It’s almost Memorial Day weekend and that means the unofficial kick off to summer! It also means cookouts and nothing goes better at cookouts than baked beans! Most of us grew up on canned baked beans and while there’s nothing wrong with that, the bit of effort it takes to make a homemade pot of baked beans is worth every second. You can customize them to be sweeter or spicier or whatever your favorite flavor is and no mushy bean squish with each bite! Let’s dig in!
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Ingredients
- 1 bag of dry pinto beans
- 4 slices of bacon
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 c. your favorite BBQ sauce
- 1/2 c. maple syrup
- 1/2 c. reserved bean water
- 3/4 c. dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp no salt ketchup
- 3 tbsp blackstrap molasses
- 1 tsp to 1 tbsp berbere or cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Fill a dutch oven or stock pot halfway with water and turn on medium low heat.
- Add 1 bag of pinto beans. (Pick out anything funky if you see it) Let it simmer for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes give them a stir. Repeat this process every 30 minutes for up to 3 hours. When you notice a bean or two falling apart, they’re ready so take them off the heat.
- Make sure to reserve about 1/2- 1 cup of the bean water in a bowl.
- Render 4 pieces of bacon in a medium heat skillet. (Rendering means you’re trying to get all of the fat out of the bacon but you’re not trying to make it crispy.)
- Add the diced onion to your bacon grease and cook until the onions are translucent.
- Drain the beans and they’ll sit on the sidelines for a few.
- To the empty bean pot, add your 1 cup of BBQ sauce. ( I like to use a hickory brown sugar version.)
- Pour in your reserved bean water.
- Add the 1/2 cup of maple syrup, molasses, no salt ketchup, dark brown sugar and Berbere spice or cayenne pepper if you like a lingering heat.
- Give it all a stir until combined.
- Check your onions and if they’re translucent, add and stir them in.
- Cut or crumble the bacon into the sauce.
- Time to add the beans back into the party.
- Toss the sauce over the beans to coat then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Give it a stir after 30 minutes then reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens to your preferred consistency.
© 2024 Mrs Kringles Kitchen
Shared with French Country Cottage
18 Comments
There’s nothing like good, made from scratch beans. Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party. Have a fabulous week.
You know it! Hope you have a great week as well!
Your beans sounds delicious and berbere is a wonderful spice mix! You made beans in to a feast!
Thank you for bringing them to Fiesta Friday! 🙂
Thank you, Petra! I’m making a big batch for a cookout this weekend, can’t wait!
I love the addition of maple syrup – yum! Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday party!
It gives it that little somethin’ somethin’! 😀
Never heard of doing this but what a cool idea #DreamTeam
Way better than the can!
These sound wonderful and will be giving them a try #dreamteam
I hope you love them as much as we do! So much better than the can and freeze beautifully!
Home made is always best, especially with baked beans! Thanks for sharing with the fine folk at Fiesta Friday!
You know it!!
Looking very yummy. Thanks for sharing it. #dreamteam
Thanks so much!
Oooh! This looks like a great recipe. Thanks for sharing with the #DreamTeam
By the way if you tried to comment on my host post this week there was an issue with the privacy policy, but it is back up and running now. If you had time to pop back I would appreciate it. Thanks for being with us on the #DreamTeam
Thanks so much! Glad to hear you got everything squared away!
Oh, I absolutely love baked beans! I grew up on the can stuff, but now I love making them homemade. This recipe sounds super easy and delicious, thanks for sharing with us on the Homestead Blog Hop!
-Cherelle
I did too. I can’t get the extended family to convert but I make a big ol’ batch and freeze them to pull out for the weekends in the summer!