-friendly, healthy, and versatile.
If you don't have a slow cooker see my Instant Pot Black Beans recipe instead, or if you want to use canned beans I have a Quick Seasoned Black Beans recipe or an awesome Vegan Black Bean Soup recipe.
Mel x
Ingredients
To make the best slow cooker black beans you will need:
- Black beans - Dried and unsoaked. Not soaking them makes them so much more flavourful too. No black beans? You can also use other beans of a similar size such as navy beans or black eyes beans. DO NOT cook kidney beans in your slow cooker using this recipe though. They MUST be prepared differently for food safety reasons.
- Onion & garlic - Essential for great flavour.
- Herbs & spices - This is what makes these beans taste so good! The combination of chili, cumin, coriander, bay, and mint or thyme adds so much flavour.
- Stock - Adds more flavour than simply using water.
- Lime juice - Added right at the end to preserve its flavour. Lime works incredibly well with black beans adding lots of flavour and acidity.
How To Make Black Beans In A Slow Cooker
Can't wait to make these crockpot black beans? It's as simple as adding everything except the lime to your crockpot/slow cooker and cooking on high or low depending on your needs.
Squeeze in the lime right before serving and you're done! The full printable recipe is below and if you're a more visual learner see my recipe video.
Success Tips
- Don't soak the beans. Soaking them first dilutes their flavour.
- Rinse the beans to clean them before adding them to the slow cooker.
- Be generous with the salt. Seasoning well is really important for great-tasting beans.
- Add the salt at the end of cooking.
- Don't skip the lime! It adds so much flavour and vibrancy.
- Beans will take a little longer to cook if you are at high altitude so make sure you allow for that when making this recipe.
Why I Don't Recommend Soaking The Dried Beans
I do not recommend soaking the black beans before making this recipe. When you soak beans before cooking they lose flavour and a significant amount of colour too. You can see a side-by-side comparison here.
“There are lots of old wives’ tales [about reducing flatulence] -- people use bicarbonate of soda, ginger, sulphur, castor oil -- a whole series of them. But there’s no evidence that any of them -- including soaking -- work effectively.” - Louis B. Rockland, Food Tech Research in Placentia.
“Soaking may shorten the cooking time, but other than that, there’s no effect [on flatulence].” - U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Western Regional Research lab in Albany, Calif.
Source of both quotes: Los Angeles Times
Variations
I've been making this easy black beans recipe for decades and I've personally tried and loved all of these additions:
- A can of green chilis or a diced fresh chili.
- A jar of salsa.
- Extra vegetables like bell pepper, corn, sweet potato, squash, chopped tomatoes, or celery.
- Fresh cilantro.
- More stock, blend up a bit with an immersion blender, and call it black bean soup! I like to do this with the leftovers.
Serving Suggestions
These Crockpot Black Beans are incredibly versatile. My favourite way to serve them is over coconut lime rice with plenty of green sauce, some vegan feta crumbles, diced red onion, and some sliced jalapeno peppers. Some other ideas include:
- As a side with Mexican, Cuban, or other Latin American-inspired meals.
- In burritos, taco, enchiladas, quesadillas, taquitos and chiliquiles.
- In casseroles.
- With burrito bowls and other bowl meals like my Cauliflower Rice Bowls.
- In salads.
- Over nachos or served in a bowl with some tortilla chips for scooping.
- For breakfast with vegan scrambled eggs, avocado, toast, and hot sauce.
- Over baked sweet potatoes.
- In my Black Bean & Rice Meal Prep recipe
Recipe
Slow Cooker Black Beans
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 2½ cups (450 grams) dried black beans , do not soak them
- 1 medium onion , diced
- 4 cloves garlic , chopped finely
- 2 teaspoons chili flakes , or 1 fresh chili (you can omit the chili if you prefer)
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 large bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon dried mint , or thyme
- 3 cups (720 ml) vegetable stock
- 3 cups (720 ml) water
- 1½ teaspoons salt , plus more to taste as required
- Juice of one lime
INSTRUCTIONS
SLOW COOKER
- Place all of the ingredients except the salt and lime into your slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or low for 7 to 8 hours.
- Once cooked, season with plenty of salt, then squeeze in the juice of the lime. Give it a good stir then serve.
NOTES
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NUTRITION
More Slow-Cooker Recipes
Géke says
Great recipe, resulting in perfectly cooked beans with a bite. My beans only needed a little more moisture over time.
Ellie says
Absolutely delicious, and really easy. I highly recommend this recipe.
I've made these beans so many times now I thought I really ought to come back and leave a review! I always use the slow cooker and dried beans. It works with all sorts of different beans, we really like a black bean and rosecoco (borlotti) bean mix. I also often add diced green bell peppers. Even my toddler loves these beans, and they are delicious hot or cold. Fantastic recipe - give it a try!
Sandra Bell says
Great black bean recipe, I used the slow cooker method and it was delicious, worked beautifully and was my best black bean recipe so far. Thank you!
Louise says
You don’t list any liquid here, to be added to the beans... is that correct?
Donna Jago says
The recipe says 4 garlic cloves. Are they just put in whole, or crushed?
A Virtual Vegan says
You can crush them if you want to, but they can go in whole. By the time it's cooked and you stir it before serving, they break up and disintegrate anyway.
Gail Wisdom says
I made this in the slow cooker today! I added a small can of green chilies and some bell pepper. My husband said "Gourmet." We loved it and will make again and again.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so pleased you enjoyed the beans Gail. Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave feedback!
Karen says
Love these. They are a weekly staple for us.
Randi Tisdall says
I love slow cooker black beans!! The addition of the mint sounds delicious too. I love making a big pot and using them in a variety of dishes all week!
A Virtual Vegan says
Having a big pot on standby makes life so much easier!
Bonveggie says
So delicious. Made them twice. Love the pictures too.
Elaine Gordon says
Oh I love this recipe! So simple and tasty!
Anjali says
WOW these are awesome!
Amy says
I love these black beans! I make them all the time and we eat them with rice or in burritos.