It’s My Best Baked Bean Recipe

it’s actually my only baked bean recipe

That’s right readers, this is the only baked bean recipe in my culinary war chest and there is a very good reason why.

You ready? Because my mom is the official family baked bean expert.

Hands down…she flat out makes the best baked beans in the world, and that’s a really big place.

Exactly. Hers are a little sweet, a little savory, and cooked with a little crust on the side.

In a word…extraordinary.

I mean, everyone needs an extraordinary baked bean recipe in their repertoire, right?

So you are probably hoping I will share her deliciousness, but alas, it’s not shareable. And there’s a really good reason for that, too.

Primarily because, like me, she just starts throwing ingredients in the pot…literally. Oh you know, here’s a little ketchup, a lot of brown sugar, etc., but it might be cup and it might be a quart!

So, I was left to my own devices.

And the Alphabet Mom had to get busy looking for a great recipe just in time for the 4^th and by George Washington, I think I found it.

I actually had to read through thousands of recipes to find this one.

That’s really not true, but it was a lot. I was getting to the point that once you’ve seen one baked bean recipe you’ve seen them all.

And then hold the phones, I found this jewel.

On my “test kitchen night,” I didn’t get started until late, you know, because I am very busy and important, and that’s just when I got started.

My son did think it a little odd that I was baking beans at 9:00 at night.

“Like, Mom, did you just get hungry and decide you wanted some beans?” Yes, son, I was craving baked beans so I whipped me some up (insert eye roll emoji here).

However, after he tasted them, he was very happy that I stayed in the test kitchen late. And since he’s Bobby Flay, Jr., I felt pretty good that I got his seal of approval.

So let’s get started because today I know you are busy and don’t have time to read my unrelated stories to baked beans. I’m not even sure I could come up with one!

 Let me start with this readers, I have to at least double every recipe I make because we are usually feeding a small nation at meal time.

In this case, I doubled it. I started with a pound of bacon that I simply cut into small bites (it makes frying it up faster) and put those in my dutch oven.

It only took about 10 minutes and I had a nice little plate of bacon bits. Hummmm…I might want to make these homemade soon to enhance a salad.

With bacon comes drippings (that kind of sounds like we have a pet elephant…wait…that’s droppings) and you will need to empty your pot, leaving 2 tablespoons.

At this point, I browned two pounds of hamburger meat with a chopped onion. It smelled divine.

This recipe uses three different kinds of beans…so meet the stars of the show.

Next, drain the fat from your hamburger and toss in the beans and bacon.

Finally, combine the mustard, ketchup, brown sugar and Worcestershire. Mix everything well and bake for 35 minutes.

I have to tell you, all when all these flavors get married, it’s a baked bean match made in Heaven!

They were so good, my official photographer, Gracie B, said this would be the first recipe she was making when she learns to cook.

Wow!

Happy Independence Day, readers! How lucky we are to live in this great country and have the freedom to be anything we aspire to be, which makes building this blog fun and exciting.

I hope you and your family enjoy this wonderful weekend and it’s full of the three F’s: food, fun and fellowship!

Mine’s going to be full of these beans and cheese potatoes! Yes, recipe is coming soon…stay tuned!

Question: What are some of your favorite July 4th recipes?