Why You Should Only Be Making Baked Beans In Your Slow Cooker

Baked beans are one of those tricky dishes that are simultaneously a year-round favorite and a winter comfort food. There's absolutely nothing like the sweet and spicy twang of barbecue sauce-drenched baked beans next to succulent, barky brisket or deep-fried catfish with creamy coleslaw. But cooking those juicy beans all day during the sweltering during the summer heat is one hot proposition.

And that's why you're what we call a glutton for punishment if you use anything but a slow cooker. The slow cooker's low, consistent heat cooks the beans perfectly without turning your kitchen into a sauna. Baked bean recipes are typically perfect for the slow cooker since they're often largely dump recipes. You may have to soak the beans and sauté a few aromatics to start, but after that, you toss everything into a single pot, put the lid on, and let it cook until its aromatic, savory goodness is ready for the limelight.

Slow cooking also makes your beans better. It's a preferred method for dried beans because it results in tender, creamy legumes. Plus, beans need several hours of cooking to fully absorb all the flavors, resulting in the robust, more well-rounded taste people associate with American-style baked beans. It works similarly well with canned beans, shaving even more off the time commitment without losing flavor or texture thanks to the gentle cook.

Plus, the slow cooker makes it way easier to prepare the beans ahead of time so you can focus on one of the other 20 things on your meal prep to-do list. You can even start them cooking before you go to work on Friday morning and come home to a warm and delicious pot of beans. Enjoy some for dinner spooned over biscuits, then save the rest to reheat for tomorrow's cookout.

A slow cooker crock of everybody's favorite baked beans is the delectable hero of any family get-together or cookout because it frees you up to work on other, often more time-intensive favorites without compromising on flavor or mingle with guests instead of fussing over a hot stove.