Vegetarian Slow Cooker Chili that doesn't use canned beans???

[aaiya]

I've been trying to get more beans in our diets...and dry are cheaper than canned. Does anybody have a slow cooker chili recipe that uses dry beans? I'm not a dry bean person (yet) but if it's easy and low-maintenance enough, I think I could be.

[mamma_z]

You can pre-cook your beans fairly easily--soak overnight, dump the soaking water, then simmer in water for 45-90 min until soft. Then they are just like canned beans (but cheaper and healthier).

I've also heard you can just use soaked, uncooked beans in the slow-cooker. I think you have to cook on high for 8-9 hours.

[caseyswenson]

We cook (soak overnight first) up big batches of different beans and freeze them in smaller containers. We haven't had much luck cooking directly with dry beans, they need a good period of time to absorb water before being cooked.

[pumkinsmommy]

With dried kidney beans only, you have to boil first for 10 minutes and drain the liquid and then begin. They produce a poison, that is removed by the 10 minute boiling process.

[L&MsMamma]

I only used dried beans, I just soak them overnight and then put them in the crockpot with all the other chilli ingredients for 7-8 hours on high they come out perfectly beautiful and cooked. The only thing you need to be careful about is making sure there isn't too much salt in your recipe. Too much salt can hinder the beans from cooking properly. I made this mistake once and although I cooked the beans for 15 hrs they never got all the way soft!

[tesslouise]

Originally Posted by pumkinsmommy With dried kidney beans only, you have to boil first for 10 minutes and drain the liquid and then begin. They produce a poison, that is removed by the 10 minute boiling process.

I've found one work-around for this: if I'm making a pound of kidney beans that are going to go straight into a batch of chili, they're going to get boiled in the chili, so I skip the boiling step, and no one has gotten sick yet.

[tesslouise]

Originally Posted by caseyswenson We cook (soak overnight first) up big batches of different beans and freeze them in smaller containers. We haven't had much luck cooking directly with dry beans, they need a good period of time to absorb water before being cooked.

This is what we do. A pound of dried beans will make 3+ can-size bags of cooked beans. I try to keep black beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas in the freezer. I cook the soaked beans in water to cover with 2 teaspoons salt and it takes 6+ hours for them to get soft. I've never had that amount of salt interfere w/ the beans softening...that has more to do with the age of the beans.

[Monkeys]

I'm looking for a recipe too. I have pinto beans that need to be used. Dh wants me to make chili but I'm not sure what seasonings to use to make chili.

[yarrowwind]

I'd say just precook your beans and use them the way you would canned. Or just dump them in and cook them in the crock pot till they are almost done then add everything else (I like lots of veggies in my chili but I like there to be some texture to them so they aren't just mush).

I've soaked my beans in the crock pot insert overnight then dumped the water and cooked the beans (in (fresh water) with every seasoning sans salt till they were almost done then added all the veggies (sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, olives, onion, bell peppers, etc) and when the veggies are done added the salt.

[aaiya]

I guess part of what I'm looking for is quantity instruction. What I mean is, I want a recipe that says: Soak 1 cup of this and 1/2 cup of that and then drain and dump it all into the crockpot with these spices and this much more liquid and cook for 8 hours. I don't want to have extra beans hanging around and I guess I just don't know enough about how many dry beans of the different types equal 1 can (which is like 15 oz or something, right?)