Spiced Baked Beans with a warming spice blend that offers a bit of Heat for some wonderful and quite amazing Sweet Heat Baked Beans. The thing about these Beans is not only the Aroma that fills the kitchen as they cook, which is just pure comfort. But the incredible taste of these Beans is something else. It's a beautiful blend of warming spices and a very nice Sweet Heat, which just makes it. You'll take a bite and go yeah, pretty good. But then afterward, the lingering flavors, the lure of it, there's something special about it, and you'll find yourself wanting more.
Servings: 6 portions
Equipment
- 1 Deep Skillet or Pan with lid
- 1 Digital Scale
Ingredients
- 8 C Water
- 2 C Beans - Navy or White Beans
- 1 Tbl Sea Salt
- 1 Onion - diced small
- 114 g Fat - See notes
Baked Beans Spices
- 1 tsp Sea Salt, Smoked Paprika, Black Pepper, Chili Powder, and Dry Mustard - each, use 1/2 tsp Black Pepper for less heat
- 1/2 tsp Allspice
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon, Clove, and Mace - each
Molasses Baked Bean Sauce
- 1/2 C Fancy Molasses
- 1/4 C Ketchup & Sugar - each
- 1/2 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
Slurry — optional
- 1 tsp Arrowroot
- 1 tsp Water
Instructions
- Add Beans to the deep pan or pot and cover with 8 Cups of Water & 1 Tbl of Sea Salt. Bring it to a boil and then set aside to cool. Once cooled, transfer to the fridge to soak overnight, a full 24 hours.
- Heat the refrigerated pot of Beans over max heat and add your diced Onions & Fat. Bring to a boil and hold for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low to simmer for about 1 hour, covered. Check at 45 minutes and simmer longer if needed. The beans should be soft & starchy or creamy throughout, without any hard or grainy texture and no splitting of the beans.Note that because the sauce contains vinegar, the beans exterior will harden a bit, so be sure you simmer the beans until creamy all the way through first before adding the sauce which contains the vinegar.
- When the Beans are softened to your liking, add the Bean Sauce ingredients & Bean Spice. Mix well and continue to cook while covered for another 1 hour or longer, mixing every so often. Reduce the heat lower as the sauce thickens to maintain a simmer.
- When the Beans are colored nicely and the sauce has thickened to your liking, remove from heat and serve right away.If a thicker consistency to the beans are desired, add more molasses or add the slurry. To add the slurry, combine the Arrowroot & Cold Water together in a small bowl to mix and pour into the simmering beans, while mixing until thickened. Repeat if necessary until thickened to your liking.
Notes
BEAN FAT: The Fat can come from previously trimmed fat from pork chops, pork loins or ham that have been frozen for later use. I do this often when slicing ham for braising. I just trim off all the fat and freeze it. It can also come from bacon, or salt pork back that has been diced and soaked in water for about 2 hours. This is done to get rid of the excess salt before including with the Beans. Use 1/4 lb or 114 g or more, no matter the type of Fat used. Optionally use 1/4 C of Neutral Oil if preferred.