The summer season has been in full swing for well over a month now, and like many, I’ve been keeping myself occupied by cooking a lot of barbeques. And while the myriad of smoked meats are rightfully the main focus of such occasions, I often need to remind myself that the classic side dishes deserve their fair share of love and affection too. I truly do love them all, whether it be coleslaw, stewed greens, or mac n’ cheese. But let’s be honest, the favorite child of this barbeque family has, and always will be BBQ baked beans. It’s the one side dish that any barbeque feast would feel incomplete without. So in the spirit of summer, I have decided to share with you folks one of my favorite recipes for BBQ baked beans.
Now as always, before we can dive into the recipe itself, we need to discuss a few things.
First and foremost, let’s talk about the main ingredient, the beans. This might sound strange, coming from a guy who runs a cooking blog, but please for all that is holy, forgo your foolish pride, and just use canned beans instead of making the beans from scratch. Trust me when I say that no one will ever eat your beans and compliment you on the fact that they were made from dried beans. NO ONE! It is nothing more than a complete waste of your time, and in the hands of an inexperienced cook, it can end up ruining the beans.
Why?
Well, it all has to do with a chemical reaction that will occur between the beans and the tomato-based sauce. You see, if beans aren’t overly cooked (i.e. boiled the hell out of) before being introduced to tomatoes, then the acid in the tomatoes will cause the beans to become tough. There is nothing worse than spending hours making baked beans to end up with a final product that is practically inedible. I know this well, as I have had plenty of experience with it. So honestly, if you care about your sanity, then follow my advice, and just use already cooked beans from a can. No one will ever know the difference. However, because I know someone will want to try out dried beans anyway, I have decided to provide instructions on how to do it.
So buckle up because making BBQ baked beans is definitely a process, but I guarantee you will all enjoy it.
BBQ Baked Beans Recipe
Prep time: 30 minutes with canned beans, 1 day with dried beans
Cook Time: 2 to 5 hours
Servings: about 10 to 14
Ingredients
1 LB of dried white beans, or 4 15oz cans of cooked beans (washed)
1 28oz can of crushed fire roasted tomatoes
1 Bottle of your favorite beer (12 fl oz.)
½ Cup of dijon mustard
½ Cup of molasses
½ Cup of apple cider vinegar
½ Cup of brown sugar
2 Teaspoons of salt
1 Medium sweet onion (diced)
Optional:
Couple dashes of your favorite hot sauce
Instructions
- Soak the beans: First, get your beans and pick out any stones, or beans that look shriveled up. I find that the easiest way to do this is to pour out some of the beans onto your kitchen counter and to go through them in sections. After you have done this, wash the beans in a colander, and then place them into a large bowl. Cover these beans with water, and let them soak for 18 to 24 hours.
- Simmer the beans: Strain the beans, place them into a large pot, and cover them again with water. Don’t worry about the amount of water just make sure that the beans are covered by an inch or two. Place this pot on your stove, bring it to a boil, and then turn the heat down to let it simmer for about an hour and a half to two hours. You will know that the beans are cooked enough when they easily mush when you squeeze them. Once the beans have reached this state, strain them, and set them aside.
- Preheat your oven, grill, or smoker: Cooking temperatures will differ, depending on which of these three options you decide to use. For an oven or grill, I recommend that you preheat to around 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are using a smoker then I recommend that you preheat to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. Don’t worry if your cooking temperatures are not the same as I recommend. Just keep in mind that hotter temperatures will have a shorter cooking time, while cooler temperatures, will have longer cooking time.
- Make the sauce: Get out another bowl and add to it the canned tomatoes, beer, mustard, molasses, cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and hot sauce. Mix all of these ingredients together to form the base of the baked beans sauce.
- Put it all together: Get out a large baking dish if you have decided to cook the beans in the oven, or a large aluminum tray if you have decided to cook the beans on a grill or smoker. Add to the container, either the cans of beans or the dried beans which you have cooked.
Then add the sauce, and the diced onion. Mix all of this until everything is distributed well.
It is at this time that you will notice that there will be more sauce than you would normally prefer your beans to have, but don’t worry, as the sauce will reduce while cooking.
- Bake, grill, or smoke the beans: Place the beans in either your preheated oven, preheated grill, or preheated smoker. The beans should cook for about 2 to 3 hours at 350 degrees or about 4 to 5 hours at 220 degrees. However, because the beans are already fully cooked, all we are doing at this point is reducing and concentrating the flavors of the sauce.
Thus all you need to do is cook the beans long enough until the sauce is as thick or thin as you prefer. Really it’s that simple. Once the sauce has reduced to your desired thickness, simply take the beans off of the heat and let them rest for about 10 minutes.
- Serve & enjoy your BBQ baked beans
BBQ Baked Beans Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 LB of dried white beans or 4 15oz cans of cooked beans (washed)
- 1 28 oz can of crushed fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 Bottle of your favorite beer 12 fl oz.
- ½ Cup of dijon mustard
- ½ Cup of molasses
- ½ Cup of apple cider vinegar
- ½ Cup of brown sugar
- 2 Teaspoons of salt
- 1 Medium sweet onion diced
Optional:
- Couple dashes of your favorite hot sauce
Instructions
- Soak the beans: First, get your beans and pick out any stones, or beans that look shriveled up. I find that the easiest way to do this is to pour out some of the beans onto your kitchen counter and to go through them in sections. After you have done this, wash the beans in a colander, and then place them into a large bowl. Cover these beans with water, and let them soak for 18 to 24 hours.
- Simmer the beans: Strain the beans, place them into a large pot, and cover them again with water. Don’t worry about the amount of water just make sure that the beans are covered by an inch or two. Place this pot on your stove, bring it to a boil, and then turn the heat down to let it simmer for about an hour and a half to two hours. You will know that the beans are cooked enough when they easily mush when you squeeze them. Once the beans have reached this state, strain them, and set them aside.
- Preheat your oven, grill, or smoker: Cooking temperatures will differ, depending on which of these three options you decide to use. For an oven or grill, I recommend that you preheat to around 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are using a smoker then I recommend that you preheat to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. Don’t worry if your cooking temperatures are not the same as I recommend. Just keep in mind that hotter temperatures will have a shorter cooking time, while cooler temperatures, will have longer cooking time.
- Make the sauce: Get out another bowl and add to it the canned tomatoes, beer, mustard, molasses, cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and hot sauce. Mix all of these ingredients together to form the base of the baked beans sauce.
- Put it all together: Get out a large baking dish if you have decided to cook the beans in the oven, or a large aluminum tray if you have decided to cook the beans on a grill or smoker. Add to the container, either the cans of beans or the dried beans which you have cooked. Then add the sauce, and the diced onion. Mix all of this until everything is distributed well. It is at this time that you will notice that there will be more sauce than you would normally prefer your beans to have, but don’t worry, as the sauce will reduce while cooking.
- Bake, grill, or smoke the beans: Place the beans in either your preheated oven, preheated grill, or preheated smoker. The beans should cook for about 2 to 3 hours at 350 degrees or about 4 to 5 hours at 220 degrees. However, because the beans are already fully cooked, all we are doing at this point is reducing and concentrating the flavors of the sauce. Thus all you need to do is cook the beans long enough until sauce is as thick or thin as you prefer. Really it’s that simple. Once the sauce has reduced to your desired thickness, simply take the beans off of the heat and let them rest for about 10 minutes.
Try these BBQ baked beans with our recipe for apple juice brined smoked turkey
Inspiration from other blogs
From Dinner Then Dessert
From Eazy Peazy Mealz
