Kidney beans in slow cooker - help!

money_saving_diva

Hi, I had a slow cooker for Xmas so tried cooking the chilli con carne in the recipe book that came with it overnight, last night for us to freeze & use as needed. The followed the recipe - browned the ingridents etc before hand. It said to add the kidney beans an hour before serving. I was up at 4am feeding my baby dd so I went down, rinsed a can of beans and stirred them in. They had longer than it suggests but I like my beans soft. But when I put it into dishes the beans feel quite hard.

My dh has pointed out a bit in the instruction book that says uncooked red beans must be soaked & boiled for atleast 10 mins to release toxins before using in a slow cooker.

When I read that I didn't think that included tinned beans but now I'm worried. Have I ruined the whole dish?? I'm going to feed it to my ds and don't want to if it contains toxins!??

Advice PLEASE!

Sambucus_Nigra

If it was a tin of beans then they will have been soaked and cooked. If they were raw [ie dried] then they needed an overnight soak and to be coiled until soft before using.

jcr16

i always use tinned kidney beans and i put them in at the start.

i brown the mince and onions, then add them to the tomatos, kidney beans and seasoning and sugar to slow cook. then cook for however long 6 or 7 hours. always turned out devine.

LandyAndy

Tinned beans will be fine. Think of it as added texture;). Tell anyone who doesn't like them to leave them.:)

Fruball

Tinned beans are already boiled and cooked well so no risk of toxins - perhaps just an odd batch of hard beans.

I always put mine in at the beginning too as they absorb the flavour, and I like them soft too.

I also add chick peas and a few lentils

This year I will be cooking my own beans as its cheaper than canned so will soak for 12 hours, boil hard for 15 mins then simmer til well cooked.

Sublime_2

I always put tinned beans in at the beginning. Always workks fine for me this way.

For dried beans, I always soak them overnight, and boil rapidly for about 20 mins before adding to my slow cooker.

money_saving_diva

Thank you all for your help. We ate some of it tonight & it was nice but it was a bit of a boring/plain recipe. I'm going to put the beans in at the beginning next time because I think it will taste better & it was a faff to add them near the end.

I have some ideas how I'm going to improve the next batch I cook but any delicious tried and tested slow cooker recipes for chilli con carne would be very appriciated!

Sublime_2

Chillis one of my slow cooker staples. :j

Gettingtherequickly

I plan to cook a chilli for friends in my slow cooker, however, as I plan to switch it on before I go to work, by the time I get home, it will have been on for over 10 hours and it would still be a couple of hours before dinner. I know that I could cook it when I get home, but want to be able to entertain rather than be stuck in the kitchen. Will it be ok to leave it for that length of time, or would I be better to switch on going to bed and switch off when I get up and then nuke it when they arrive (nuking avoided if possible!)

Sublime_2

It depends on your slow cooker. My big 6.5 litre cookworks one does cook things quite quickly, so I would make sure I put it on just the low setting, and added enough liquid.