Bacon Baked Beans

I used to make “baked beans” by buying a can of Bush’s baked beans, and adding some BBQ sauce and some beer, and cooking it for an hour or so. Granted, that’s pretty good, but now that I’m not afraid to branch out a bit, this is way better.

Ingredients:

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Optional: 2 jalapenos (or Habaeros), chopped

5 16 oz cans pinto beans (I look for beans that are just beans & water)

1/2 cup of BBQ sauce

1/2 cup of catsup

1/4 cup of cider vinegar

1/2 cup of your favorite beer

A couple Tablespoons of dijon, to taste

3 Tablespoons of brown sugar

slices of thick cut bacon

Directions:

Add onions to fat, cook until they just start to get translucent

Add peppers and garlic, cook until peppers get soft, about 2 minutes

If beans came in salt “goo”, rinse the beans before adding, don’t really need the extra salt

Add beans, BBQ sauce, catsup, vinegar, brown sugar, dijon, and beer

Stir a few times, turn heat to low

I like to cook this for 30 minutes or so at a low simmer

At this point, you can reserve the beans, if you want to finish them at a later time

Pre-heat oven to 325

Pour everything into a large casserole pan

Place bacon stripps around pot and layer bacon over beans

Put in oven for about 2 hours, this will result in nicely browned bacon, and thick beans

#bacon #bakedbeans