I am looking to make a batch of chilli in the crock pot, (never tried this before) and I am wondering if I need to do anything special with the beans?
the plan was to use dried beans, probably a mix
add the meat and other veggies.
but I know dried beans can be a pain in the arse to work with,
will 8 hours in the crock pot be enough to get them eddible or will I need to do that boil and soak over night trick?
It depends on what kind of beans you are going to put in it. Navy beans would almost certainly need to be soaked overnight; black beans, not so much. Kidney beans I’m not sure about because I don’t like them and don’t use them.
Personally I’d just use canned beans and put them in about an hour before the rest of the stuff is going to be ready.
As it happens, I have White Chili in the crockpot at home this very minute! I used white beans, which I soaked overnight last night. I soak all my beans except for lentils.
That said, I don’t think dried beans are essential to chili, which I frequently make in the crock pot. I usually make mine with canned red beans. Kidney beans are gross! Try red beans instead. You can throw everything in the crockpot in the morning and cook it on low all day, which blends the flavors nicely. Don’t use ‘high’; you’ll get a scorched taste.
Just for fun, here’s my vegetarian crockpot chili recipe. I won third place for it in a chili cook-off at work! 
** Ellen’s Third Place Chili**
1 lb. Morningstar Farms meatless crumbles, thawed and crumbled
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 can corn, undrained
1 can red beans
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. chili power
1 tsp. cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil.
Dump all other ingredients into large pot or crock pot. Add onion and garlic.
If it seems thick, add another can of crushed tomatoes.
Simmer a couple hours.
I prefer Black Beans in Chili myself, though the Red Kidney is the most often used. Red Kidney’s if dried will need a soaking. Black Beans you can probably add, though they do benefit from a soaking too. If you go with canned, drop them in an hour before the whole mess is ready for eating.
Ellen’s Third Place Chili-Next time try waiting until about 15 minutes before serving to add the crumble. I bet you’ll win second place. 
(I don’t like the texture or taste of veggie crumble that’s been simmered too long - it gets fibrous and bloated.)
As for the OP, soak the night before or use canned. If you soak overnight, you generally don’t have to bring the beans to a boil first, though.
Thanks for the tip! You’re right about that; it never dawned on me that the long cooking was making it tough. But you know: the day of the contest, I assembled it all in the crockpot in my office about a coupla hours before, so it was just heated through.
The winning recipes were stuffed full of meat. Carnivores! :rolleyes:
The fresher the dried bean, the shorter the amount of pre-soaking needed. I always soak overnight in any case. But as mentioned, canned beans are fine if you are one of those people*.
*The kind that put beans in chili.
Of course they won! Meat tastes better than veggies! 
To the OP. If you add something like Black Beans in a dry state, be sure to add additional liquid (flavor enhanced please, like a broth) to compensate for the water the beans will soak up. You don’t want to come home to a hot brick of chili.
thanks for the tips guys, I was going to go for a blend of black, red, and kidney beans. still a toss up on beef or chicken or pork…maybe I will try all three.
I’m a bean fanatic. I have all the following in bulk storage: Pinto, Black (turtle), large and small navy, red, pink, Aztech runner, Fava, Lima, Garbanzo, Black-eyed and probably a couple more I can’t think of at the moment. Everything but soy, which I detest for some reason.
I cook them all in the crockpot, without soaking, for the entire day on low and they are always done perfectly.
In making chili, I usually wait until the beans are done before adding other ingredients. The addition of tomatoes seems to cause them to take longer to cook.
Here is the recipe that Ma Unser used to make at the Indy 500 every year.
Works great in a crock pot
(yes you have to be a carnoviore for this one.)
Is a crock pot a slow cooker? Kidney beans must be boiled, cooking them without boiling can make them more toxic than they are raw.
That makes them look bloody dangerous, just make sure you boil them 'K.
Hey,
Just a question. I’ve always bought canned beans and cooked them the whole time along with everything else. Why put them in later? I don’t think they turn out soggy or anything.
I usually do 3 bean chili- pinto, black and kidney beans.
If you cook raw beans with certain other ingredients, they can be very tough. My usual trick is to cook the beans by themselves, then add the rest of the ingredients. Add ing canned beans can, IMO, be done at any time. Cooking time doesn’t seem to affect texture to any discernable degree.
Critical1, for a real authentic pot of chili, I recommend you try leaving out one l. It intensifies the flavor.
For a variety of reasons, I would recommend that you first bring the beans to a boil on the stove, then let them sit in the hot water for an hour. This is sort of the equivalent of letting them sit overnight and has the added benefit of partially cooking them so you don’t end up with an unpleasant end result.