Instead of calling this a “Healthy Baked Beans Recipe”, I really should call it healthiER baked beans…
This one is a combination of four different recipes; one from our friend, Brother Andy, one from my sister, Terri, one from the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook, and one from Kent's Mom, Mary Ellen (who I'll tell you a little more about below). I've added my own little twists to it as well – using more natural sugars and less brown sugar.
Kent's Mom, Mary Ellen, is a great cook, and she gave me some good tips on making baked beans. First I have to tell you how cool she is, though. Seriously, I'm so thankful for her — she's always been kind and supportive (not ONE word or even hint of criticism from her, EVER, for real!) and she's taught me a lot through the years, but my two favorites are these:
1. Keep it simple, worrying about too many details only stresses you out. Things like eating on our laps with paper plates is no big deal, as long as we're all together.
2. If you don't put any pressure or expectations on your grown kids, and just love and support them, they'll want to be around you as much as possible. She loves it when we're all together, but if anyone can't make it for a holiday she gets it and remembers how tricky it can be juggling families. She and Ron raised 5 boys who all turned into really great, solid men and fathers (the kind of men who do what's right, even when it's not easy, or when no one is looking), and they love to come home and be together. We enjoy each other's company and always have a lot of laughs. It's nothing to take for granted! As her grand kids have grown up, they all stop by and enjoy visiting with her, too, she's a great listener. 🙂
Skip down if you just want the recipe, but first I want to talk about soaking beans…
Traditionally people have soaked beans to make them more digestible (less intestinal gas!), but whether they knew it or not, it also served as a way to break down the phytates in the beans (“phytates” or “phytic acid” will bind with minerals so our bodies can't absorb and use them). However, in one of the forums I belong to, members have said that when they soak their beans according to Nourishing Traditions, they would take forever to cook and wouldn't get soft. Sheila, one of the members of the forum, shared this:
“I had the same thing happen to me (soaked beans taking forever to cook and never really getting soft), so I grabbed Sandor Katz (author of Wild Fermentation) at a WAPF conference to ask him about this and whether it could be due to the addition of the whey in the soaking. He said you should effectively be able to deactivate phytates by simply soaking overnight in plain water. More recently, Sally has come out with the recommendation that you add baking soda to the soak water for specific bean varieties – can't recall which ones – that some need alkaline soak water, not acidic soak water. I say just use plain water, soak at least overnight, and be sure not to add salt too soon.”
So I asked Mary Ellen what she does:
When using dry, raw beans, Mary Ellen soaks them overnight in water, and then to reduce the digestive gas, she uses a method she swears by: bring beans to a boil for 3-4 minutes, drain & rinse – do this 3 times, which gets the icky foam off, then cook for 3-4 hours until tender (“how long depends on the age of the beans”). She does the same thing for her bean soup that everyone loves. If she's using canned beans, she doesn't soak, but she always rinses the beans well to get all the juice off of them that they came in.
Here's more info from Wardeh about soaking dried beans.
*Important note: Below I've updated the links to a brand of organic beans that are actually PRE-soaked, so I just use those now, it's so much easier!
Healthy Baked Beans
Ingredients
- Mary Ellen uses a bag of navy beans (prepared as described above)
- Brother Andy's recipe calls for canned Great Northern beans, undrained
- My sister's recipe also calls for a can of butter beans undrained, a can of kidney beans drained & a can of lima beans drained, and hers is called “4 bean bake”. If you add any extras, don't forget to adjust the amount of sauce accordingly.
- Reserve some of the juices/water that the beans were cooked in or came in if you bought them in a can or jar, and if your sauce is too thick just use more of this as needed.
- 1/2 pound bacon uncooked, chopped into small pieces (preferably from a local farm, or try here if you don't have a local farm)
- 1 small onion chopped (organic if possible)
- 2 Tablespoons of organic molasses
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard or a squirt of prepared mustard
- 1/2 cup organic ketchup
- 1/2 Tablespoon fermented soy sauce
- 1/2 Tablespoon raw vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or minced fresh organic garlic
- 1/4-1/2 cup maple syrup --taste it after 1/4 cup and see if it's enough for you
- 1/8 cup brown sugar
- Mary Ellen sometimes also adds in 1/2 pound of ground beef --but you'll need to cut back a bit on the amount of beans so it'll fit in your pan.
Instructions
- Use any combination of beans to make about 3.5 cups or about 4-15 oz. cans. Soak and prepare the beans as described above. (Or skip that step and get these pre-soaked beans!)
