This recipe for cholent used to be top secret. My husband made it for Shabbat every week and he never divulged the details, even to me! Then one Friday he wasn’t feeling well and rather than give up his weekly cholent, he let me take over. I was so nervous.
It wasn’t a success the first time, but I’ve practiced and now we’re neck and neck. It was his father’s recipe, passed on to his older brother, then passed on to him. It was supposed to go straight to our son but I got it first! I guess you could say I am now an honorary member of the men’s club.
Note: You can substitute the 3 tablespoons chicken consommé mix + 3 cups water with 3 cups chicken broth.
Family Heirloom Cholent
This cholent recipe used to be my hubby’s secret, but I finally got it out of him and now you too can make the best cholent ever.
Servings
8 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 medium potatoes peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
- 2 medium onions peeled, cut into bite-sized chunks
- 1 2-pound piece of flanken, cut into 4 to 6 pieces
- ½ tablespoon coarse black pepper
- ¾ cup barley
- 1 cup dried light red kidney beans
- 3 tablespoons chicken consommé mix
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 1-pound kishka loaf
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- Line bottom of slow cooker with potatoes and onions.
- Rinse flanken and pat dry. Place pieces around sides of crock pot, with bones on the outside.
- Generously pepper meat.
- Add barley and beans. Shake the pot a bit so some of the barley and beans fall into the spaces between the potatoes and onions.
- Season with consommé mix, paprika, and honey.
- Place kishka on top.
- Pour in water, adding more if necessary, to completely cover all ingredients.
- Cook on low heat overnight, at least 8 hours.
Hi Jamie. This recipe sounds great. I actually never had an issue making a good cholent, but our crock-pot just broke, and we bought a flat bottomed type instead. I find that the cholent, even if left on the highest temp doesn’t get cooked enough to get dark brown and delish. And this week my husband wants to bring guests shabbos day. help! any ideas for me?
YEAH Baby, JD BBQ Sauce sounds SO awesome!!! Thanks for sharing that tweak with us and you can’t imagine how happy I am to know you travel cross country with the recipe. Thanks for taking the time to comment!!
This is my go-to cholent recipe, it’s the first one I ever made and the only one I’ll ever need! My printed-out copy has traveled with me to my in-laws and to my sister-in-laws as well as across the country to visit my parents, since it’s my all-time automatic answer to “what should I make for shabbos lunch?”. Everyone always loves it. I do make one tweak: I add a half-cup of Jack Daniels original barbecue sauce.
Hi I need to
Know asap
If I can make this recipe with chicken instead of meat!
SHARON thank you SO much as I haven’t tried it in the oven so thrilled to have this comment here for Sue and all those that asked. SUE – also scroll up in the comments for my notes about cooking on the stovetop.
Haven’t made it yet! loved the video Thank you.
So happy you loved the video now hope you love the cholent 🙂
my mom made cholant and Kishka all the time. She made it in the oven, and it was put into a blue and white speckle led porcelain oval pot. she cooked it over night, for about 20 to 24 hours. I never asked her for the recipe, and was I sorry about that. I’ve been searching for a good recipe, and I can’t wait to try this one.I know my moms recipe was cooked at low temperature, probably 250 degrees. my mother made her own Kishka and stuffed it in the real chewable casing, that was the best part of eating the Kishka, not like the plastic covering today. Hope this is helpful for some,who questioned if you could make it in the oven.
Your video is lovely….for kashrut reasons, shouldn’t the beans be checked before being thrown into the pot??
thanks for the tip 🙂
LOL and totally!!!!!!!! and YAY!
Hey there ok so: 1. the cholent is done after 8 hours but I do cook it for 18-20 on low. 2. I recommend you use low not high especially for shabbos otherwise it will burn.3. for a 6 qt keep ingredient amounts the same 4. I line the slow cooker with aluminum foil not for safety but rather bc of the halachic implications of cooking on shabbos. You can ask your local orthodox Rabbi for the details on that one. GREAT LUCK!
I used an old 5-qt Hamilton Beach slow cooker I inherited from my brother and sister in law – now in Israel I use 3-quart Israeli brand slow cooker for smaller crowds and an 11 quart for larger crowds.
wow have never heard of this method but sounds amazing!
