Tuesday, June 21, 2011

(Almost) Homemade Baked Beans

Today is officially the First Day of Summer. Summer is all about backyard BBQs, burgers, and gatherings with friends. A must have side dish to one of our BBQs is baked beans. Now I know not everyone likes baked beans, but in my family we love them. My husband especially! For years I had been searching for a real bean pot- the kind you put in the oven. My mom uses one for her beans, and somehow it makes them so much better. She gave me my own pot for Christmas this past year, and I have already gotten a lot of use out of it. However, she won't give me her recipe. So I had to make up my own. That's more fun anyway;-)

My husband has been asking me to share this one with you all so here you go. Oh, and you don't have to use a bean pot, you could use an oven safe covered casserole dish, or a cast iron pot.

Did I mention my beans are vegetarian? No fatback, no bacon. We like to have these with my pulled pork BBQ, or with burgers, so I don't see the need for extra added fat in the meal. So if you're watching your meat intake, or are a vegetarian you can still make these!


Ingredients:
1 large can Bush's vegetarian baked beans.(Yes I use canned beans- it's quick and easy. That's why they are almost homemade)
1 medium white onion ( or Vidalia) chopped
1 large green pepper chopped
1/2 cup Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
pinch cayenne pepper
1-2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1-2 teaspoons chipotle chili pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin seed
*All spices are to taste so please adjust them as you like.



Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F.
1.Saute the green pepper and onion until they are softened and the onion is translucent.


2.Pour the beans into the pot. Add the cooked veggies to the beans, along with your bbq sauce and spices.

As you can see I didn't measure. I normally just eyeball my spices when I am cooking like this.
3. Stir well and place in the oven.


4. Let cook for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally.

As you can tell by this picture I seriously need to clean my oven! But it's been far too hot to turn on the self clean setting. I think I will wait until a cooler day in the Fall.

If you want to let these cook a long time- cook at 250F.
If you want them done quickly- after 45 minutes or so- cook at 350F.
I let mine go for about an hour and a half this time.
These are a tad spicy but not too bad since my 7 year old loves them. You can omit the cayenne pepper if you don't like spicy.

Happy Cooking!

1 comment:

  1. I like that pot which you are cooking your baked beans in! I too use Bush's vegetarian baked beans, and this is definitely a 100% homemade recipe in my opinion! :-)

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