We have always been relatively healthy eaters but everybody has their vices, mine is canned beans. Due to the baby’s soy allergy/intolerance, our participation in the Nestle boycott,and the desire to eat more whole foods we’ve been making things from scratch. There is little as satisfying as taking an over processed comfort/junk food and using it as inspiration for a delicious meal.
Baked Beans are very easy in a Crockpot but do take a long time. It sure is worth it, as is all the sugar (I didn’t say this was health food). They also freeze well.
1 lb of beans (if I can find solider beans I use those, generally I use navy beans)
1 large peeled onion studded with 3 cloves
enough water to cover beans
½ cup of brown sugar
½ cup of molasses
¼ cup of maple syrup
2 tsp of apple cider vinegar
½ tsp of salt
1/8 tsp of ground pepper
2 tsp dried mustard
1/2 cup of butter (or vegan or carnivore fat of your choice)
Rinse your beans under cold water. Cover with water and soak overnight/all day. This soaking helps soften up the beans and starts the germination process which helps you digest them.
Twenty four hours later, drain and rinse the beans really well.
Toss any split beans, loose skins or generally ugly beans in the compost.
Throw them in your Crockpot/slow cooker with the clove studded onion.
Add all your ingredients in no particular order. Stir around a bit.
Turn the Crockpot on high and start cooking them for a full work day. I have let them cook for as long as 20 hours, starting on low and turning them up to high for the last 8 hours or so if that’s how the timing works out. I know it’s a little excessive, but they really are delicious and the smell of molasses filling your house is spectacular. Check them a few times, if the liquid has reduced too much, add a little water, if the beans seem close to ready and they’re too wet, take the lid off for a bit. Pull out the onion bits before serving.
Although the cooking time is long, the amount of work is minimal, probably 5 minutes worth of actual labour.
I like to eat them with mustard and toast which I hear this is an East Coast thing. I think I need to go have some right now…
That looks really good. I'll bet the cloves add some great flavor. Yum! Thanks for posting this, I'll be trying it out for sure!
The flavours in your baked beans sound fantastic – great recipe!
I love that clove studded onion. At first I thought you were just making it look like a funny character. I've never heard of doing that before. Very fun! And the beans look sooooo good! Thanks for sharing!
The clove studded onion is something my mother does, it's really great
Amazing! I’m so excited about the no tomatoes part! I also love canned beans with mustard and toast but I like liberally applied pepper too. I don’t eat them often any more because of GMOs and BPAs. I now cook all my plain beans in the crock pot and freeze them in their own cooking water.
I think your beans would be good with a tsp of dried summer savory in them too.
I’m going to try this as part of my deep freezer stash that I’m building for my on call days.