Enjoy a savoury and delicious meal with this slow cooker black beans and rice recipe. Create a hearty, flavourful dish with minimal effort - the slow cooker does the hard work for you! Enjoy a healthy, easy-to-prepare meal that your family will love.
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from We Made This Vegan.
This post contains affiliate links and I may receive a small commission if you visit a link and buy something. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn't cost you any extra, and I only recommend products and services I trust. I may have been sent products featured here as a gift or paid to include them in coverage. Thank you for supporting this blog.
Jump to:
With the winter fast approaching, there's nothing better than finishing off a busy day at work with a warm slow cooker meal. This slow cooker black beans and rice recipe is packed with flavour, and it's a hearty dish that's ideal for the colder months. In the morning, you can just throw all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and leave it to do its work. After a long day, you'll have dinner ready to serve for your whole family, who will all be begging for seconds of this slow cooker Mexican black beans and rice dish.
This recipe is really popular in autumn / winter time when we need something warm and filling and full of goodness. It is really versatile - I like to serve it wrapped in wholewheat tortilla wraps as a burrito filling or you could use it as a side dish alongside something like my Quinoa Chilli, in tacos or as a light bite served with tortilla crisps.
What are the Advantages of Using a Slow Cooker?
We all lead busy lives, and so there's nothing better than coming home to a delicious dinner ready to serve to your family. In the morning, you can put all of the ingredients for this vegan slow cooker black beans and rice dish into your device on the low heat setting. In just six to eight hours, you'll have dinner ready to serve without you having to lift a finger.
One of the reasons we love using the crock pot / slow cooker is that you can create a large portion of vegetarian slow cooker black beans and rice without using dozens of pots and pans. This will save you plenty of time and effort on the washing up, which is something we will all appreciate. On top of that, slow cookers are cheaper than you might imagine, and a slow cooker would be the ideal present for your family and friends this winter. We have a multi cooker which is an instant pot / pressure cooker and slow cooker in one.
What Ingredients Do You Need for this Black Beans and Rice Recipe?
This recipe uses very simple ingredients, many of which you likely have in your kitchen cupboards already. All of the ingredients are healthy, with the tomatoes, red pepper, and sweetcorn all offering you an extra dose of vitamins and minerals. We use brown rice in this recipe, which is a great option as it is higher in dietary fibre than white rice. It will keep you and your family feeling full for longer after enjoying this crockpot black beans and rice dish.
While this is a great dish for the whole family, the only thing you might want to be considerate of the amount of sea salt, cumin, and taco seasoning you add if you are feeding it to young children. This recipe is packed with flavour, but you can adjust the seasonings to create the perfect taste for your family. Within just a few short hours, you'll have a delicious slow cooker meal ready to serve to your family. Make sure all of the liquid is absorbed and your rice is fully cooked before serving it as eating uncooked rice can give you a stomach ache. If you enjoyed this slow cooker black beans and rice recipe, make sure you check out our full selection of slow cooker recipes. They'll help to keep you warm and cosy this winter and save you endless hours of cooking in the kitchen.
Ingredients
- tinned chopped tomatoes
- onion (chopped)
- taco seasoning
- cumin
- sea salt
- tinned black beans
- tinned taco beans in sauce
- red bell pepper
- brown rice
- tinned sweetcorn
- vegetable stock / vegetable broth
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Instructions
This recipe is really very simple. Add everything to the slow cooker, stir and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked through. Keep an eye on this as it comes towards the end of the cooking time to make sure that it doesn't run out of liquid before the rice is cooked. If the liquid is looking low and the rice isn't cooked you can add cups of water and mix them in.
Hint: Make sure to leave room in the slow cooker as the rice will expand once it is cooked.
Top tip: Make sure that you stir the ingredients well in the slow cooker to ensure that the spices are evenly distributed. Also ensure that you have left room in the slow cooker for the rice to expand as it cooks.
Variations and Substitutions
This recipe is naturally egg free, dairy free, soya free, nut free and gluten free so it is suitable for a wide range of dietary requirements. It is very forgiving, you could swap out the ingredients to make a different variation - why don't you try different beans or adding chopped courgettes instead of peppers. If you only have red onion that is a fine substitute for white onion and green pepper or orange pepper is an acceptable substitute for red pepper.
You can add chili powder or chilli flakes if you would like some extra spice.
You can of course use dried beans instead of canned beans, but make sure that you soak them first. You can also use pinto beans, kidney beans or red beans instead of cuban black beans. Once soaked you can use the soaked beans as you would tinned.
While this dish would make a complete meal by itself, you could also serve it with bread. We also love adding various toppings to the dish, such as jalapeno peppers, guacamole or salsa. One of the best things about this dish is that it is great for sharing - pop a big bowl of this in the middle of the table with some small bowls of guacamole, salsa, vegan sour cream, refried beans and some tortilla chips as well as some hot sauce and you have a great meal to share with friends.
📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Black Beans and Rice
- Total Time: 4 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This slow cooker black beans and rice recipe is packed with flavour, and it's a hearty dish that's ideal for the colder months.
Ingredients
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 onion (chopped)
3 Tbsp taco seasoning
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tin black beans
1 tin taco beans in sauce
1 red pepper
450g brown rice
195g tin of sweetcorn
600ml vegetable stock
Instructions
Add everything to the slow cooker, stir and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked through.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Mains
- Method: slow cooker
- Cuisine: Mexican
Equipment
The main equipment you will need is a slow cooker. I think that a slow cooker is a great investment and you can pick them up relatively cheaply. They are perfect for large families, working people and batch cooking and they really make the cooking process so easy.
FAQs
How to store leftovers?
You have to be careful about storing and re-heating rice because of the risk of bacteria. Ideally you will eat it as soon as it is cooked but if you can't do that then cool the rice as quickly as possible and you can then store it in the fridge for 1 day. Make sure that the rice is steaming hot all the way through when you re-heat it and you can only re-heat rice once. You can find out more information on reheating rice on the NHS website.
How to serve this dish
You can enjoy this main dish exactly how it is or have some tortilla chips and sour cream on the side. You can also use it to fill a burrito or use it to make black bean tacos or my favorite way to serve it is in burrito bowls. You can add some extra cooked beans on the side if you want an extra protein punch.
Can I make this without a slow cooker?
Yes you can, although I haven't tested that yet. I will update this post next time that I do. You can use an ovenproof casserole dish with a lid and cook this in the oven, I would guess an hour at 200 degrees celsius, but I haven't tested the timings. You might need to adjust how much water (stock that you use).
If you try this slow cooker black beans and rice recipe let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don't forget to tag a photo #wemadethisvegan on Instagram. You can also share this recipe on social media or Pin it for later.
Shop this post
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → Watch the web story of this post
Comments
No Comments