Picnic Baked Beans
Submitted by darina
Picnic Baked Beans made from scratch with dried navy beans, molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard, and crumbled bacon. Classic slow-baked New England beans for a crowd - serves 16.
YIELD
16 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
3 hrsREADY
5 hrsThese baked beans are worth the time investment, and there’s a lot of it.
Dried navy beans get the quick-soak treatment - a short boil followed by an hour’s rest - then simmer until tender before the real work begins. The sauce is pure New England: ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, dry mustard, and crumbled bacon all go in together and the whole thing bakes low and slow for up to 2.5 hours, thickening as the beans absorb the sauce.
Serves 16. They travel and reheat beautifully - a natural for a picnic or potluck.
Kitchen Tips
- Save the bean cooking liquid; you’ll use it to loosen the beans as they thicken in the oven
- Stir occasionally and check the consistency - saucy but not soupy is what you’re after
- Make them a day ahead; like all baked beans, they’re better the next day
Ingredients
Directions
Rinse beans; place in a Dutch oven with 2 quarts water.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let stand for 1 hour.
Drain and rinse.
Return beans to Dutch oven with remaining water; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat; simmer for 1 hour or until beans are tender.
Drain, reserving cooking liquid. In the Dutch oven or a 3-quart baking dish , combine beans, onion, ketchup, brown sugar, 1 cup cooking liquid, molasses, salt, mustard and bacon; mix well.
Cover and bake at 300℉ (150℃) for 2 to 2½ hours or until beans are as thick as desired.
Stir occasionally and add more of the reserved cooking liquid if needed.
Comments
