Baked Beans: A Deliciously Simple Comfort Food
This recipe for Baked Beans offers a deliciously simple comfort food experience. It combines tender pork and beans with savory bacon, sweet onions, and a rich, smoky sauce, all baked to perfection with a slight skin on top. Perfect as a side dish for any meal.
Equipment
- knife
- 9x13 inch baking dish (or 10-12 cup capacity dish)
- Large deep sauté pan
- oven
- Stovetop
Ingredients
- 8 slices raw bacon
- 4 cans (15 oz each) Pork and Beans Do not rinse, drain liquid off the top
- 1 large Vidalia onion chopped small
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup ketchup
- ½ cup BBQ sauce
- ¼ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 TBS yellow mustard
- 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
- 5 drops liquid smoke
- ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
For Cooking Bacon
- bacon grease reserved from cooking bacon
For Baking
- mixture from above
Instructions
- Cook bacon until crisp using your preferred method. Drain on paper towels and reserve 2 tablespoons of the grease for later use.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Heat the reserved bacon grease in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent and fragrant, then add the minced garlic and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Drain most of the liquid from the cans of pork and beans, leaving a small amount in each. Add the beans to the sauté pan with the onions and garlic.
- Add the ketchup, BBQ sauce, brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, and black pepper to the pan.
- Coarsely chop the cooked bacon and add it to the pan. Stir all ingredients together until well combined.
- Transfer the entire mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 1 hour, or until the beans are bubbly and a slight skin has formed on top.
Notes
- Adjust sweetness by choosing a sweet or smoky BBQ sauce, or by tasting and adjusting ketchup and brown sugar levels before baking.
Substitutions
- Vidalia onion can be substituted with any other sweet onion variety. Any type of bacon can be used.
Notes
Sweetness levels can be adjusted by selecting a sweet or smoky/savory BBQ sauce. Add less ketchup and brown sugar than listed, stir, taste, and adjust to desired sweetness.