A little sweet, a little smoky and totally delish, baked beans are a must at any barbecue.
They do require quite a bit of cooking time, but it’s almost all hands-off.
HANDS-ON TIME
15 minutes
TOTAL TIME
12¾ hours
MAKES
8 servings
INGREDIENTS
- 450 g dried navy beans
- ⅔ cup bottled strained tomatoes (passata)
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup cooking or blackstrap molasses (see tip, below)
- 1 tbsp sodium-reduced soy sauce
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 sweet onion, chopped
- 125 g slab bacon, diced
- 60 g salt pork, diced
PREPARATION
- Rinse and soak beans overnight (8 to 12 hours) in 3 times their volume of water. (Or for quick-soak method, bring to boil; boil gently for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand for 1 hour.) Drain.
- In saucepan, cover beans again with 3 times their volume of water and bring to boil.
- Reduce heat, cover and simmer until tender, 30 to 40 minutes.
- Reserving 2 cups of the cooking liquid, drain beans. Set aside.
- Whisk together tomatoes, brown sugar, molasses, soy sauce, mustard and salt.
- In bean pot or 16-cup (4 L) casserole dish, combine beans, reserved cooking liquid, tomato mixture, onion, bacon and salt pork.
- Cover and bake in 300°F (150°C) oven for 2 hours.
- Uncover and bake until sauce is thickened and coats beans, about 2 hours.
- (Make-ahead: Refrigerate in airtight container for up to 3 days.)
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION, PER SERVING: about 403 cal, 14 g pro, 13 g total fat (6 g
sat. fat), 59 g carb, 10 g fibre, 16 mg chol, 462 mg sodium, 812 mg potassium. % RDI:
13% calcium, 34% iron, 5% vit C, 89% folate.
TIP FROM THE TEST KITCHEN
Blackstrap and cooking molasses both have
a stronger flavour than fancy molasses. If you
prefer a milder taste, feel free to use fancy
molasses instead.
