Donnas Great Baked Beans Recipes

THE BEST BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Cook bacon in a skillet until crispy and drain on a paper towel. Reserve some of the bacon grease.
• Finely dice the bacon. Reserve 2 tablespoons for garnish. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350°F, set the rack to the lower-middle position.
• In the same skillet, heat reserved bacon grease on medium-high heat.
• Add the diced red onion and green pepper, sauté until softened.
• In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, ketchup, molasses, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and dry mustard and whisk together.
• Stir in the beans, onions, and green peppers.
• Pour into a 9x13" baking dish. Bake for 2 hours, then stir in the chopped bacon.
• Bake another hour or more until the sauce has cooked down, and has reached desired consistency.
• Let the beans stand for 5 minutes to thicken sauce.
• Garnish with reserved bacon and green onions. Serve.

OLD FASHIONED BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Place the dried beans in a pot of water covered by a few inches of water and let soak overnight. Drain the beans, place them back in the pot with fresh water and bring to a boil. Simmer for one hour, then drain, reserving the liquid. See NOTE.
• In a Dutch oven or other oven-proof pot fry the bacon until crispy then add the onions and cook until soft and translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.Stir in the tomato sauce, molasses, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, salt, pepper and bay leaf.Add 1 1/2 cups of the reserved bean water and the beans.Bring everything to a simmer for a minute or two to heat it up. In the meantime preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Transfer the Dutch oven with the lid on to the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 2 to 3 hours or until the beans are tender and the sauce has thickened, removing the lid during the last 20-30 minutes to help the sauce thicken. NOTE: If at any point during the cooking process too much liquid evaporates and the beans get dry, add a little more of the reserved bean water. The beans themselves can vary from batch to batch and you may end up either needing to add more liquid if the beans are too dry or you may need to bake the beans longer with the lid off if there is too much liquid. Adjust as needed.Add more salt the pepper to taste.Serve immediately or let cool completely and refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be reheated on the stovetop or in the microwave.
• SLOW COOKER METHOD: Follow steps 1 and 2 and then pour everything into the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours or until the beans are tender. Open the lid for the last 30 minutes or longer until the sauce has thickened. If the beans are too thick at any point and too much liquid has evaporated, stir in a little extra water.

QUICK AND EASY BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the bacon until almost cooked. Add the jalapenos, onions and bell peppers and saute for 5 minutes. Add the beans, mustard, barbecue sauce, ketchup and hot sauce, and heat through.

DONNA'S GREAT BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Cook bacon until crisp and cut into small pieces.
• Saute onion and pepper in some reserved bacon grease (maybe a couple of teaspoons).
• Combine all ingredients in oven proof container and bake uncovered for 3 hours at 300°F Stir a couple of times during cooking.
• Enjoy!

PERFECTLY BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Fry the regular chopped bacon in a large, deep skillet until the bacon has partially cooked and released about 1/4 cup drippings. Add the onions, peppers and jalapenos, and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the beans, barbecue sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, mustard and chipotles, and bring to a simmer. (If the skillet is not large enough, add the beans and heat to a simmer and then transfer to a large bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients). Pour the flavored beans into an aluminum pan. Top with the uncooked slices of bacon (you can halve the slices if you like). Then bake until the beans are bubbly and the sauce is the consistency of pancake syrup, about 2 hours. Let stand to thicken slightly and serve.

OLD-FASHIONED BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, bring beans, salt and 2 qt. water to a boil; boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; let stand for 1 hour. Drain beans and discard liquid. Return beans to pan. Cover with remaining water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until beans are tender. Drain, reserving liquid. In a greased 2-1/2 qt. baking dish, combine beans, 1 cup liquid, onion, molasses, bacon, brown sugar, mustard and pepper. Cover and bake at 325° for 3 to 3-1/2 hours or until beans are as thick as desired thickness, stirring occasionally. Add more of the reserved cooking liquid if needed.

BAKED BEANS FROM SCRATCH

Steps:

• Place the navy beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Or, bring the beans and water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Once boiling, turn off the heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour. Drain and rinse before using.
• Place the beans in a large saucepan with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 1 hour.
• Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Stir the ketchup, maple syrup, brown sugar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and chili powder together in a small bowl; set aside.
• Once the beans have simmered for 1 hour, drain, and reserve the cooking liquid. Pour the beans into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish and stir in the chopped onion and the molasses sauce. Stir in enough of the reserved cooking liquid so the sauce covers the beans by 1/4 inch.
• Cover, and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C), and cook 6 hours longer. Stir the beans after they have cooked for 3 hours. Once the beans are tender and the sauce has reduced and is sticky, remove from the oven, stir, recover, and allow to stand 15 minutes before serving.

HOMEMADE BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 2 1/2-quart baking dish.
• Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat until crisp, about 10 minutes; drain and cool on paper towels. Crumble bacon once cooled.
• Mix bacon, beans, water, brown sugar, onions, ketchup, molasses, vinegar, mustard, salt, and garlic powder together in the prepared baking dish. Cover dish with aluminum foil.
• Bake in preheated oven until bubbling, 45 minutes.