Three different kinds of beans simmer in the crockpot with plenty of seasonings and hot sauce to make one of the easiest side dishes you can put on the table. These Spicy Baked Beans come together with barely five minutes of effort.

The first time I made these beans, my family devoured them in one meal. Serve them with Beer and Garlic Chicken and Memphis Coleslaw for an easy and tasty weeknight dinner.

Mexican Baked Beans

The inspiration for these Mexican baked beans hit me one day when I wanted to make baked beans, but I didn’t have any bacon in the house and the ground beef was frozen.

My family is full of self-proclaimed meat-loving carnivores and it’s hard enough to get a meatless meal past them, let alone a new variation on a much-loved meat-filled baked beans recipe.

I decided to bump up the flavors in the beans and see if the added spices could compensate for the “missing” meat. Sure enough, with some added Mexican spices and a generous pour of hot sauce, my guys devoured these beans.

If you happen to have bacon on hand, I’m always in favor of adding it to the recipe. But these accidentally-vegetarian beans stand on their own as a terrific side dish for any meal.

Spicy Baked Beans Recipe

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this recipe:

• light red kidney beans
• great northern bea

Creamy slow cooker ham potato soup with soft chunks of buttery potatoes and salty-sweet ham is perfect with a salad or just some crusty bread.

Ham and Potato Chowder

The first time I made this soup, I was staring into the refrigerator over Thanksgiving weekend and I really didn’t feel like warming up another plate of leftovers. (This is what tends to happen when you accidentally wind up with triple the amount of ham and potatoes your family could possibly eat!)

I saw the container -okay, technically, it was pretty much a vat- of potatoes and a big package of ham. So, I decided to see if I could improvise with what we had and come up with a new Baked Potato Soup recipe.

Potato Soup with Ham

The improvised soup turned out fabulously and there was hardly a bite left over.

We loved that soup so much, I wanted to make it again, but I don’t typically have a mountain of mashed potatoes just waiting around to be used on a regular basis.

If you DO happen to have a whole lot of mashed potatoes in the fridge already, just skip the diced potatoes in the recipe below and add the mashed potatoes in after the other vegetables have softened.

Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup

Simple ingredients come together in this belly-warming creamy potato chowder. The classic trio of celery, carrots, and onions work with the potatoes as a perfect base for the salty chunks of ham.

Once you have all the vegetables and ham in the slow cooker, season with salt and pepper and pour in the chicken broth. Set on low and cook for 6 hours. (If you’re in a hurry, this will finish in about 4 hours wh

Slow Cooker Baked Beans are chock-full of bacon and beef, sweetened with molasses and then simmered until thick and sweet.

If you’ve been reading this blog for long at all, you might notice that I very rarely name anything “the best.”

Best Baked Beans Ever

There are many foods that we love and that we make over and over, but for something to be labeled the best baked beans ever, I feel like it needs to be a “wow” food.

You might be thinking that these are just crockpot baked beans, how amazing can they be, right? Well, they are pretty darn amazing as it turns out.

Three different beans with ground beef and bacon are simmered and slowly cooked until thick and sweet. The flavors and textures in this recipe for baked beans are just perfect.

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

Our friend, Tony, brought these beans to a barbecue at our house two years ago and they blew me away.

These beans are so tasty, so full of meat, so sweet and hearty, I  might have “accidentally” tucked a container of Tony’s leftovers deep into my fridge and then forgotten to give them to him at the end of the night.

Later, I asked him if he’d please send me the recipe. And lucky for all of us, he was happy to share it. I’m a believer in baked beans with meat now and I’m confident that you will be as well, just as soon as you taste them.

Baked Beans with Ground Beef

There’s something extra special about a simmering pot of baked beans when there is plenty of meat in the mix. Hearty enough to be a meal on their own, these baked beans with meat make for a spectacularly memorable side dish at any barbecue.

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this recipe:

• ground beef
• bacon
• bacon drippings
• kidney beans
• white beans
• Pork & Beans
• onion
• light brown sugar
• ketchup
• molasses
• yellow mustard

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Slow cooker corned beef brisket is so good, you’ll be making it far more often than once a year.

Is there anything better than coming home to the smell of a meal that’s simmering in the crock-pot? Making corned beef in the slow cooker is so easy it practically makes itself.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef Brisket

Perfectly moist, sliceable or shreddable, slow cooker corned beef brisket is possible with just a few minutes of effort. All you have to do is place the corned beef in the crockpot, sprinkle it with seasonings and add a bit of water.

Then, just turn on the crockpot and wait. Cooking at low temperature for 8 hours yields the most tender, pull-apart forkfuls of corned beef you could hope for.

It’s great in this recipe, and you’ll find a use for the leftovers in many others.

Not sure how to cook corned beef in the slow cooker? There’s no reason to be intimidated. Cooking corned beef brisket doesn’t get any simpler than this crock-pot method!

The tender texture and meaty flavor of corned beef was always a treat for us as kids and it still feels like a special meal to me.

We like to eat our corned beef with Colcannon or roasted potatoes. If you’re lucky enough to have leftover corned beef, you’ll want to set some aside for a classic Reuben sandwich. <

With a rich ham flavor and a balanced combination of potatoes, leeks, and split peas, this slow cooker split pea soup is a very pleasant surprise.

Ham and Split Pea Soup with Potatoes

My husband loves split pea soup. I tried making it for him several times when we were newly married and every time prior to this, I was unimpressed. Even as a child, split pea soup was my least favorite soup.

Finally, as an adult, I’ve found a split pea soup I don’t just like or tolerate but really truly love. This slow cooker split pea soup is made with leeks, ham, and potatoes and it just might be the best split pea soup you’ll ever taste.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

When I stumbled on this rainy day split pea soup several years ago, I decided to give split pea soup another chance.

Lucky for us, I had a ham bone in the freezer already (leftover from Christmas dinner) so I made this split pea soup with that ham bone in the crock pot that same day, making this a super easy meal to make with what I had on hand.

I could tell even before I ladled the split pea soup into bowls that this recipe was a winner. The fragrant garlic and simmering split peas filled my kitchen with the most delicious smell as the soup cooked.

Then, I took a bite and discovered just how delicious split pea soup with ham and potatoes can be. Chunks of tender baby red potatoes, onions, and leeks swim in creamy split peas that are cooked in a garlicky broth that is richly flavored with ham.

Each and every spoonful of this crockpot split pea soup was more delicious than the last and it’s become one of our favorite soups over the past ten years. A few years ago I never would have guessed that I’d become such a fan of split pea