Simply the Best (Recipe: Country Baked Beans)
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There’s a whole line of commercially prepared baked beans readily available for busy people who like baked beans but are short on time. I’ve never tried any of them, but I hear they are just fine. I’m sure they are. However, contrary to a marketing tag line, I don’t think they are simply the best. That description belongs to homemade baked beans.
The secret to simply the best baked beans has nothing to do with the beans or the barbeque sauce. It’s all about the bacon. So much so, I do think the title of this age-old dish should be Baked Bacon on a Bed of Barbeque Beans.
For the homemade version, bacon bakes on top of beans and slowly releases it smokey sweet bacon grease into the beans creating a flavor you just can’t get from a can.
The preparation is easy and relatively fast. All you do is open a couple of cans of pork and beans, dice up a piece of a bell pepper, make a simple barbeque sauce and mix it all together. Then you peel and quarter an onion and bury it in the beans.
Now comes the BACON. Cover the top of the beans with smoked bacon. That’s the part that missing from the canned product. You certainly cook bacon in a commercially prepared product but it gets all mixed in and isn’t noticeable. I’m not even sure if store-bought canned baked beans get cooked with bacon. You can bet your bottom dollar my homemade baked beans are. You can see, smell and taste the bacon. That’s the way baked beans were intended.
The cooking time does take some planning, for the bacon and beans need at least an hour to reach their maximum peak of deliciousness. The pay off is that you get to smell bacon cooking for an entire hour. In my book, that’s simply the best.
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Country Baked Beans
yield: 8 servings
A good quality smoked bacon makes all the difference in the world. Having said that, there may be no such thing as a bad quality smoked bacon. So, nevermind. The addition of green bell pepper may seem a tad bit unusual. The flavor will not overwhelming but it adds a special touch to the dish.
2 ( 1 pound 12 ounce) cans pork and beans (I used Van Kamp’s)
1/4 large green bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1 large sweet onion, peeled and quartered
4 strips of the best bacon you can get your hands on
Mix pork and beans with diced bell pepper.
Mix together next three ingredients and add to bean mixture. Mix well. Pour into a baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Don’t forget to spray the dish. This stuff bakes on likes nobody’s business.
Bury the onion quarters in the beans.
Cover the top of the beans with the bacon.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until the bacon is crispy and the beans mixture is bubbly. The level of the liquid should cook down just below the surface of the beans. The amount of cook time is dependent up the size of the baking dish and the depth of the bean mixture. I used a 9 1/2 inch by 3 inch round baking dish and cooked them for 2 hours.
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Yes yes ! Kudos to you for preaching on the bacon and the beans. Great baked beans have bacon and in my opinion maple syrup. Keep them coming Jackie !
Kurt,
Maple syrup would be an interesting addition, too!
Hi Jackie….yep..it’s all in the bacon! Of course all those other good things help the delish taste along too. Ever add sausage? It’s yummy too!
Jean,
I’ve never had sausage in baked beans but a BBQ place here in town used to put smoked pork in their baked beans. That was a great addition!
The bacon looks so gooood! I love the way it cooks on top of the beans & gets all crispy! Another great addition is molasses…..yummy! Thanks for the recipe.
You’re most welcome, Mary. Years ago, I would always use Karo syrup in my baked beans. I started using brown sugar exclusively for the sweetening because brown sugar contains molasses. We’re on the same page!
Very close indeed to my grandmother’s….. thank you dear Jackie!!! xoxo
You’re welcome, Michele!
This has been my recipe for baked beans for 57 years, since I was a child bride and my Mom taught me how to do them — when we had a family picnic or reunion I was not allowed IN unless I brought the beans. I have made ‘from scratch’ beans that are pretty good, too but when you don’t have three to four hours to do them after an overnight soaking of the beans — this way is BEST. My grand-dad didn’t like the onion so Mom taught me to take root end and slice off the top of a big onion, sink it in the pot, when the cooking was done reach in with a long fork and get the onion out — he never knew.
Dear Muggles,
The reason I leave the onion in big pieces is the same as you stated. Folks can eat around it if they are not inclined to eat onion but you still get the flavor.
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I love the bacon! Going to try this ASAP!
JoAnn,
It truly is all about the bacon!
Wow, I love the green pepper addition and of course the brown sugar , and of course, THE BACON)! My sister-in-law wants me (is ‘challenging’ me) to make baked beans from scratch for the family Easter meal. I have made them in the past and they were pretty good! However, I am going to use this recipe instead and then transfer them to the ‘Bean Pot’ I used to use for the ‘scratch’ baked beans! LOL!! I think this recipe will blow everyone away…and I will get all the credit! Thanks so much for such a delicious recipe.
Janet,
Please let me know how YOUR beans turn out.
You sly little devil, you!
Will do…actually I can’t wait to make them (and eat them) myself!
I was on Bloggers and your title stop me. I am southern girl who love syrup an biscuits. However, I notice the baked beans and the picture looks delicious! I have not make baked beans, as I am one who buys them too. But, this seems pretty easy and who doesn’t like bacon, even though I shouldn’t have it. I gotta keep up because I am a recipe girl too. Just stopping in from http://makeitorfixit.com.
So glad you stopped by! Welcome to Syrup and Biscuits.