This Southern-style Crock Pot Great Northern Beans Recipe combines hearty white beans that are slow cooked to creamy perfection with a ham hock, carrots, celery, and a touch of cayenne. Southern comfort food at its finest!
So simple to put together - like any good slow cooker recipe - and yet so flavorful after all-day cooking! I recommend serving with my Southern Cornbread recipe for a full meal your family will love!
💖 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy: This recipe uses common ingredients and simple techniques. Just put all the ingredients in your slow cooker, turn it on, and the cooking takes place with hardly any oversight.
- Quick to put together: Slice or chop your carrot and celery sticks and assemble all your ingredients and add them to your slow cooker. Dinner will be ready in 4-8 hours, depending on whether you cook on low or high.
- Family friendly: Great Northern beans are a mild, buttery bean that's well liked by most people, including kids. Add in the smoky flavor of ham, and you have lots of flavor without much fuss.
🥘 Ingredients
- 2 pounds dry great northern beans
- water
- ham or pork hock
- salt to taste
- black pepper
- 1 large carrot
- 1 large celery stalk
- cayenne pepper
🔪 How to Make Crock Pot Great Northern BEans
- Add all ingredients to a large slow cooker.
- Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 7-8 hours.
- Remove ham hock to cool a bit. Remove ham bits and add them back to the slow cooker.
- Stir the ingredients, taste, and add salt if needed. Serve hot with corn bread or biscuits.
Easy peasy - and so delicious!
(See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full recipe instructions)
💭 Expert Cooking Tips
- I like to soak the beans in water for 12-24 hours so they will cook more quickly and not be as hard to digest (yes, less gas for you and your family!)
- After soaking, make sure to rinse the beans well before cooking. Some foam may form at the top of the liquid while cooking. It's good to skim that foam off if you have the time, as this is more gas forming on the surface.
- If you don't have a ham or pork hock (which is simply a portion of pork leg bone with some meat on it), you can substitute some cooked ham pieces (about 2 cups worth) to flavor the beans.
- No need to add broth, as the ham hock will do the job broth would do. Simply adding water is sufficient.
- You may not need to add any salt at all. This all depends on how salty your hock is and your preferences. That's why I'll leave it up to you. I didn't need to add any to mine.
🧐 Recipe FAQs
Great Northern beans are a large white bean that's similar in taste to navy beans, but they hold up a bit better than navy beans during cooking. They are definitely not "northern" or anti-southern, however. They have a hearty, creamy flavor and serve up nicely with ham, veggies, and other seasonings. For Great Northern beans, you can easily substitute navy or cannellini beans.
Cornbread, specifically my Southern Cornbread, is an excellent pairing with these Great Northern beans. Adding a hearty salad is also a good choice for a complete meal.
Yes, I would definitely cover with the lid while cooking these beans. Otherwise, all the moisture will escape into the room during cooking, which would ruin your dinner. You want to keep the moisture in so the beans soften and cook properly.
If your beans are still hard after a lengthy cook time, they are likely not very fresh. Beans that are older take longer to soften during cooking. You can add a pinch of baking soda and cook a bit longer if that's the case.
More Bean Recipes to Love:
Ham and Bean Crockpot Soup (using Leftover Ham)
📋 Recipe
Crock Pot Great Northern Beans - Southern Style with Ham
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 pounds great northern beans , dry
- 6 cups water
- 1-½ pounds ham hock
- salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large carrot sliced or chopped
- 1 large celery stalk sliced or chopped
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a large slow cooker.
- Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 7-8 hours.
- Remove ham hock to cool a bit. Remove ham bits and add them back to the slow cooker.
- Stir the ingredients, taste, and add salt if needed. Serve hot with corn bread or biscuits.
Sara Blankenship says
Tried this for dinner. I did a quick soak for the beans the day before and then followed your recipe did mine on low for 12 hrs. I also didn’t have any ham so I fried up a pound of bacon and added that along with some its grease. Delicious base. Thanks for sharing.
Sally says
Awesome - thanks for letting me know, Sara!
Mickey S Jackson says
What do I serve with these white beans besides corn bread?
Sally says
Mickey - A hearty salad would go well with the beans and cornbread.
Melissa says
Do you put the lid on or not? Thanks.
Sally says
Yes, Melissa, you will put the lid on during the cook time. Thank you for your question!
Ted Thomas says
Great recipe but for 2 pounds of beans, even soaked for 12 hours, they were still very hard at 8hrs of cooking time on low. Plan on 7-8 hours on HIGH or 12 hours on low. Also need more like 10 cups of water or broth. (I used half water and half low sodium broth) Dinner is going to be 3-4 hours late, but they look great!
Sally says
Thanks for your feedback, Ted. However, if your beans were still very hard after 8 hours of cooking (even on low), it's highly likely that they were not fresh. This will make them take longer to soften. A longer cook time and a pinch of baking soda can help the older beans to soften. Older beans also might be the reason you needed to add more liquid, as the beans likely didn't absorb much water during the soak time. I'll consider adding this caveat to the recipe notes.
Theresa carney says
This was a great recipe and very easy to follow for us beginners.
Sally says
Great to hear, Theresa!
Patti funkhouser says
Do you have to soaks great northern beans in a cock pot
Sally says
Patti - Soaking dry beans helps them to cook faster as well as getting rid of some of the gas-producing elements in the beans, making them easier to digest. However, you don't have to soak them - they will take a bit longer to cook and may cause more gas discomfort if you don't.
Charlotte Lee McIlnay says
Just add a teaspoon of baking soda and it'll take care of the gas!