Healthy Baked Beans
Servings: 1 square baking dish full
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.