Slow Cooker Vegetarian Boston Baked Beans

By Jaclyn

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried small white beans or navy beans
• Water for soaking beans
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium green pepper, diced
• 1 cup vegetable broth or water
• 1/2 cup molasses (I use Grandma's original)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bay leaf

Preparation

Step 1

1. Rinse the beans and sort through them, discarding any beans that look "off" or any foreign objects. Place in Crock Pot and cover with 3-4 inches of water. Cover and let soak overnight or for at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse well. Set soaked beans aside.

2. Add onion, pepper, broth, molasses, brown sugar, olive oil, dry mustard, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to Crock Pot. Mix until combined. Stir in beans. Add bay leaf.

3. Cook on high for 8-10 hours or on low for 12-14 hours. Note: Slow Cookers can vary, so the first time you make this, you may want check on it periodically and see if you need more broth or water after the first few hours. But don't worry, your beans shouldn't turn to mush! The molasses helps to prevent that.

4. Leftover beans keep up to three days refrigerated in an airtight container. They also freeze well.