Spicy Baked Beans
These easy Spicy Baked Beans are a zippy, flavorful take on the classic summer potluck dish.
Servings: 10
Calories: 380kcal
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 small green or red bell pepper diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper seeded as desired and diced
- 56 ounces Bush's Best Original Baked Beans undrained (2 28-ounce cans)
- 15 ounces canned kidney beans drained
- 15 ounces canned pinto beans drained
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 5 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place a Dutch oven over MEDIUM-HIGH heat and add the bacon. Cook until browned and crisped. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain, allow to cool, and then crumble and set aside.
- Drain all but about 2 tablespoons bacon grease from the pot and return it to MEDIUM heat. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and jalapeno pepper and cook, stirring, until the onion and peppers are tender. Return the crumbled bacon to the Dutch oven. Mix in the canned baked beans with their liquid and the drained kidney and pinto beans. Stir in the ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
- Cover the Dutch oven and bake for one hour. Stir the beans once about halfway through the cooking time.
Slow Cooker Method
- Prepare the beans on the stove, as directed and then transfer them to a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Cook on low for 3 hours at the most, stirring about halfway through the cooking time. Canned beans are already cooked so you want to avoid cooking them longer than 3 hours in a slow cooker or they can take on a mushy texture.
Notes
Controlling the Heat Level
For milder beans, trim the ribs and remove all the seeds from the jalapeno and omit the cayenne pepper. For spicy beans, feel free to increase the amount of cayenne to suit your taste.
Make-Ahead Instructions
Baked beans reheat very well and can be made up to two days in advance.
- Allow the cooked beans to cool and then transfer them to an airtight container and refrigerate promptly.
- Reheat them gently on the stove or covered in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, or just until warmed through.
- Transfer the cooked and cooled beans to freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Allow frozen beans to thaw safely in the refrigerator before reheating.
Nutrition
Calories: 380kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 1470mg | Potassium: 929mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 1315IU | Vitamin C: 17.2mg | Calcium: 143mg | Iron: 4.8mg