Slow cooker paprika and pepper baked beans
Homemade baked beans are so easy in the slow cooker, and these have a lovely smoky flavour from the paprika.
Ingredients
- 250g/9oz dried haricot beans
- 2 tbsp olive oil (optional, see tip)
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- leaves from a few sprigs of fresh thyme, or ¼ tsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 chargrilled peppers from a jar (about 175g/6oz)
- 400g/14oz tomato passata
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Soak the beans overnight in plenty of fresh cold water.
The next day, preheat the slow cooker to low. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over low–medium heat, add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes until well softened.
Add the garlic, thyme and paprika and cook for another couple of minutes, then tip into the slow cooker.
Drain the beans and add them to the slow cooker. Drain the peppers and if they are in brine, pat them dry with kitchen paper. Chop them and add them to the slow cooker, along with the passata and 200ml/7fl oz water. (If your passata came in a 400g container, rinse it out with the water and then add to the cooker.)
Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 8–10 hours until tender. Beans vary greatly in how long they take to cook, so test after 8 hours: if still a little hard, give them another 2 hours.
Once tender, season the beans well with salt and pepper and serve.
Recipe Tips
If you are using peppers preserved in oil, use the oil from the jar to fry the onions – instead of the olive oil – for a bump in sweet pepper flavour.
To emphasise the smoky flavour you could add a dash of smoke extract.
Home-cooked beans will always be a little firmer than beans in tins.
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