I already get your newsletter. Just saw the classic cholent recipe video with your hubby. Looks amazing. Major question: I do not have a slow cooker, as it is only me. Can I make cholent stove top or in the oven? If so, how long does it cook stovetop or stay in the oven (and at what temp?). Would really appreciate the help as I’m ready to cook…Thanks Sue
well all I can say is that I never heard of that and have never done it…
Hi (Grandma 🙂 Ellen! Thank you SO much for letting us know you love Hubby’s chulent (I’ll be sure to pass along the compliment). AND I love your veg beans swap – such a good idea! Thanks for sharing that too!
After many years of experimenting with cholent recipes (I’m a grandma!), hubby’s recipe wins the grand prize! It’s great every time I make it. I do tweak it a little sometimes, by substituting half a small can of vegetarian beans for the dried beans and honey, but the things that make this cholent spectacular and the flavor fantastic are the Osem and the A&H. The flanken too! Thanks so much for sharing.
I have always thought that if you used dried red kidney beans then you have to soak them overnight. They contain a toxin which has to be removed.
I am confused my grand mother make schollet in Europe when I been a child that she soaked the beans. Meat been mostly smoked or all internal bits from goose or chicken, and these been cooking for 4 to 6 hour on very low temperature, the final hour over the schollet she pour grated potatoes with very little of flour and few pinch of salt and pepper and these been smeared to cover the entire cooked chollent and baked for the remaining hour. Anybody have these experience? My mother do not keep in tradition but I still remembering some of these dishes that grandma cook for us.
sweet or spicy will both work – depends on your preference.
YAY and LOVE that add in! I will have to try it!
YIPPPPPEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO SO SO happy to read this thanks for taking the time to comment!
Best chulent ever!!! I always played around with different recipes but once i made this one. My kids told me I could stop trying other recipes. Have been making it ever since!!!
I love this recipe. It’s a perfect meal for a cold winter night. I do add tomato paste as I can’t imagine cholent without it. Thank you, Jamie!
What kind of paprika are we supposed to use. I used Hungarian paprika and it is spicy. Is this correct?
We plan to put this over potato kugel.
Jamie which crockpot do You use for the family heirloom cholent?
Thanks.
Hi Jaimie, thanks for this recipe. Been wanting tovmake cholent for a long time and you inspired me 🙂 I have a couple of questions: 1. I put the red kidney beans straight from the bag… only later to find out that kidney beans must be soaked and boiled prior to cooking, especially with slow cooker (due to low temp and not reaching boiling point). If not done, can have severe stomach reaction due to high levels of toxin. I am now thinking if its safe to eat?? Its been cooking on low for 8 hours thus far… I would be happy to get your opinion – is it safe to eat?
By the way, i used chicken instead of meat 🙂
2. My second question is how long should it cook for on low? My Pilot slow cooker has low, high, warm settings.
Thanks so much! Will let you know how it turns out (this batch if safe, next one if not :))
Hi Lihi! so sorry just getting to this comment now. re #1: all I can say is I have never soaked my beans but I do cook the cholent about 20 hours re #2: the cholent is done after about 8 hours on low but like I said I do cook it for about 20.
Hi Avraham, yes in theory but you have to use a smaller crockpot and/or don’t make it in too large of a crockpot otherwise your ingredients can burn. So, don’t fret too much just keep an eye on it as it’s cooking. Great luck and enJOY!
Hi Aviva – I live in Israel too! 🙂 It’s Osem and available in ALL supermarkets – looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Osem-Consomme-Seasoning-14-1-Ounce-Containers/dp/B001EPPB86
LOL!!!! yes, for a meat lover nothing vegetarian will compare 🙂 What you can do is buy a vegetarian kishka and you can try adding chunks of tofu or pieces of seitan to add substance.
AWESOME!!!! enJOY!
Dear Jamie,
If you want to make the cholent for 4 servings, do you just halve all of the ingredients?
Thanks
Dear Jamie,
What is consumme mix?
I live in Jerusalem , Israel. What Hechsher does it have? Can you plese tell me if possible which stores have it?
