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Our Best Baked Beans
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Actually, I can't take full credit for this recipe; it's mostly my husband's creation
(hence, the "Our"). It has changed over the last twenty or thirty years to what it
is now*. BTW, this recipe can be done entirely in a skillet.
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​About the Ingredients:
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• Bacon-Use a good quality bacon. I don't use smoked, but if you like it, use it.
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• Onion-A sweet onion works great in this recipe if you have it.
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• Pork and beans-You will need 2 (15-oz) cans or the equivalent.
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• Ketchup
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• Brown sugar-If you like your beans on the sweet side, add up to
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half a cup of packed brown sugar. Otherwise, just add a generous quarter
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of a cup.
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• Prepared mustard-No fancy stuff here; just the normal stuff.
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KEYWORDS​​
baked beans, molasses, brown sugar, pork and beans,
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​Our Best Baked Beans​​​​
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Ingredients
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• 5 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled leaving about 2 tsp
drippings in skillet
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• 1 small onion, diced
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• ½ cup ketchup
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• 2 (15-oz) cans of pork and beans (only drain 1 can)
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• ¼ to ½ cup packed brown sugar
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• 1 Tbsp prepared mustard
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Grease an 8-x-8 baking dish.
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Instructions
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1. Cook bacon on low-medium heat until golden brown; drain
but leave 2 tsp drippings in the pan. Crumble bacon and set
aside.
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2. Sauté the onions on low-medium heat until almost tender.
Add the bacon and the rest of the ingredients to the pan**,
stir gently and pour into the prepared 8-x-8 baking dish.
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3. Bake at 350°F for up to 30 minutes until bubbly and brown
around the edges.
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*When we first made this recipe, we didn't drain the pork and
beans; we just let the mixture cook on low heat in a skillet
until it was the consistency that we liked, but the beans were
a little too soft (mushy). This recipe worked much better. We
also like the "crust" (caramelized sugar) that forms along
the edges.
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**At this point you can also leave it in the skillet and let it cook
slowly, gently stirring, until thickened to your taste.
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Options
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• For a more rustic flavor, add ¼ cup molasses.​
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• Add a small pinch of cayenne pepper.
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• This recipe is easily doubled; just use an 11-x-7 baking dish or something
similar.
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The bacon gives the baked beans a lot of flavor. I prefer natural
uncured bacon because I like the way it bakes. Our simple method for
baking bacon has minimal clean up. I bake it until it's almost crispy
but still pliable. For this recipe I cut it crosswise into ½-inch strips. I like to
see the pieces of bacon.
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Instead of using pork and beans, you can use canned beans (two 15-oz
cans for the basic recipe) such as navy, great northern or cannellini. I've
also mixed them for more interest (or if I don't have enough of one kind).
You will need to drain one can and add an additional one-fourth cup
ketchup and one-fourth cup packed brown sugar in addition to the
ingredients listed in the recipe.