Old Fashioned Baked Beans

Growing up, my parents would often make baked beans. They were so sweet and delicious! I have no idea what was in them. Looking on pinterest and in recipe books for a recipe for baked beans and I noticed most are filled with unnecessary refined sugars. I decided I needed to create a recipe for unrefined sugar free baked beans that are more nourishing! This can be made vegan which is how I made mine - just don't add the pork and replace it with a little liquid smoke. :-)

I used mainly molasses in this recipe. You can use regular Crosby's but I personally ended up using an organic unsulphured molasses because of its extra nutritional contents! Check it out for yourself:

I'm all about boosting the nutrients where and when I can!

Old Fashioned Baked Beans Recipe:

Start with the beans:

2 cups Navy Beans - cover with water and soak for 24 hours, drain. Then cover it with water again and bring to a boil. Cook them until they are soft! Then drain again.

Alternatively, you could use 2 cans of navy beans. Look for the cans that are BPA lining free!

Next:

1 medium sized onion, diced

2 tsp Raw, Unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp Prepared, Dijon or yellow mustard

1 Tbsp Coconut sugar

1/4 cup (or more) Molasses of choice

1/2 cup Ketchup (I used my Mom's homemade ketchup, Simply Natural is another great brand)

Fresh ground pepper and himilayan salt, to taste

Optional: Few pieces of bacon or salt pork, sliced or chopped up (Omit if vegan/vegetarian)

Optional: Water, if necessary

Mix these ingredients together. Add the cooked beans. Combine together. Place in a casserole dish, instant pot or slow cooker. Add a little water during the cooking process if necessary.

Oven: 250 degrees for 6-8 hours

Instant pot: Select the bean/chili setting, 30 minutes on high pressure

Slow Cooker: Low setting for 6-8 hours

This is delicious served with fresh homemade bread rolls, bread, or cornbread (recipe coming to my blog soon!)

Advice if your beans are still hard: If you use older dry beans - these will take MUCH longer to cook. I cook my own beans from dry frequently but this was my first time I had this experience making beans after finding a bag of beans in the back of my closet. LOL I ended up throwing them into my instant pot after 6 hours in the slow cooker. I added about 1/2 tsp baking soda and put them on high pressure for an extra 30 minutes. It was a success! If you have no instant pot, add water until they are covered and keep cooking them! :)

Enjoy

-K