I love the slow cooker for many reasons, but especially because I can cook dried pinto beans into this delicious Slow Cooker Pinto Beans and Sausage recipe. Dried beans is not something that I saw a lot growing up; we mostly used canned beans, if at all. But the flavors of this dish reminds me of a hearty chili which was a regular meal in my house as a child.
When my husband and I visited New Orleans, I tried and fell in love with beans and rice. It’s such a comforting and filling meal. While New Orleans has very different cuisine than Hawaii, it felt familiar because meals were made with cheap ingredients and had tons of flavor.
When we got home, I searched for and tried the Slow Cooker Beans and Rice recipe by Valerie Bertinelli on The Food Network. It’s a great recipe and I’ve made it a few times. But when I became a mom, I didn’t want to deal with cutting the meat off the ham hock or find a small portion of sausage. So I developed this version with ingredients that I could easily find based on Valerie’s recipe.
Why We Love This Recipe
This is a monthly staple in my house. My son isn’t a huge fan of meat other than ground meat or sausages. While we can get tired of ground meat, no one groans about another sausage meal.
Beef sausages are often fatty and because of that, we love turkey sausage. Turkey polish sausage or smoked sausage is easy to chop up and add to the pot of beans.
It’s also full of veggies so I don’t have to struggle with getting my son to eat his vegetables. Everything is in one dish and he loves it all because the veggies are tender; great for when he has loose teeth and it hurts to chew.
If you love beans, I hope you try it and it makes the regular rotation in yours!
Pinto Bean Health Benefits
Pinto beans, like others, have tons of fiber. Even though they have carbs, they have protein and folate which are great for pregnant women and growing kids. In addition, it can help prevent blood sugar spikes. The lack of B12 vitamin in the pinto beans is made up with the turkey smoked sausage.
How to Prepare Dried Pinto Beans
Dried pinto beans are easy to work with once you know how. The extra time to prepare dried pinto beans are worth the cost savings compared to using canned beans. Put your beans on a plate or baking sheet and pick through for rocks. Rocks?! Yes, rocks. Some how they can get through the processing plant into the bag, so check those beans!
After picking through the beans, rinse and soak the beans in water. You want at least 2 to 3 inches of water higher than the top of the beans. The pinto beans will increase in volume by about 50%.
If your beans are old/close to the best by date, I would slow cook them overnight in chicken broth instead of soaking overnight. Then add the remaining ingredients and slow cook according to the recipe. Otherwise, the beans will be too hard to eat.
Find more slow cooker and crock pot recipes below:
Slow Cooker Pinto Beans and Sausage
Equipment
- l Colander
- 1 Large bowl
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 large cutting board
- 1 slow cooker 5 or 6 quarts
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried pinto beans (about ⅔ pounds)
- water
- 14 ounces turkey smoked sausage or polish sausage chopped
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 large green bell pepper diced
- 3 celery stalks diced
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp ground white pepper or ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 2 green onions optional, chopped
Instructions
- On the night before you plan to eat, pick through your beans for rocks. Rinse the beans and put them in a large container. Cover with enough water for the beans to have 2” of water over the top of the beans and soak overnight.
- The next morning, drain and rinse the beans. Put the beans in the slow cooker followed by all the ingredients except for the green onions. Stir to mix. Arrange beans so they are submerged by liquid.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on high heat for 9 hours. This way, if your beans are old or near the best by date, your cooked beans will not be hard and it will be tender.
- Once cooking is done, stir until well combined.
