Baked Beans

When you order baked beans in a restaurant or fast food place, they can come in a variety of flavors. Some taste like pork and beans from a can. Some taste like the secret ingredient is kerosene. When I make baked beans, I want them to be hearty and flavorful, a side dish that greatly complements the main dish, which is usually some type of barbeque. I have made baked beans this way for many years, just adding what I wanted in them without measuring. I did, however, measure for the purpose of this post. I like Bush's Barbeque Baked Beans, but any kind of pork and beans is fine.

Baked Beans

8-10 slices of bacon
1 onion, finely chopped
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
2- 28 oz cans pork and beans
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup barbeque sauce (my favorite is Kraft Hickory Smoke)

Cut bacon into small pieces and saute. Remove from pan when done and drain on paper towels. Add onion and bell pepper to the bacon drippings and saute until tender. Combine ingredients and pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, or until bubbly.

Saute bacon until crisply done:

Then saute onion and bell pepper in bacon drippings until tender:

Add other ingredients. I did it this way to show the approximate proportions:

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

These are great with grilled chicken, pork, or hamburgers.