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Gracious Cooking

Easy Baked Beans With Jalapeños and Brown Sugar Recipe

These easy homemade baked beans run circles around a certain name brand baked bean. Rich, tangy, and packed with flavor, these beans come together so easily and are the perfect side for your family dinner or BBQ.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings: 6 servings
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 3 slices bacon cut into ½ inch pieces
  • ½ yellow onion diced small
  • 1 small jalapeno seeded and finely diced
  • 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar, but I prefer apple cider vinegar.
  • 1 Tablespoon unsulfured molasses
  • ¼ cup ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar lightly packed
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper freshly ground if possible
  • 2 15.5 ounce cans of Navy beans drained

Method
 

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the center position.
  2. Heat a large, oven safe skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon pieces and cook until the fat has rendered and there is some color on the bacon.
  3. Add the diced onion and jalapeno. Cook in the bacon fat until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring often. If you need more oil, add some neutral oil, like grapeseed, but you shouldn't need to do that. The bacon fat should be sufficient.
  4. Deglaze the pan with the apple cider vinegar. This means add it to the pan and let it boil for a second, then scrape up the tasty brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. These add major flavor. Stand back from the pan so you don't get vaporized vinegar in your sinuses. It'll clear you right out.
  5. Add the molasses, ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, salt, and pepper to the pan. Stir well to combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
  6. Add the 2 cans of drained navy beans and stir well to combine. Bring back to a simmer, and then carefully transfer the skillet to the preheated oven.
  7. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the sauce reduced slightly and the beans are bubbly and delicious.

Notes

You can make these beans vegetarian by omitting the bacon. Instead add 1 to 2 Tablespoons of a neutral oil (grapeseed, avocado, vegetable) to the pan and cook the onion and jalapeno in that. For the rest of the recipe, proceed as directed. 
Baked beans can be stored covered in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer in a plastic freezer bag for up to 3 months.