Thes slow cooker calico beans have cooked ground beef, 3 different types of beans, onions, and cooked bacon! They get cooked on low in a slow cooker for the perfect side dish to bring to any gathering.
Are you still looking for side dishes to take to your Memorial Day get together this weekend? Well you can stop right here because this recipe for Calico Beans is highly requested in my family. You can cook the ground beef and bacon on a skillet and just add all the rest of the ingredients to a slow cooker and keep it warm until you serve it.
For more easy slow cooker recipes be sure to check out Slow Cooker Homemade Applesauce (No Sugar), Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pulled Pork, and Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup!
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
This slow cooker calico bean recipe is always requested for my Mom to make at our family gatherings. People love it!
If you bring this to a potluck you will be the next person to always bring it to your gatherings as well!
Ingredients Needed
- Hamburger or ground beef , cooked (I used 93% lean ground beef)
- Chopped onion - Onion powder is a good substitute for those that do not like the texture of raw onions.
- Bacon - Is a versatile ingredient that can be used in a variety of dishes. It's smoky, salty, and savory.
- Catsup or ketchup - Ketchup is a condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, and spices. I like using a sugar-free ketchup.
- Brown sugar - Is made by combining granulated white sugar with molasses, which gives it a brown color and a slightly different taste than regular white sugar.
- Mustard - Use whatever mustard you have on hand: yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, and whole grain mustard,
- Vinegar - Red wine vinegar is a type of sour vinegar made from red wine. It is created by allowing the wine to ferment until it becomes acidic, then straining and bottling it.
- Canned beans - You will need these three! Pork & beans, Bush's Baked Original Beans, Lima bean (see notes for sub)
- See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to Make Slow Cooker Calico Beans
- Bake 40 minutes at 350. Can use 1 large can of beans in place of kidney and lima beans.
- Slow Cooker method: Cook ground beef in a skillet and drain extra fat. Cook bacon in a skillet. In a bowl add the catsup, brown sugar, mustard, and vinegar. In your slow cooker, add the ground beef, bacon, ketchup mixture, and all the cans of beans.
What else can I serve with these beans?
- Proteins: Make a Smoked Whole Chicken, How to Grill Top Sirloin Steak, Smoked Pulled Pork, or Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs
- Salad:Â A great way to get more fiber and vegetables into your diet is to have a salad with your meal. Try Shrimp and Pea Orzo Salad or a light and refreshing cucumber salad.Â
- Tasty Sides: Â Make my Aunt Carol's Potato Salad or Paula Deen's Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese.
- Vegetables:Â Smoked potatoes or smoked asparagus is a great side dish to have with salmon.Â
Best Crock Pot Tips
One benefit of using a slow cooker is that it saves time and effort. You can add all of your ingredients to the pot, set the temperature, and let the slow cooker do the rest. Go to work and come home to a great meal!
When choosing a slow cooker think of the size of your family first. Do you have a large family of 6 or more? You probably want a larger crockpot that is 7 qt or more. For smaller families that are 4 or less choose a 4 qt slow cooker and just adjust the recipe ingredients in half. No need to change the cooking times.
It can cook simple basic food such as Crock Pot Potato Soup, 2 Ingredient Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken, Slow Cooker Beef Stew, and Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pulled Pork.
Recipe FAQs
Wondering what a calico bean is? From dictionary.com a calico bean is referred to a lima bean mottled with purple; also called [speckled butter bean]. You do not need to use calico beans in this recipe and you can use whatever type of beans you like.
This calico bean recipe comes from a very old cook book written by a bunch of ladies that lived in the Midwest. This particular recipe was written from a lady named Mary Jane Schmidt in Wadena Mn. I like it how ground beef used to be called hamburgers. Do any of you still call ground beef hamburger? Notice the spelling of catsup too. I looked this up on google and this is what it had to say was the difference between the two.Â
Catsup vs. Ketchup are two different spellings of the same condiment, which, today, is a Westernized version of a condiment first introduced to European traders in the late 17th century. The same thing goes for hamburger which is just a different name for ground beef.
Always store leftovers in clean, food-grade containers. The type of container doesn’t really matter. Use zip lock, glass, plastic,  whatever!  Make sure to store any leftovers in an airtight container before putting it in the freezer or fridge.Â
There are very many ways you can make this recipe more Weight Watcher Friendly. Without all the changes one serving of calico beans is 13 points. The can of beans used in this recipe unfortunately aren't zero points but you could sub kidney beans, black beans, etc. Use turkey bacon instead of regular bacon and 98% fat free ground turkey or chicken. 🙂 You can also used reduced sugar ketchup/catsup however you spell it.
Other Recipes To Try
If you tried this Slow Cooker Calico Beans or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you! Follow along on Tiktok @jennarecipediaries
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Slow Cooker Calico Beans
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 6 hrs
- Total Time: 6 hr 20 min
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
Are you still looking for side dishes to take to your Memorial Day get together this weekend? Well you can stop right here because this recipe for Calico Beans is highly requested in my family.
Ingredients
- 2 lb of hamburger or ground beef , cooked (I used 93% lean ground beef)
- ½ cup of chopped onion
- ½ lb of bacon, cook brown, and cut into pieces
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup of catsup or ketchup
- ¼ c brown sugar
- 1 tsp mustard
- 2 tsp vinegar
- 1 15oz can of pork & beans
- 1 15oz can of Bush's Baked Original Beans
- 1 15 oz can of lima bean (see notes for sub)
Instructions
- Bake 40 minutes at 350. Can use 1 large can of beans in place of kidney and lima beans.
- Slow Cooker method: Cook ground beef in a skillet and drain extra fat. Cook bacon in a skillet. In a bowl add the catsup, brown sugar, mustard, and vinegar. In your slow cooker, add the ground beef, bacon, ketchup mixture, and all the cans of beans.
Notes
myWW points: Blue 11; Green 12;Â Purple 11
Â
- Category: Medium
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 402
- Sugar: 10
- Fat: 6
- Saturated Fat: 6
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 33
- Fiber: 7
- Protein: 33
Keywords: slow cooker calico beans
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