Easy BBQ Baked Beans – Vegan Option Included!
An easy store bought to homemade solution to canned baked beans. These are sticky, sweet, savory and a little spicy and are so easy to be made vegan as well!
It’s officially BBQ season and I am here to help ya’ll level up your bbqs with recipes that are not only incredibly delicious and easy to make, but also easily made vegan or vegetarian. Because let’s be honest, ya’ll are doing the non-meaters dirty having them eat the burger toppings for their entire meal. On a serious note, these delicious, sweet and savory baked beans will be the talk of the entire cookout when you make these! The best part, you could make one batch and set aside a bit just for the non meat eaters and not do any more work! Oh, and you know there’s a video!
The Inspiration
I love baked beans. In fact, they are a family favorite in the house I grew up in. My niece loves them, my sister makes a great version and my mom is the OG when it comes to baked beans. As I’ve been on my own health journey, I’ve been tryin to be more intentional about what I eat. Don’t get me wrong, I love to doctor up a can of baked beans, but I feel like I am adding things because the flavor isn’t where I want it. So why not just add what is needed the first time around!
These bbq baked beans are just as easy as adding to a can of baked beans, but so much better when you build and customize your sauce! You can make these sweet, spicy, vinegary, super meaty or heavy on the veg. It’s all up to you! I’m gonna give you some tips, but I think ya’ll got this!
Tips For Making
This recipe is pretty straight forward, but some tips for making this cook go even more smoothly are below!
- When it comes to the flavor you like most, feel free to add more or less of anything. For me personally, I like more mustard and vinegar, but the recipe is written for things to be balanced!
- To make a vegan version of this, simply leave out the meat and start with 2 tbsp oil in a pan to cook the red bell peppers!
- You can speed up the cook of the beans by cooking at a higher temp, but you have to watch the liquid as it will evaporate faster.
That’s all I have for ya’ll today. Again, welcome back and be sure to tag me if you make this online. You can find me on tiktok @heyyallitsnik and on pinterest, instagram, facebook, twitter and youtube @LizeeAngel!
Easy BBQ Baked Beans – Vegan Option Included!
Ingredients
- 3 Cans 15 oz Navy Beans drained, not rinsed
- 1/2 lb Meat of choice (ground beef or bacon) optional
- 1/2 large red bell pepper, finely diced
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp tsp onion powder
- 1/2 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 cups stock of choice
- 1 bay leaf
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in middle of the oven.
- In a deep skillet or dutch oven, brown ground beef or bacon until it is 90% done over medium heat. Season with salt, pepper and set aside. If not using meat, proceed to step 3.
- If meat was cooked in the skillet, add red peppers to the remaining fat, if not, add a tbsp of oil and cook red peppers until the begin to feel tender, about 7 minutes. Add onions and continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- To the pan, add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir into the vegetables. Cook for 4 minutes to cook out the raw taste of the paste. Add spices and cook an additional 3 minutes to do the same.
- Next, add remaining ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, molasses and maple syrup. Stir to combine and cook until the mixture begins to just boil. About 4 minutes.
- To this bbq sauce mixture, add your stock and stir to ensure it's combined. Taste and adjust for salt and other flavors to get the balance of flavors you like. Add bay leaf, bring to a simmer, and cook for about 5 minutes.
- If cooking in a dutch oven, add your beans and cooked meat to the pot. If using a baking dish, add beans, ground beef and bbq sauce mixture to the baking dish and stir to combine.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake covered for 1 hour. After an hour, remove the foil, stir and bake an additional hour our until the sauce thickens to desired texture for baked beans, stirring about every 30 minutes to ensure top of beans do not burn.
- Allow to cool for at least 10 mins and Enjoy!
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