Slow Cooker Green Beans Recipe | Crock Pot Green Beans (2024)

FAQs

How long should you cook beans in a slow cooker? ›

Place soaked beans in crock pot. Add any seasonings: salt and pepper, garlic, jalapenos, onions (to taste). Cover with water by about 2 inches. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours.

So the next time you're boiling green beans, take a moment to taste one before declaring them cooked. If they taste more like grass than vegetable, give them another minute or two in the pot. Same thing for any other vegetable you're eating cooked.

The key to the best beans is to master how long to boil green beans. Cook the green beans, covered, in a small amount of boiling salted water until crisp-tender: 10 to 15 minutes for whole or cut green beans. 5 to 10 minutes for french-cut green beans.

What is a Serving? A serving of green beans is one cup. This is about 20 medium green beans.

Cook low and slow—patience is key. To cook on the stove, bring the pot of beans (soaked or unsoaked, with olive oil, salt, and any seasonings plus 2 to 3 inches of liquid covering them) to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat so that your beans are barely but steadily simmering and cover with the lid.

Baking soda can help significantly since it increases the pH of the water, disintegrating that pectin and allowing beans to soften quicker. Baking soda also removes minerals from hard water, which can prevent beans from hydrating as quickly.

Don't overcook them!

Nothing is worse than a mushy, overcooked green bean. Crisp and slightly tender beans is the goal. To achieve this, taste a bean or two during the cooking process. If it is too crispy for you, keep cooking, testing another green bean in a minute or two.

The beans are done cooking when they're all tender; you can test this as they by smooshing a bean or two against the side of the pot with a fork — it should collapse easily, but not be mushy.

On a cooking note, regarding tough green beans, you may be undercooking them.

Add the green beans to the boiling water and cook until bright green and crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and transfer immediately to the ice water to stop the cooking.

How long should you cook beans for? ›

Stovetop Instructions

Place soaked beans in a large pot; cover with fresh water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently until beans are tender but firm. Most beans will cook in 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on the variety.

Serving information

A portion of uncooked beans typically doubles after cooking (e.g. 2 cups uncooked equals between 4-5 cups of cooked beans). Average serving size is estimated to be 1/4 cup of uncooked beans (56.70 grams) per person (approx. 1/2 cup or 113.40 grams of cooked beans).

Figure 1 cup of dried beans will yield 2½ to 3 cups cooked, or 3 to 4 servings; a pound of dried beans will yield 5 to 6 cups cooked, or 6 to 8 servings. All beans keep for months in the pantry.

Depending upon the variety, dried beans will cook quickly (about 15 minutes for red lentils) or slowly (up to 3 to 4 hours for unsoaked chickpeas or lima beans).

Place seasoning and beans in pressure cooker. Cover with about 1 1/2 inches of hot water over the level of the beans. Be sure to not fill the cooker over half way. Cook for 22 to 30 minutes, depending on the variety.

Bake beans in the preheated oven until tender, about 1 hour and 10 minutes, checking after 30 minutes to ensure beans are still covered with water. If necessary, add just enough water to cover.