Ingredients
Serves 6 to 8
Wash beans, place in large pot and cover with cool water, boil for 5 minutes,and remove from heat; let sit for 1 hour with tight lid. In cast-iron skillet, sauté onions, celery, bell pepper, and garlic in olive oil on a high flame for 4 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add tomato sauce, sugar, molasses, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and cloves, and simmer for 30 minutes. Pour off water from beans and replace with 3 1/2 cups (approximately) fresh cool water or meat stock. Add bay leaves, salt, pepper, and thyme. Let simmer, covered, until beans are tender. Sauté bacon cubes; drain. Drain liquid from beans and reserve. Combine beans and tomato sauce in Dutch oven or bean pot. Top with bacon and bake in 300-degree oven for 3 to 5 hours. Stir beans now and then, adding reserved liquid when needed.
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Reviews (27)
Back to TopThese beans do take a long time to get finished, but they are so very good. I don't soak my beans anymore (per chef Rick Bayless) but instead start them on low and cook them at a bare simmer for 2-4 hours, depedning on the bean, and in this case I cooked 2 hours before adding garlic, onions, bay, and dried thyme. I then cooked another hour. I made the tomato sauce and, after draining the beans, mixed together and cooked on the stove top for 45 minutes or so, and then in the oven for a hour. It could have gone longer in the oven, but it didn't need to. I did use about half the reserved bean liquid, and poured more over to store (it will soak it up in the fridge). This is a worthy recipe, indeed.
lizziebearcooks
4/25/2012
These were good, but we took them over the edge by cooking them in a cast iron dutch oven in a smoker that was cooking pork shoulders. Yep, we put the pot under one of the shoulders with the lid just tipped, and the goodness that was dripping off the smoked pork went into the pot. It was a meal of pulled pork, fresh slaw and baked beans that was as close to heaven as my friends and I are likely to get. It took about 5 hours in the smoker at 250-275 deg, but was totally worth it. Smokey, porky, and beany.
Johnetic
The Tri State Area
11/18/2011
不是我们的一杯茶。丁香的味道太大。Still looking for the perfect bean dish. Would not make again.
匿名
Seattle
7/5/2009
Wow! These are delicious. I'm not a big baked bean person, but apparently it's because I never had a good batch. My husband loved these on toast (he's british) and I love them with polenta. I will definitely make these again and for a bunch of people. One thing I might change is to leave out the bacon, for heath reasons. Overall...a total hit!
meowella
New York, NY
2/24/2009
These beans were a hit. I decided to do them in the slow cooker like many other readers but for some reason they took forever. I soaked the beans overnight and then put all the indredients in the slow cooker and cooked them for approx. 12 hours total. The beans took forever to soften. The end result was delicious and I will definately make them again and again.
LCammarata
Ancaster, Ontario
6/11/2007
Great recipe! If you want to kick it up, instead of adding the reserve liquid during baking use a dark Irish stout beer! I also like to add a pinch of cayenne pepper for zip!
baderzoo
Vernon, BC. Canada
1/15/2007
This is a great recipe. Incredibly delicious. I used a slow cooker for the 3-5 hour baking process.
匿名
New York
10/15/2006
Family & friends loved this dish, though I changed the method a bit; simmered the beans in water for 10 minutes, rinsed them and set them aside. I made the barbecue sauce w/out cooking any of the ingredients prior as I added them all into the bean pot with the semi-cooked beans and baked them at 300 for 6.5 hours adding beef stock as needed. I also increased the sugars to 1/3 c of each brown sugar and molassesas They were perfectly sweet, saucy and delish!
匿名
Boston, MA
7/31/2006
This was my first time making baked beans and they were a hit!
匿名
La Canada, CA
7/6/2005
This was a great recipe. Like others, I wanted to make these in the crock pot. I made a double batch of the sauce with the following modifications: didn't use the bell pepper, added a few extra tablespoons of brown sugar and molasses and added a few splashes of cider vinegar. I soaked the beans overnight in water to cover in the crock pot, then drained, rinsed and added 3.5 cups of water/stock mixture with thyme and salt/pepper and cooked the beans for 3 hours on high. Took out most of the cooking liquid with a turkey baster and reserved it. Poured 3/4 of the double batch of sauce over, mixed in lots of diced half-cooked bacon and cooked on low for 6 hours, the last 2 with the lid ajar. They were great, really great, but could have used a bit more mustard. Didn't need any of the reserved liquid.
匿名
Boise, ID
1/1/2005
Really good baked beans, in nowhere as much time as the recipe says. Let the beans soak in the initial boiling water until it was all absorbed - about 1/2 hour, cooked for forty-five minutes and baked for about 2.5 hours. Had to use all the cooking liquid and then some - next time I will increase the amount of tomato sauce to a full jar. Also added extra worcestershire and a little vinegar for a nice kick. PS Left out the bacon to make it vegetarian - didn't even notice!
匿名
6/20/2004
These beans were delicious. I, too, made them in a crockpot (first soaked them overnight in water in the crockpot) and then cooked them all the next day. Personally, I would like a tiny bit more "kick" to them, but they were perfect for my kids and wimpy hubby.
Chef in Training
Berkeley, CA
6/8/2004
This has become a staple for us. I now eliminate the meat completely as once I couldn't get to the store to buy it and discovered the beans were great on their own. I add extra vegetables but don't put in the Worcestershire sauce, cloves or stock. A wonderful and oh so satisfying recipe.
匿名
Vancouver, B.C.
3/19/2004
I used a slow cooker for these beans and they turned out really well. I doubled the recipe, and soaked the beans in the crock pot turned on low overnight, along with bay leaves and thyme. In the morning the beans were pretty soft. I turned off the crock pot and prepared the sauce. (Next time I would cut back on the cloves by about 1/2. I added the sauce to the beans and cooked them on low in the crock pot for about 3 hours. Got rave reviews from everyone at our barbecue to whom we also served the Texas beef brisket (recipe found at this site. A great combination.
Ginny Arnott-Wood
Mississauga, Ontario
9/25/2003
This was really tasty. I followed the suggestion of another reviewer and cooked the beans in a crockpot overnight (on low) with the 3 1/2 c of stock/water (next time I will use a little more), bay leaves, salt, pepper and thyme. In the morning, I added about 2 cups more water and turned the crock pot off; made the sauce (omitted celery as I didn't have it), adding 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 1 1/2 tsp extra mustard powder and 2 TBS extra brown sugar, and a quick dash of cayenne. I then poured it all in the crock pot with the beans and cooked it for about 5 hours on low. I did not use any of the reserved bean liquid. It turned out REALLY yummy, and it was nice because it left the oven free for biscuits! I will definitely make these again. It was really easy in the crock pot.
Kelly
Wenatchee, WA
7/5/2003