Who is the manufacturer of it-the brand name?
Thanks
Jamie, I have a question.
I have a friend who is vegetarian and was wondering if this recipe could be made without meat? Should I add something else?
I’ve tried a few vegetarian recipes, but nothing compared to this one (maybe because I’m a meat lover!)
Thanks!
This is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing. I am going out this week to buy another crock pot, because my granddaughter and I are inviting friends over on the 27th. I cannot wait!
Hi Yisroel. Thanks for your comment. There are actually MSG free soup mixes but they still have a considerable amount of sodium. We have been adhering to a lower sodium diet of late so in the last 6 months we have removed all soup mix from our cabinets. And instead I use chicken broth in place of the water and mix above.
3 tablespoons Chicken onsommé Mix
I think you may want to consider this ingredient. Each teaspoon has 850 mg. of sodium and it contains MSG.
me again i forgot to ask since I’ve never used a crock pot is there anything i should know about how to line it with aluminum? amounts, where and what needs to be covered safety ext… thnks
hi Jaime, great looking recipe that I’m going 2 try this shabbas, but i have a few quick questions 1st : in the written instructions its says to cook for 8 hrs. on low temp, but in the vid. you say cook on med. for 18-20 hrs? . next my crock pot is a 6qt with a high or low cooking options(no med.) so which do u recommend i use, and should i increase the ingrediance like u said for a 7qt or keep it the same as i would for a 5qt?
thanks in advance and good shabbat.
I made this for my friend, who doesn’t like black pepper, and she loved it. She asked if I would make it again because she couldn’t stop thinking about it all week. The Osem definitely makes it!
lol! ok yes I have had this happen on a few occasions. Usually it occurs when the chulent pot is too full and the beans float to the top, get pushed up against the slow cooker lid and that top layer doesn’t cook thru. Could that be the case?
Hate spell check!
Ever have
Flavor, meat
Must be bad beans
3rd tiime making this recipe love it! But this time the beans did not cook all the way to soft. Ever gave this happen? Flavor, neat, and barley perfect. Strange. Must be “vad ” beans?
hi Wanda B!!!! Welcome and how utterly cool. Peace to you too and hope you visit us often!
So glad you love it, I wanted to just let you know we have a few recipes using Heirloom beans here http://www.joyofkosher.com/2012/04/what-are-heirloom-beans/
I stumbled onto your recipe for cholent while searching for a way to cook some dried heirloom beans.
Oh my!!!
We are Muslim so we already love kosher food, but this is a treasure!
It’s now in our weekly recipe rotation.
Thanks for a superlative recipe, and a wonderful website.
Peace!
Sounds wonderful people and I will be trying this soon but I have to put the brakes on kishka. My mother made a concoction based on flanken and limas…but the order you use for the slow cooker is helpful. No kishka needed.
I’m confused. In the video above, was that Jamie Geller and her husband? Because it did not look like her yet the recipe says it is by Jamie.
LOL it's me - it doesn't look like me? the video is 3 years old...Re: Jaimie and her husband’s heirloom cholent. Jaimie, my husband and I received a monetary gift from my mother for our wedding anniversary, and we decided to spend some of that money on a crockpot (8 liters). I always wanted to make cholent, so I scanned the web and found your recipe. We had a large gathering at our house for Shabbat, and the cholent came out delicious!.We actually had it for Friday night rather than for the traditional Saturday in which cholent is served, but I put it in the crockpot Thursday night, came home from work late Friday afternoon, and voila it was done/ Thank you very much for the recipe! Terri
YAY TERRI!!!!!!!!!!! I am so so happy to hear!!! When we were first married we used to serve chulent on Friday night too – it’s a fun change. I am thrilled you got a slow cooker and super duper happy your found our (I mean Hubby’s) recipe and that everyone enJOYed!!! Happy Anniversary!!!
Hi Jon – thrilled you found your way here and are enticed by Shabbat food still… there is something extra special (most certainly mystical) about it all. As my grandmother would say “eat and enJOY!”
Thank you for that HOWTO.
I was raised frum but many lifetimes later I’m secular. Still the taste of Cholent & all of the shabbat goodness it entails entices me.
Go figure.
J.