MAKES: 10 servings TESTED BY: Juli H.
066 Baked Beans with Bacon
TASTING COMMENTS:
The sauce for these beans is thick and richly flavored. We know some people like their beans saucier. If you’re one of them, stir in reserved cooking water until you achieve the consistency you like.—JH
prep 30 minutes stand 1 hour cook 1 hour bake 1 hour 30 minutes at 300°F
- 1 lb. dried navy beans or Great Northern beans (2 ⅓ cups)
- 16 cups water
- 4 oz. bacon or pancetta, chopped
- 1 cup chopped onion
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup molasses or pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1½ tsp. dry mustard
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 4 oz. bacon or pancetta, chopped, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled (optional)
Dry mustard has a stronger flavor than prepared mustard. If you need to swap, use 4½ tsp. yellow mustard.
1. Rinse beans. In a 4- to 5-qt. oven-going Dutch oven combine beans and 8 cups of the water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour. (Or place beans in water in Dutch oven. Cover and let soak in a cool place overnight.) Drain and rinse beans.
2. Return beans to Dutch oven. Stir in the remaining 8 cups fresh water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 60 to 90 minutes or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally. Drain beans, reserving water.
3. Preheat oven to 300°F. In the same Dutch oven cook 4 oz. bacon and the onion over medium heat until bacon is slightly crisp and onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Add brown sugar; cook and stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the next five ingredients (through pepper). Stir in drained beans and 1 ¼ cups of the reserved water.
4. Bake, covered, 60 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 to 45 minutes more or until desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Beans will thicken slightly as they cool. If necessary, stir in additional reserved water. If desired, sprinkle with additional cooked bacon.
Per serving 267 cal., 6 g fat (2 g sat. fat), 8 mg chol., 282 mg sodium, 43 g carb., 11 g fiber, 0 g sugars, 12 g pro.
sweet & sassy Molasses and brown sugar are traditionally used to sweeten a pot of baked beans. Although they offer a sweet, almost smoky flavor, they are acidic ingredients. The calcium in each helps keep the beans firm, so while you are baking the beans to develop the flavor, they are not turning to mush. We added maple syrup as an option to molasses. It has less calcium, so watch more carefully and check the texture while baking.
If bacon seems too ho-hum for you and pancetta isn’t your thing, you can stir in 1 to 1½ cups of any variety of cooked smoked meats when you stir in the molasses and remaining ingredients.
TESTING NOTES
1. Beans can be dirty. Sort through the package of beans and remove any twigs, pebbles, and broken or shriveled beans. Rinse thoroughly in a colander.
2. Soaking dried beans helps the beans soften slightly, allowing them to cook quicker. Water starts to seep into the bean where it was attached to the plant. Soak beans overnight or use the quick-soak method in the recipe.
3. Beans will plump slightly after soaking. After you drain the beans, toss the soaking liquid. There’s really no reason to keep it. (And your GI tract will thank you!)
4. Because the beans are pretty tender when the sauce ingredients are added, the first hour in the oven allows them to absorb that great molasses flavor.
5. How much time your beans spend in the oven for the last cooking time is up to you. Baking them with the lid off allows the excess liquid to evaporate and the sauce to thicken. When the beans are as saucy or as thick as you like, they’re ready to serve!
