Gluten Free Slow Cooker Baked Beans

What surprises people is that these beans still taste rich and smoky even without any meat in the pot. Smoked paprika and cumin do a lot of the heavy lifting, working alongside the classic combination of ketchup, molasses, and brown sugar to build that deep, slow cooked flavor.

The result is a pot of beans that tastes like it simmered all day, because it did, you just didn't have to babysit it. Serve them at your next barbecue, potluck, or weeknight dinner alongside a pan of cornbread or some grilled chicken.

If you are looking for more gluten free bean recipes try my Gluten Free Cowboy Baked Beans, my Gluten Free Baked Beans with Ground Beef, my Gluten Free Cheesy Pinto Beans or my Zesty Three Bean Salad with Tuna.

You can find all of my crockpot recipes here: Gluten Free Slow Cooker Recipes

Ingredients

• Canned Pinto Beans
• Canned Kidney Beans
• Canned Great Northern Beans
• Yellow Onion
• Minced Garlic
• Ketchup
• Molasses
• Brown Sugar
• Gluten Free Worcestershire Sauce
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Yellow Mustard
• Salt
• Smoked Paprika
• Ground Cumin
• Black Pepper

Instructions

Drain and rinse the pinto beans, kidney beans, and great northern beans. Add them to your slow cooker.

Add the diced yellow onion, minced garlic, ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, gluten free Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, yellow mustard, salt, smoked paprika, cumin, and black pepper.

Stir everything together until well combined and the sauce evenly coats the beans.

Cover and cook on high for 2 to 3 hours or on low for 4 to 5 hours, stirring once about halfway through. The sauce will be thickened slightly and the flavors have come together when the beans are done.

Give the beans one more stir before serving.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why Three Types of Beans

I use a combination of pinto beans, kidney beans, and great northern beans in this recipe, and each one is doing something a little different.

• Pinto beans break down slightly as they cook, which helps thicken the sauce and gives the whole pot a creamier texture.
• Kidney beans hold their shape well, so you get some bite in every spoonful instead of everything turning to mush.
• Great northern beans are milder and softer, and they help balance out the earthiness of the pinto and kidney beans.
• If you only have one or two of these on hand, the recipe will still work, but this combination is what gives you the best texture.

A True Dump and Go Recipe

This recipe skips two steps that show up in almost every other baked beans recipe: soaking dried beans overnight and cooking bacon on the stovetop first. Here, you're working entirely with canned beans, so there's no planning ahead required and no extra pan to clean.

You drain and rinse your beans, add everything to the slow cooker, give it a stir and put the lid on. That's it. It's the kind of recipe you can put together in the five minutes before you walk out the door, and the slow cooker handles the rest.

Make Sure Your Ingredients Are Gluten Free

Two ingredients in this recipe are worth double checking before you shop: ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Most ketchup is naturally free of gluten containing ingredients, but it's always worth a quick label check since formulas can vary by brand.

Worcestershire sauce is the bigger one to watch. Traditional Worcestershire sauce is often made with barley malt vinegar, which contains gluten, so look for a bottle labeled gluten free to keep this recipe safe.

Once you have both of those covered, everything else in the ingredient list is naturally gluten free without any substitutions needed.

How to Tell When Your Beans Are Done

Rather than watching the clock, look for two signs that your beans are ready. The sauce should have thickened slightly and be clinging to the beans instead of pooling at the bottom of the slow cooker, and the beans themselves should be tender all the way through when you bite into one.

If the cook time is almost done and the sauce still looks thin, give it another 30 minutes to an hour. Every slow cooker runs a little differently, so use these cues instead of the clock alone to know when your beans are truly done.

Add Meat If You'd Like

This recipe is written to be meatless, but it's easy to add meat if that's what you're craving.

• Cooked, crumbled bacon is the most popular addition, and it stirs in beautifully during the last hour of cooking so it doesn't turn soft and lose its texture.
• Browned ground beef or sliced kielbasa both work well too, and either can be stirred in at the same point.
• Since the beans already get plenty of smoky flavor from the smoked paprika and cumin, you don't need much meat to round things out, a little goes a long way here.

Ingredient Swaps and Substitutions

This recipe is flexible if you need to work with what you have on hand.

• Navy beans or black beans can be swapped in for any of the three beans listed if that's what's in your pantry.
• If you prefer a less sweet pot of beans, start with less brown sugar and add more to taste, since it's easier to add sweetness than to take it away.
• Yellow mustard can be swapped for dijon mustard for a slightly sharper flavor.
• If you can't find gluten free Worcestershire sauce locally, most grocery stores carry it online even if it's not on the shelf.