Best Mennonite Traditional Baked Beans Recipes

EASY BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. Transfer to a greased 3-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours or until bubbly.

OLD FASHIONED BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Place the dried beans in a pot of water covered by a few inches of water and let soak overnight. Drain the beans, place them back in the pot with fresh water and bring to a boil. Simmer for one hour, then drain, reserving the liquid. See NOTE.
• In a Dutch oven or other oven-proof pot fry the bacon until crispy then add the onions and cook until soft and translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.Stir in the tomato sauce, molasses, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, salt, pepper and bay leaf.Add 1 1/2 cups of the reserved bean water and the beans.Bring everything to a simmer for a minute or two to heat it up. In the meantime preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Transfer the Dutch oven with the lid on to the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 2 to 3 hours or until the beans are tender and the sauce has thickened, removing the lid during the last 20-30 minutes to help the sauce thicken. NOTE: If at any point during the cooking process too much liquid evaporates and the beans get dry, add a little more of the reserved bean water. The beans themselves can vary from batch to batch and you may end up either needing to add more liquid if the beans are too dry or you may need to bake the beans longer with the lid off if there is too much liquid. Adjust as needed.Add more salt the pepper to taste.Serve immediately or let cool completely and refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be reheated on the stovetop or in the microwave.
• SLOW COOKER METHOD: Follow steps 1 and 2 and then pour everything into the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours or until the beans are tender. Open the lid for the last 30 minutes or longer until the sauce has thickened. If the beans are too thick at any point and too much liquid has evaporated, stir in a little extra water.

EASY BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Fry the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the drippings, and drain it on paper towels. Crumble and set aside.
• Add the onion to the pan with the bacon drippings and saute until softened, a couple minutes. Stir in the beans, molasses, brown sugar, mustard and crumbled bacon, and mix well.
• Pour the beans into a 3-quart casserole and bake, uncovered, for about 45 minutes.

MENNONITE TRADITIONAL BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Put beans in a large saucepan, pour in enough water to cover. Soak beans overnight.
• Drain beans, return to pan and add 3-4 cups fresh water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until skins wrinkle; about 30 minutes.
• In large covered roaster, combine salt, bay leaf, dry mustard, brown sugar, onion, ham bone and diced ham.
• Drain beans and add to roaster.
• Pour enough tomato juice over beans, just to cover.
• Cover roaster and bake at 300°F for 4 hours, adding additional tomato juice or water, as necessary.

PAT'S BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of drippings, crumble and set aside in a large bowl. Cook the onion and garlic in the reserved drippings until onion is tender; drain excess grease and transfer to the bowl with the bacon.
• To the bacon and onions add pinto beans, northern beans, baked beans, kidney beans and garbanzo beans. Stir in ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and black pepper. Mix well and transfer to a 9x12 inch casserole dish.
• Cover and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.

SIMPLE BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Mix baked beans with pork, molasses, onions, brown sugar and ketchup together and put in a greased casserole dish. Top with bacon, cover and bake for 3 hours or until thick.

BAKED BEANS TRADITIONAL BEAN-HOLE BEANS

Steps:

• Soak 2 pounds of yellow-eye beans overnight.
• Parboil beans until the skin peels away by blowing on a few beans in a spoon.
• Add the mix to the beans and stir slightly.
• Slice 1 pound salt pork into sections.
• Cut each section partly through in a criss-cross pattern and place pieces on top of the beans.
• Cover the beans and set to one side.
• The bean hole should be dug into the ground and be half again as large as your dutch oven or any other tightly lidded pot.
• Using seasoned hard wood, accumulate live coals until hole is 3/4 full.
• Shovel out the coals leaving about 3 inches of live coals in the bottom of the hole.
• Set the bean pot in the hole on top of the 3 inch bed of coals.
• Shovel the rest of the coals around and on top of the pot.
• Cover with dirt and check for escaping steam and making sure none is leaking out.
• If steam is leaking out, cover area with more dirt.
• Leave in the ground for 8 hours or overnight.
• Note: Make sure the beans are completely covered with hot water before putting in ground.
• The beans need to go into the ground hot.

SPICY RED-EYE BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Sort through the beans to make sure there are no little stones and then put them in a large bowl or pot. Add enough cold water to cover the beans by 2 inches and let soak overnight. Drain the beans well, tilting the colander instead of shaking it to gently extract the water and protect the beans' skins.
• Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 300°F
• Melt the butter in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add the chile powders, cumin, allspice, and 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Cook, stirring, until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the broth and ham hock. Stir to combine. Add the beans and bring just to a simmer. Cover and bake until the beans are easy to bite into but still a little mealy in texture, 45 to 60 minutes.
• Stir in the coffee, molasses, ketchup, Worcestershire, and oregano. Bake, uncovered, until the beans are fully tender, 30 to 60 minutes more. Cool to room temperature. Discard the oregano stems and the skin from the ham hock. Cut the meat off the bone and chop. Add the meat to the beans and discard the bone. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• To finish, bring to a simmer, uncovered, over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer until the sauce is reduced to the consistency of thin gravy, stirring occasionally so the bottom doesn't burn, 40 to 60 minutes. Stir in the bourbon (if using) and season the beans to taste with salt and pepper.

OLD TIME BAKED BEANS

Steps:

• Soak beans overnight in water, then boil until tender (not mushy) Note: Soaking is not mandatory but it reduces boiling time.
• Drain water and put beans in a large heavy pot or crock.
• (5 liter Corningware works well) Add all ingredients together and mix.
• Add enough water to cover beans.
• Cover and bake at 325 degrees for about 6 hours.
• Check beans while they are baking to add water to ensure they do not go dry.