Michelle Smiles

Teaching my children to question authority, except mine.

Bourbon Baked Beans

June7

My June Cooking Light magazine contained a recipe for Bourbon Baked Beans.  Memorial Day was looming and we were headed to a big picnic the Saturday before.  I decided I would try them for the picnic.  Then I had second thoughts.  Would the many children at the picnic hate the less familiar flavors?  Should I attempt something new and inflict it upon others before trying it myself?  So I took canned beans to the picnic (what? Bush’s does a good job) and made the from scratch beans at home for our own cook out on Monday.

During the cooking process, the Cooking Light recipe and I parted ways.  I decided these beans needed a little more bacon and some brown sugar.  Then I read some other recipes and saw people using coffee.  Later on I decided they needed a little bit of ketchup and mustard and a little more brown sugar.  I also decided they needed a little bit of spice…which I am going to leave out here because it overwhelmed the beans a bit.

A word of warning: if you’ve never had baked beans from scratch, you need to adjust your expectations a little bit.  The beans will not be as soft as the ones from the can no matter how long you soak them or bake them (unless someone knows something I don’t).  They aren’t hard…just firmer.  And a tip – these taste even better the next day so don’t be afraid to bake them and then warm them up the next day to serve.  Also, it is a long process so unless you don’t have plans to go any where don’t start this.

Bourbon Baked Beans (adapted from Cooking Light Recipe click here to see original)

1 lb dried navy beans

6 slices bacon

1 yellow sweet onion, diced

3 1/2 cups water (then more as you cook)

1/2 brewed coffee

1/2 cup maple syrup (the real stuff…the pancake stuff is too sweet), divided

1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons bourbon, divided

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup yellow mustard

1/4 cup ketchup

1 Tablespoon cider vinegar

Soak beans over night in water.

Drain beans and put aside.  Preheat oven to 350*.  (You can do all of this in a dutch oven if you have one. I do not.)  Cook bacon in large, deep skillet.  Remove from pan and crumble.  Reserve 2 Tablespoons of the drippings in the pan.  Brown the onion in the drippings for 5 minutes or until browned.  Add beans, bacon, 1/2 cup coffee, 3 1/2 cups water, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/4 cup bourbon, Dijon mustard, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce to pan.  Bring to a boil.

Transfer to a large baking pan (I used my big lasagna pan), cover with foil, and bake for 2 hours and 30 minutes.   Stir in 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup maple syrup, ketchup, yellow mustard, vinegar, and remaining 2 Tablespoon bourbon.  Cover and bake.  Check every hour.  If it is getting dry, add more water.  I cooked mine for a total of 5 hours.

Linking to Rachel’s Mouthwatering Monday.

posted under food
5 Comments to

“Bourbon Baked Beans”

  1. On June 7th, 2010 at 5:27 pm Manjit Says:

    U can soak the bean overnite with a pinch of baking soda. Wash them again and pressure cook in sufficient water with a pinch of soda for about 35 mins…they will turn out really soft.
    MD

  2. On June 7th, 2010 at 11:13 pm April Harris Says:

    The flavours you have used in this sound wonderful! I can just imagine how good they tasted!

  3. On June 8th, 2010 at 7:10 am Ani Says:

    I just saw a yummy recipe in the foo.d network, i think it was in the 5 ingr.edient fix show… they had bacon, brown sugar, bourbon and something else – but they looked very, very, very good 🙂

  4. On June 8th, 2010 at 5:30 pm Gibb Says:

    Those look wonderful but I’m lazy and that is way to much work. I’ll stick to Bush’s!

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