1 bag dry navy beans(or great northern beans)
2 bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce(around 18oz each)
1 small onion, chopped small
3 cups of the bean water, reserved
1/4 cup sugar
optional: half pound bacon
Place the beans in a large tupperware container(or even in your slow cooker). Cover with at least 6 cups of water and soak for at least 8 hours in the fridge. This step is so important; if you don’t soak them long enough, they won’t get as soft as they should once they are done cooking.
After the soaking period, chop the onion into small cubes and place on the bottom of the slow cooker sleeve.
Drain the beans but keep 3 cups of the bean water. Place the beans in the slow cooker sleeve.
Pour the two bottles of BBQ sauce on top of the beans and then slowly pour the reserved water on top of everything else.
Turn on high and cook for 12 hours, stirring halfway through.
At the end, throw in the sugar and stir.
Optional: you can also cut up half a pound of bacon(pork or turkey) and add it to the mixture. If you do this, I suggest microwaving it in between two paper towels for 30 seconds, then chopping it up. Putting it in raw will create too much grease in the bean mixture once it’s cooked.
It’s that easy! Now keep in mind, these won’t taste like those canned mushy beans. If you’ve ever been camping or REALLY camped in the woods, and have made baked beans in a dutch oven over a fire, then you’ll remember these. If you haven’t, you’re in for a wonderful surprise. These are firmer than the canned beans and have an amazing taste just like they were made over a wood fire.
I recommend that you soak the beans the day before you are going to serve them and put them in the crockpot the night before the party, right before you get ready for bed. Since they take such a long time, you can have them cook while you sleep, stir them as soon as you get up, and then turn them off a few hours later. OR, you can just do the whole process a few days before the shindig, and reheat them in the crockpot the day of. It’s up to you.