Garretts Favorite Baked Beans Recipes

HOMEMADE BAKED BEANS FROM DRIED BEANS

Steps:

• Soak beans in a large bowl over-night, covering with about 2 inches of cold water.
• In the morning, drain soaked beans and place in a large pot. Cover with several inches of water and bring just to a boil, then immediately reduce heat to somewhere between medium and medium-low or whatever level maintains a gentle simmer. Cook beans for 50-60 minutes, or until beans are tender (but not mushy). Taste test to be sure they are tender before you stop cooking. Drain beans and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Preheat oven to 275F. Start 1 1/2 cups water to boil.
• In a large oven-safe casserole dish with a lid (or alternately, to be covered with aluminum foil), scatter 1/2 of the onion and 1/2 of the bacon over the bottom of the dish. Add 1/2 of the cooked beans. Scatter the remaining onion and bacon, then top with the remaining cooked beans.
• In a 4-cup measuring cup or similar sized bowl, stir together the sauce ingredients well. Add 1 1/2 cups of boiling water and stir. Pour over beans and mix gently with a fork. If necessary, add a bit more hot water so that the liquid just barely covers the beans. Cover the pot with a lid or doubled up aluminum foil and place in preheated 275F oven.
• Beans will cook in the oven for a total of 6 hours, but should be checked at intervals to ensure there is enough liquid in the pot.
• Cook beans for 4 hours, then remove from oven and gently stir with a fork. There should still be enough liquid in the pot to just barely cover the beans, but if not, add more as needed.
• Return pot to the oven, covered, checking beans every 30 minutes for the last 2 hours of cooking, first stirring, then adding a bit more water to the pot, if needed. You want to have some puddles of liquid showing on the top of the beans, but you don't want to add too much water to the pot.
• After 6 hours of cooking, remove from oven and stir gently with a fork. Let stand, uncovered for 5 minutes or covered for 10-15 minutes before serving.

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.

BAKED BEANS DON'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS

Steps:

• Fry bacon.
• Remove from pan and set aside.
• When cooled, break up into small pieces.
• In the bacon grease, cook ground beef and onions until beef is no longer pink.
• Mix all the ingredients together, stir well.
• Pour in a 9 x 13 baking dish.
• Bake at 350 for about 1 hour.
• (You can use either all baked beans, all butter beans, or a combination).
• These are sweet baked beans. You may cut back or eliminate the brown sugar according to your tastes.

MY FAVORITE BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Cook bacon till crisp.
• Remove bacon, reserving about 3 Tbsp drippings in skillet. Drain and crumble bacon; set aside. Cook chopped onion in reserved drippings till tender.
• Stir in two cans pork and beans in tomato sauce, brown sugar, catsup, Worcestershire sauce, and prepared mustard.
• Turn into a 1 1/2 quart casserole. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, or cook in the microwave oven on HI for 10 to 12 minutes.
• Stir 1/2 way through cooking time, Top with bacon.
• Let stand a few minutes before serving.
• - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Kim C.

DAN'S FAVORITE BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients except bacon.
• Lay bacon across the top.
• Bake at 325°F for 2 hours.