Slow Cooker Baked Beans

I made these beans a few weeks ago for an outdoor potluck.  I really liked them and the whole batch was gone pretty quickly.  I don't love kidney beans, so I used a mix of Navy and Great Northen beans.  I would have used some pinto beans as well, but I was out.  This made a pretty small batch- I'd be interested in trying this recipe again with dried beans, because it would be able to make way more and be even cheaper.  But, the small batch is a good thing if you're making it for just your family, and I was able to use my smallest crockpot just fine.

I mixed these beans up the night before and stored them in the fridge (in the stoneware part of my crockpot).  Then, in the morning, I just placed the stoneware part inside my crockpot and turned it to "low" while we were at church.  By the time we got home and it was time to go to the potluck, these were just perfect.  The original recipe is titled "Boston Baked Beans", so I guess that's what they are.  :)

The original recie uses raw bacon and just throws it away after, but I cooked bacon and stirred half in while it was cooking, and then stirred the rest in right before serving. 

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking

3, 15oz. cans beans, drained and rinsed (use whatever kind you want; kidney, pinto, white, etc)

1 small or medium onion, chopped finely

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses, honey, or maple syrup

1/3 cup ketchup

1/4 tsp salt or to taste

1 Tablespoon spicy brown or dijon mustard

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 pound of bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided

1.  Drain and rinse beans, and add them to the crockpot (use a small crock pot here, if possible; 1.5-2 quart).  Add onion and brown sugar.  Pour in molasses or honey, and ketchup.  Add salt, mustard, black pepper, and half of bacon.  Stir to combine.  At this point, you can store the beans in the crock part of your crockpot until ready to cook.

2.  Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or high for about 4.  If mixture looks a little dry after a few hours of cooking, you can add a bit of ketchup.  Stir in the remaining bacon before serving.

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