- Combine all ingredients except beans in a sauce pan and bring to a boil while stirring. Boil for 5-10 minutes or so, then stir in the beans.
- Bake in a square buttered baking dish for 40 minutes at 375*, covered. Then uncover and bake another 20 minutes. Double the recipe for a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- OR I just put mine in a crock pot until it's time to serve.
Is this like your own healthy baked beans recipe? How is yours different?
More you might like:
- Have you seen the recipe for my Mom's famous baked macaroni & cheese?
- 10 Healthy Breakfast Ideas
- Alternatives to hot lunch at school (I'm so thankful my kids never ask for hot lunch!)
- Have you ever fed 5 kids a healthy breakfast in 5 minutes?
- Healthy Fast Food Alternatives
Elizabeth Spacek Grisham says
Yum.
What brand of crock pot do u recommend??
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Here’s the one I’ve used for years and love it: https://amzn.to/1fETB6Q
Bárbara Mäkel says
I finally ordered a crock pot, can’t wait to make some beans 🙂
Gina says
Question in regards to quantities, how many cups of dried beans would I use? (I buy them in bulk)
KitchenKop says
Hi Gina,
2 cups. 🙂
Kelly
Gina says
Thanks!
Paula says
It is seaweed. I get the Eden brand at my local health food store, but I have also seen it in my Kroger’s. Hope that helps. 🙂 If you google “add kombu reduce gas beans” you should get some good results. Have a goodnight! I have really enjoyed reading through past posts in your blog today! 🙂
Kelly says
Paula, I didn’t have a clue what Kombu is, and after a short Google search, I still don’t. It’s late and I’m getting fuzzy though…
Paula says
We add kombu to the soaking beans to help reduce gas. Go a google search on adding kombu to beans to reduce gas.
Kelly says
Jeanne, now we’re talkin’…
jeanne says
Oh Kelly . . . the sausage is with the bacon!
It’s a traditonal southern recipe where people are not afraid of
animal fat!
Kelly says
Thanks Erin, that sounds doable…if I can figure out how to turn the flash off my camera, but I think it just might work.
Erin says
For nighttime without flash, turn on every light in the house and turn off your flash. If you need to stabilize the camera to avoid blur, you can always stack up some books and set the camera on top. I love your recipes and that you make traditional food sound easy! With a toddler, I can use all the help I can get!
Kelly says
Kelly, I just fixed the wording in the post, hopefully it’s more clear. She does the boiling 3x and THEN cooks them until they’re done.
Kelly says
Ooh, sausage would be good instead of the bacon!
The note above about baking soda wasn’t very clear, though, so I don’t know WHICH beans need that, maybe someone else does? Shoot, I should’ve asked Mary Ellen, I just called her to ask about boiling the beans:
After soaking them overnight, when she brings them to a boil 3 times, she let’s them go 3-4 minutes each time before draining and rinsing. I’d better add that to the post.
I asked her about using different types of beans, she said that you wouldn’t want to cook them in the same pot, though, because some types may cook faster than others.
Kelly says
She boils the beans 3 times and THEN cooks them for 3 to 4 hours? Or does she rinse them 3 times and then cook for 3 to 4 hours.
jeanne says
Kelly,
Thanks for the reminder about adding baking soda to the soaking water. My mom used to always do this and I had forgotten that tip.
I have a question, when Mary Ellen boils the beans 3 times, does she just let them come to a boil or how long do the boil each time?
I have bean having trouble recently with my beans that I soak staying
hard so I am anxious to try this out!
I love all the different beans combined. And when I lived in Atlanta I learned to add a really good quality sausage browned up to the recipe.
The beans become a meal within themselves.
Kelly says
You guys nailed it, it’s my darn flash, but what else do I do when it’s dark out and I need to post with the picture that night?!!!
Donielle @ Naturally Knocked Up says
Thanks for the recipe! I’ve been meaning to try and make my own baked beans for some time, but I’ve tried soaking beans twice and it never works out. 🙂
*and for the pics; take the food out of the cooking container and place into a nice dish. Also, like the PP said, don’t use flash if you can turn yours off and use only natural light. Best light is before the sun gets to high in the sky, so before mid morning or wait till later in the day.
Shannon says
About taking food pics… The #1 thing is don’t use flash (unless you have a great camera). I have just a point and shoot and when I use flash it looks terrible. Find some good lighting near a window and take your pics there.
I love baked beans, btw!