Homemade Baked Beans

I love baked beans. I just don’t love all the additives in canned baked beans. I tired once time years ago, like 13 years ago, to make my own baked beans, and it just didn’t work. Not only didn’t they taste good, but the beans were hard, even after baking for a few hours.

Since the summer cook out season has started, I was determined to make my own baked beans. My bean cooking talents have improved since then. I now cook and freeze beans for all our bean needs, so I only had to pull the beans out of the freezer. Because of my freezer stash of beans, I got to spend the time working on the sauce. And it’s good! I don’t have a picture because we ate them all before I could get one!

Baked Beans

1 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup diced onion (more or less to taste)
3 tablespoons real maple syrup
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 pepper

6 cups cooked pinto beans

Stir together all ingredients, except beans in sauce pan. Bring to boil, then simmer until onions are done, 15-20 minutes.

Stir in beans.

You can serve at this point, or pour beans into a baking dish and bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Or you can cover with foil and bake for 2-3 hours. If beans are getting too dry while cooking, you can add a little water.

*NOTES:

You can used canned beans if you prefer those. 6 cups of beans would be about 2-3 cans of beans. If preparing dried beans, follow the package directions for soaking and cooking the beans, then proceed with the recipe.

I didn’t have any molasses, but look forward to trying this recipe with molasses. So if you don’t have real maple syrup, try molasses.

We don’t normally eat bacon, but if you do, you can add chopped bacon mixed in with the beans, or lay slices of uncooked bacon on top of the beans before baking. Just make sure to bake until the bacon is completely cooked.