Old Fashioned Molasses and Bacon Baked Beans

Old Fashioned Molasses and Bacon Baked Beans. This easy recipe has all the flavour of grandma’s baked beans. Once they are in the oven, all you need is plenty of patience to let these slow cook to perfection.

Old Fashioned Molasses and Bacon Baked Beans.

Baked beans is another family favourite in our household and we have several go-to recipes depending on what else is on the menu.

Search baked beans on this website and you’ll see several recipes from spicy Maple Chipotle to Baked Beans with Apple Sausage.

White Beans.

Today’s recipe is the one we use most often though and is pretty close to how I first made them over 30 years ago.

The only real difference is that I like to use smoked paprika for added smokey flavour to the beans these days. But you can easily substitute regular paprika if you can’t find smoked.

Fancy molasses is best for this recipe.

Be careful to use fancy molasses or light molasses in this recipe, other types like blackstrap or cooking molasses can be too strongly flavoured.

This batch is also quite big and would serve a dozen people or more. However, we always make this large a batch to freeze them in 16 -20 ounce plastic containers.

Then for weeks later we can enjoy them for lunch or with a great brunch. If you don’t want to make that much, the recipe is easily halved.

Apple Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwiches with homemade baked beans.

We love these beans served with our favourite Apple Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwiches.

The pulled pork and the beans are slow cooked for a similar amount of time. So, we often have both in the oven at the same time and are guaranteed leftovers for a couple of days, so it’s a great weekend cooking project.

Old Fashioned Molasses and Bacon Baked Beans.

Like this Old Fashioned Molasses & Bacon Baked Beans recipe?

You’ll find many more like this in our Newfoundland Inspired Recipes and in our Side Dishes Category.

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Old Fashioned Molasses and Bacon Baked Beans

Yield: 16 or more servings as a side dish

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5 hours

Total Time: 5 hours 20 minutes

Old Fashioned Molasses and Bacon Baked Beans. This easy recipe has all the flavour of grandma's baked beans. Once they are in the oven, all you need is plenty of patience to let these slow cook to perfection.

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb dry white beans, or navy beansInstructions
• 1 lb sliced smoked bacon, cut in small pieces
• 4 cloves cloves minced garlic
• 2 large red onions chopped
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup light or fancy molasses
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 4 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• one 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes, pureed
• one 28 ounce can tomato sauce
• 4 tbsp dijon mustard

Instructions

1. Begin by soaking in water overnight or up to 48 hours.
2. In a large skillet slowly fry the bacon. Completely render the fat out of the bacon, leaving it crispy.
3. Pour off the majority of the fat from the pan. Set the bacon aside.
4. Return the pan to the stove over medium heat and add the onions and garlic.
5. Cook until the onions and garlic are softened, then add the water.
6. Let the water come to the boil to deglaze the pan.
7. Add to a large covered roaster (Turkey roasting size) along with the crisp bacon, the soaked beans (which have been drained) and add all of the remaining ingredients.
8. Stir all together well, cover and place in a 325 degree F oven for 4-5 hours or longer, stirring occasionally. The beans should be fully cooked and tender and the sauce should thicken. (see NOTE Regarding cooking time.)
9. I almost always add a little extra boiling water at a few points during the cooking time if the sauce thickens too quickly before the beans are fully cooked, usually about 1 to 1 1/2 cups at a time. This is not a problem at all and is to be expected.

Notes

The cooking time seems to vary a great deal depending upon the type of white bean you are using. I have seen some that can take up to 8 hours to fully cook in a slow oven. The best approach is to consider this an all day recipe that you start in the morning for dinner. Baked beans are even better when cooked a day ahead, which is how I mostly cook them.

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Nutrition Information

Yield

16

Serving Size

g
Amount Per Serving Calories 307Total Fat 11gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 28mgSodium 1184mgCarbohydrates 39gFiber 6gSugar 22gProtein 16g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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