It may be a frugal crock pot meal, but this Crock Pot Beans and Sausage is anything but boring! Dry beans are combined with a from-scratch barbecue sauce and sausages to create at filling and comforting dish.
I remember the first time I saw an episode of Hoarders. All I wanted to do after watching that episode was to go through my house and throw everything out. It seriously made me want to become the complete opposite of a hoarder. And if you’ve seen the show, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Except sometimes, if you were to take a look inside my kitchen cupboards, you would think that I was a hoarder. I’m sure that if someone came and looked in my hallway closet to see stacks of mismatched dishes, napkins, and fabric, if they didn’t know I wrote a food blog – they would think I was a hoarder. And to look in my spice cabinet that is bursting full, complete with no less than 6 different kinds of salt – they would think I was a hoarder. And my pantry – sometimes I get overwhelmed looking into it!!
Well, in an attempt to clear out the clutter, I have been going through the pantry and trying to use an ingredient or two up in the recipes that I’ve been making. So when I came across this crock pot beans recipe that uses dry beans, and I remembered seeing a jar of beans in the back of my pantry, I knew it would be a great way to clear out an ingredient that was taking up space.
Ingredients in this Crock Pot Beans and Sausage
- dry navy beans – you could really use whatever kind of beans you wanted to.
- chicken broth – you can use homemade or store bought
- tomato paste – I like to buy it in a tube so I can just squeeze out how much I want
- light brown sugar – make sure it’s packed!
- molasses – I just use a medium molasses
- honey mustard – I usually have this on hand, but if you don’t, simply skip it or add an even amount of honey are mustard
- barbecue seasoning blend – most grocery stores will carry several different brands. You can even find a recipe online and make your own. Just make sure you like the one you choose!
- garlic cloves
- onion – this adds a lot of flavor while cooking, so even if you don’t love onions, I wouldn’t skip this. You take it out before serving.
- whole cloves – these also are just there to add flavor while cooking
- chicken sausages – I usually buy the chicken and apple
- apple cider vinegar – the vinegar brings in some of that sourness for the barbecue flavor
- Worcestershire sauce – this helps to round out all of the flavors and bring something extra to the final dish
- Pickled peppers, sliced green onions, and/or sour cream, for serving – I like to use them all!
Tips for Making Crock Pot Beans and Sausage
- Don’t want to start from scratch? If you don’t want to cook your beans from dry, you can use canned beans. You won’t need to cook on high and you won’t have to cook as long.
- Don’t be afraid to check on your beans to see when they are done. I live at a higher altitude, so beans take longer to cook. You may not need the full cook time. So if this is your first time cooking beans in the slow cooker, pay attention to how long they take for future reference.
- Different beans will take different times to cook. Keep that in mind if you swap out the kind of beans you use for this recipe.
More Crock Pot Recipes
Crock Pot Chili
Slow Cooker Cuban Ropa Vieja
Crock Pot Corn Chowder
Slow Cooker Turkey Meatloaf
Asian Slow Cooker Pork Roast
Tools for Making this Crock Pot Beans and Sausage
This Slow Cooker is similar to the one I have. I love that it has a medium heat setting – not just low and high.
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Crock Pot Beans and Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 lb dry navy beans rinsed and picked over
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1/3 cup tomato paste
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- 3 tablespoon honey mustard
- 2 tablespoons barbecue seasoning blend
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small onion halved
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 lb chicken sausages
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Pickled peppers sliced green onions, and/or sour cream, for serving
Instructions
- Place the beans in a large bowl and cover with water. Let the beans soak overnight.
- In the bottom of your slow cooker, whisk together the chicken broth, tomato paste, brown sugar, molasses, mustard, barbecue seasoning, and garlic.
- Drain the beans, then add them to the slow cooker.
- Push 2 cloves into each of the onion halves and tuck the onions into the beans.
- Set the slow cooker to high and cook until the beans are tender, about 6 hours.
- When there are about 2 hours left, add the sausages to the slow cooker.
- When the beans are soft, remove the sausages and cut them into 1-inch pieces and return them to the slow cooker.
- Remove the onion halves and discard.
- Add the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine. Let the mixture sit in the slow cooker, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- To serve, garnish with pickled peppers, sliced green onions and sour cream.
Lorna says
Just made these and they’re fantastic!! I left out tomato paste and vinegar because of sensitivities and they’re definitely my new favorite
Heather of Kitchen Concoctions says
haha! I feel the same way about hoarders! In fact watching that show is great inspiration to get up and clean if I am having a lazy day!
Oh and that is my biggest pet peeve when recipes don’t list water in the ingredient lists. I like everything clearly listed out at the beginning so mistakes don’t happen!
Joanne says
Umm yeah…if you walked into my bedroom right now you would think HOARDER CENTRAL…but it’s only because of my food blogger cookbook obsession. I swear.
This recipe sounds SO GOOD. If there’s one thing I always have around it’s dried beans…would love to try this!
newlywed says
I’ve tried this recipe before — it’s also in the Food Network Magazine cookbook. Have you seen it? I found that it come out better when I soak the beans overnight. Did you find that necessary?
I saw you in my November issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray! Congrats! So exciting!
Stephanie says
these pictures are amazing! this looks so good! i am def adding it to my “to cook” list! new follower 🙂
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Rachel @ Not Rachael Ray says
Looks delicious! I love the photo of the beans!
kelley says
Hoarders freaks me out too. It’s so bad yet I can’t stop watching it……..
And I can I tell you how much I love my crockpot? I use it so much this time of year and I’m always looking for new recipes, I make the same things over and over! Thanks for another great, great recipe!!
Bev Weidner says
That show makes my eyes hurt.
And then it makes me feel REALLY good about my life.
And now I need 3 bowls of this to occur in my mouth.
Rosa says
Comforting and tasty! Perfect when it’s raining outside.
Cheers,
Rosa