To me, baked beans are an essential addition to summer time meals. I can't imagine a great cookout without them, can you? They are the perfect side dish with hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, BBQ, pork chops, filet mignon...ok, so maybe I'm getting a little carried away. But you get my point. BAKED BEANS ARE AWESOME. And our Smoked Baked Beans are no exception.
Suppose we should have called them Smoked Beans???
Our Smoked Baked Beans are OMG. (Oh My Good.)
One weekend we decided to smoke baby back ribs. (I am a self-proclaimed rib connoisseur. And yes, I had to google that spelling.)
I was not about to be stuck inside in the kitchen with baking beans. So I said "Self, this smoker is hot. Probably hot enough to cook these beans through and get them all warm and bubbly, sticky and sweet, and full of smoky flavor."
Self was 100% correct.
We carted our ingredients outside, and enjoyed our afternoon out on the deck. Great time to enjoy a tasty adult beverage? Why yes, it was. (Have you tried our delicious and refreshing Mojitos?)
Our trusty fave skillet Lucille was brought out for this recipe.
We cooked our peppers and onions first to give them a great texture and fried flavor. Caramelized onions have the best smell, don't they? So good.
If you love cooking with Cast Iron, check out more of our favorite recipes here.
We used our favorite brand of baked beans, from a Tennessee-based company: Bush's Baked Beans
.
Their original flavor is a great base for our recipe.
We drained the beans (but do not rinse them.)
Then we added our own "little of this, little of that". That is the fun part. Adding spices and flavors to give your baked beans the perfect homemade flavor.
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Family secret from our Uncle Dennis: add a little sweet pickle relish to your baked beans.
So good, the sweet flavor just cooks right into the beans, plus it adds more color to the dish. (Thanks for that tip, Uncle D!)
We used our own sweet squash and pickle recipe (we will post it one of these days).
And no self-respecting skillet of beans would be complete without bacon.
If this recipe is calling your name, you have to try these:
Easy Grilled Pork Chop Marinade
Carolina Mustard Chicken Wings
Spicy Jamaican Slaw
Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese
My advice on using bacon in this type of dish: get it really crispy FIRST. If you put it in raw, ugh. If you put it in cooked normally, that's good for flavor but the texture changes when it sits in the bean sauce. However, nice, crispy fried bacon will soften just a little, and have the perfect bite after simmering in the baked beans for a few hours.
Our smoked baked beans were on the smoker
for about 2 hours, until the excess liquid had evaporated and they were heated and bubbly. You can give them a stir occasionally, but as long as your smoker stays under 300 degrees, they should not burn.
Plus you will be smoking these baked beans alongside ribs or chicken or something else fantastic, so you will be able to keep an eye on them.
Talk about amazing smoky flavor. These are not your ordinary baked beans. And yes, I ate this plate of beans.
Smoked Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 2 28 oz cans Bush's original baked beans drained
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 1 small onion peeled and chopped
- ½ lb hickory smoked bacon chopped
- 2 TB reserved bacon grease
- ¼ cup BBQ sauce your favorite kind
- ¼ cup brown sugar light or dark
- 2 TB sweet pickle relish
- 1 ½ TB yellow mustard
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In a large cast iron skillet, cook bacon pieces over a grill or stove until crispy. Drain on paper towels or newspaper. Set aside. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease.
- In the same pan, saute peppers and onions until they are tender and the onions are caramelized.
- Pour the drained baked beans into the skillet, and add the bacon, bbq sauce, brown sugar, pickle relish, mustard and pepper. Stir well to combine.
- Place pan in the smoker, and slow cook for several hours until excess liquid is evaporated, beans are bubbly and cooked through. The longer they are on the smoker, the stronger the smoked flavor will be. We smoked our beans for 2 hours on a smoker around 250 degrees.
What type of wood chips did you use in your smoker?
This day we were using Mesquite chips I believe.
I don't usually eat baked beans especially if it's bland looking from the can kind of baked beans. But yours, I would dig in immediately. Looks really good. Unfortunately I don't have a smoker but I will still try out but without the smoking process. 🙂
Oh this recipe is great in the oven or on stove top. ????????????????
Using 1/4 to 1/2 liquid smoke will give you a similar taste!
Absolutely!
A quarter to a half.....what? Cup? Tablespoon? Teaspoon? Details please!
I can't speak for Sherry, but based on my experience with Liquid Smoke (and how strong it is), she means quarter to half of a teaspoon.
I just made these beans today and I just had to tell you how very tasty they are, I never smoked baked beans before but my bean recipe is similar so I wanted to try your recipe. THESE BEANS ARE TERRIFIC. Everyone liked them. Thanks for the recipe.
Val
I am so happy you tried them - and even happier you like our recipe. (Super easy, too...just throw them on while everything else is cooking.)
Excellent recipe. We always add some leftover meats from the previous barbecue brisket, pulled pork. Smoked sausage. Whatever leftovers we have frozen.
Great idea. I love meat in my baked beans. Thanks for the ideas and feedback.
Whenever i smoke boston butts for pulled pork I always freeze several packages for later use in recipes such as this. It makes a world of difference!
Good call on adding pulled pork into the beans. We do the same thing to make pulled pork nachos or stuffed potatoes. YUM!
Add in a tbsp of apple cider vinegar. Makes a world of a difference.
You're like me..you like a little extra zing. 🙂