It is a new year, which means new goals. This year I wanted to learn how to use and cook with dried beans. I have made a few things with dried beans, but still have a LOT to learn. Yesterday I decided to try to make chili using dried beans. I have NEVER made chili before (I know, hard to believe, but I have always been too intimidated to try it).
To start off with I got a bag of Hurst’s HamBeens Slow Cooker Chili dry beans. I should have cooked them in a slow cooker, but I cracked mine last week. I did it on the stove top instead. That is what is great about these beans, you have BOTH options.
Ingredients needed:
- 1 bag Hurst’s HamBeens Slow Cooker Chili dry beans
- 4-6 quart slow cooker or a large soup pot
- 7 cups water
- 1 lb cooked ground beef
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 can diced tomatoes 14.5 oz
- 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
- salt to taste
(I made mine vegetarian and did not add beef. I also added 1/2 cup of cilantro. Next time I will make it with beef. I think it will really add to the flavor.)
Step 1 – Rinse and sort beans. Beans are a natural product so you just want to make sure there are no stones or debris in the beans.
Step 2 – Cover with 2 quarts of water and soak overnight or at least 8 hours. These Slow Cooker Beans do not require you to soak them over night. BUT that is just how I have always cooked beans so it is a habit for me. I just LOVE the colors of the beans before they cook, so many pretty vibrant colors.
Step 3- After the beans soak, drain and rinse them off.
Step 4- Cook your ground beef, then drain the oil and add the beef to the beans. Add onion, garlic, green pepper, half the seasoning packet and 8 cups of water. I also added cilantro but that was my own addition. Turn on HIGH and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer on low for 2-3 hours.
Step 5 – Once the beans are tender, add tomato paste, canned tomatoes and the rest of the seasoning packet. Cook another 30-60 min. on low. To thicken the chili, uncover it. If it gets too thick add a little more water. Keep on LOW till you are ready to eat, with additional time the flavors will become more rich.
You will need to salt to taste… my family loves to eat it with cheddar cheese, sour cream, green onions and corn chips.
This was SO EASY TO MAKE…. not sure why it took me so many years to try. I look forward to making it again, and next time I want to try adding meat. I think ground beef or steak cut into bite sized pieces would make this taste amazing.
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OTHER recipes you might want to try that use DRY BEANS…
SLOW COOKER CHICKEN AND BEAN CHILI RECIPE ~ HOW TO COOK WITH DRY BEANS
SLOW COOKER CHEESY CHICKEN AND BEAN CHOWDER RECIPE ~ MADE WITH DRY BEANS
I am proud to be working with the Hurst’s HamBeens company to bring you these recipes, recipe and opinions are my own. Sponsored post.
So I realize this post is pretty old, but wanted to comment in case others (like me) come across it while looking for a new method to cook chili.
Normally I cook my dry beans separate (I don’t soak as the beans lose flavor that way). Saw this method and thought “Oh! I’ll get even more flavor in the beans this way!”. Sadly though, i did not consider that boiling the meat, onion, and pepper for 2 hours is a sure fire way to kill any flavor they added. We had to add a LOT more seasoning to get it to have some flavor, but it fell short. Bummer.
Like, PIN or share so you can remember how to do this later…
Cooking with dry beans has always intimidated me. I have made bean soup, I could do this. Thanks!
Jessica Ferguson Cristi Gardner Coyle
oooh, that looks yummy!
On a cold foggy day like today, this is the perfect meal!
It was easy!
I was shocked how easy they were to make, I did them without meat but next time I will do meat for sure… maybe even steak chunks that would get super tender as they cook. I also want to try adding some more peppers and onions since I love them and know how good they are at adding flavor.
That looks good! I have a bunch of these beans for emergency storage and needed a good recipe for them!
Looking forward to this easy recipe with cornbread~ warm comfort foods
YUMMY!! I can’t wait to try it. It looks so good & it sounds easy.
So easy to make!