Baked Beans

This recipe captures all of my know how on making beans in the slow cooker. Including tricks to help soak them and reliably get a soft output. The first rule is never cook beans in an acidic environment. This got me for years. This means DO NOT add tomatoes until after the beans are done cooking.

Note: This recipe is vegan.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beans (I like a mixture of Navy, Black and Kidney)

• 4 qt water

• 1 t baking soda

• 1 t salt

• 1 onion, chopped

• 1 stalk of celery

• 2 medium carrots (optional)

• 1 T minced garlic

• 1 T butter/oil

• 1 T salt

• 1 t pepper

• 3 qt fresh water

• 1 can tomato paste

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 2 T dried mustard (or 5 t prepared mustard)

• 0.5 t red pepper

Procedure

1. Combine beans, baking soda, 4 qt water and 1 t salt.

2. Let soak overnight at room temperature.

3. Drain and rinse beans.

4. Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic, oil, 1 T salt, pepper, and 3 qt of water.

5. Slow cook on high for 6 hours.

6. At this point some of the water can be removed for aquafaba¹.

7. Finish by adding tomato paste, sugar, mustard and red pepper.