I'm choosing not to post stars as to throw off the rating, but frankly, I was disappointed. Not in the sauce, which tasted wonderful, but in the fact the beans never finished cooking! I think the bottom line is to follow the advice of a previous reviewer & soak + boil before slow cooking. The allrecipes site has an advice section, which addresses the issue, I've pasted it below. Time your Seasoning For the most part, you can go ahead and add spices, seasonings and aromatics to your pot o' beans when you start cooking them, but there are a few things that you should never add until the end: salt, and anything acidic, like tomato products, lemon juice, wine and vinegar. Salt will toughen the skins of the beans, and acids can keep beans from ever getting soft. Once your beans are tender, you may add these ingredients to your heart's content. I'm coming back to let you know I've tried this recipe again, but soaked the dry beans overnight, simmering in the morning till soft. Worked beautifully! I will use this recipe's ratios in the future, but those beans are being cooked first!

Re: Beans that are still hard after 18 hours This has happened to me in the past. I couldn't figure out why, until I heard a radio cooking show explain it. The ACID in the tomatoes prevents the beans from cooking thoroughly. The radio cook suggested not adding acid ingredients until after the beans are cooked. I always follow that advice now.

NO SOAKING, NO BOILING. I just rinsed the beans and cooked them on High in the Crock-Pot with 8 cups of water for 6 hours. Then I added all the other ingredients and they were hassle-free and perfect! I did not add the 1 1/2 cups of Water; used only 1/2 cup Brown Sugar; no mustard; no bacon (didn't have). These were the best baked beans I have ever tasted, will make them often!

This is a very good recipe. I soaked the beans overnight-10 hours and boiled them for an hour so they were soft enough.DO NOT SKIP THE BOILING X 1 HR or you will be cooking them forever and wondering why they don't get soft. Also do not add salt until cooked it also prevents the beans from getting soft. They were not dry and the ratio of tomato to molasses was perfect. I gave 4 stars instead of five because they are a lttle too sweet because of the ketchup. So next time I pureed a can of tomatoes instead and used half the brown sugar recommended. They were still sweet but much less so. In addition you can cook them for about 5 hours on high if you are in a hurry.

This was the first time I made baked beans, but this recipe is the best! No need to try any other recipes. Nice sweet molasses flavour! I soaked the beans overnight and cooked the recipe in my slow cooker for 9 1/2 hrs (It wasn't quite ready at 8 hrs).

After reading the reviews, I altered the recipe a bit and they turned out just fine. I actually did the "quick soak" method on my beans...boiled them for a few minutes, and then left them sitting in the covered pot for an hour before draining them and putting them in the crock pot with the bacon, onion and seasonings. I coked them on "high" for 4 hours, until they were moderately tender, then added the ketchup and cooked on low for another six hours. I also cut the brown sugar in half, since others mentioned it was too sweet. Next time I wouldn't though...because I kind of like mine a little sweet. Overall, good recipe, but it did seem like something was missing..and I just couldn't place it.

This is a great one. In the past three months I have used this recipes three times. I was a homerun each time. Whats great is their is a small amount of prep work the night before(its worth it). Finally put it all together the next morning! Thanks For the Recipe!!!

My Mom found these too sweet so instead of 1.5 c ketchup I used 3/4 c tomato puree and 3/4 c ketchup. Not so sweet. I agree with the previous review they are perfect otherwise

I made sure the beans were basically cooked before I added any other ingredients. I rinsed then quick-soaked them (add beans to hot water and boil for 2 minutes, then leave in hot water with cover on for 1 hour). After the quick soak, I put them in my pressure cooker for 3 minutes on high pressure with natural pressure release. I added a few tablespoons of oil to the water in the pressure cooker to keep the skins from getting tough (a tip from my pressure cooker cookbook). They were very tender before I added the other ingredients. Cooked on low for 7 hours. Yum!

I soaked my beans overnight and then boiled them 1 hr before placing in the crock pot and after about 6 hours the beans were definitely done. I liked these ok but I don't think I'll make them again my fanily doesn't seem to be a fan of baked beans. Thanks for the recipe