SLOW COOKER PINTO BEAN BONANZA

Slow Cooker Pinto Bean Bonanza image

I was fed up with searching for tasty slow cooker pinto recipes, so I mixed and matched and came up with my own. This recipe is fresh from bachelorhood, yet so good. Imagine the warm goodness of semi-spicy pintos oozing over steaming brown rice and cheese. It's the perfect combo of flavor and value. Enjoy, and let me know how it can be improved!

Provided by Danger-Men-Cooking

Categories Meat and Poultry Recipes Pork

Time 10h5m

Yield 6

Number Of Ingredients 16

Ingredients

2 slices bacon
8 cups water
2 cups dry pinto beans
½ pound kielbasa sausage, cut into bite-size pieces
1 (15 ounce) can ranch-style beans
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
½ cup dried minced onion
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno peppers
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons ground paprika
1 green bell pepper, chopped
½ cup chopped green onion

Steps:

Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat; crumble bacon when cool.
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan, and stir in pinto beans. Simmer over medium-low heat until the beans soften, about 30 minutes; pour beans and water into a slow cooker. Stir in the bacon and bacon drippings, kielbasa, ranch-style beans, tomato paste, dried onion, apple cider vinegar, pickled jalapeno, sugar, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. Set the cooker to Low, and cook until pinto beans are very tender, 9 to 10 hours.
About 5 minutes before serving, stir in chopped green pepper. Serve topped with chopped green onion.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 514.4 calories, Carbohydrate 68.5 g, Cholesterol 31.3 mg, Fat 15.6 g, Fiber 16.3 g, Protein 25.6 g, SaturatedFat 5.1 g, Sodium 2187.9 mg, Sugar 13.3 g