Dried Black Bean Slow Cooker Chili

I read in a cookbook about cooking beans from dried in a slow cooker, directly without any soaking, and I wanted to try it. It worked! I am very impressed by the ease of this as it takes one more step away when using beans. The result was super yummy too.

Black Bean Chili

1 lb dried black beans
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chili powder
28 oz can diced tomatoes with liquid or 12 frozen roma tomatoes, peeled
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda (this apparently prevents the beans from bursting but some say it's not necessary)
2 3/4 cups water

Sort the black beans. Spread them out on a cookie sheet and check for small stones. Trust me, you want to do this. Corey and I have seen how beans are dried on the side of the road. It's not surprising that a few stones will get into the mix.

Put everything into the slow cooker and mix well. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. At the half-way point, check that there is still liquid in the slow cooker. Add more if needed. You could also add frozen corn or other veggies at this point if you wanted to.

I served this on chopped lettuce with an avocado and tomato salsa. I chopped two avocados and 1 tomato into chunks, added 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp chili flakes, and salt then mixed that together.











Did you know that 2016 is the international year of pulses as named by the UN? Check it out at fao.org.


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