Baked beans are a weekly meat substitute in this household. The children love them and even after the beans have been eaten, the broth makes a wonderful sop for biscuits. I stumbled upon this recipe a year ago and loved it. I can’t say it is exactly Bush’s, but it’s pretty close if not better in flavor. Times I want to alter the flavor a bit for variety, I will add a cup of barbeque sauce or some liquid smoke but never steer away from the basic recipe base.
I often make a large roaster pan or two full. Then freeze (family size servings), or can.
Copycat Bush’s Baked Beans
* 1 package great northern bean
* 4 chicken bouillon cubes or beef bouillon cubes
* 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
* 1/4 cup molasses
* 1/4 cup cornstarch
* 1/4 cup onion
* 1/4 cup garlic powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons mustard powder
* 4 tablespoons chili powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
* 1/2 package hickory smoked thick cut bacon, cut into 1 1/2 inch strips
* 5 cups water, plus 5 cups for second bake
Directions
In a very large sauce pan cover the beans and bouillon cubes in 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil, cover, and let sit for 1 1/2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Drain and pour beans into a 9’x11′ pan.
Combine the remaining ingredients, pour over beans, stir, and bake until all the water has evaporated, about 3 hours. Remove from oven, cover, and let sit overnight.
Next day, Add the next 5 cups of water to the beans, place in oven at 350F and bake until all the water has evaporated, about 3 hours.
Hello,
I just recently found your site. I am really enjoying looking around. I want to try these beans, but I have a question. By 1 package, do you mean 1 lb. of beans?
Thank you.
A 16oz package is what I use.
is 1/4 CUP of garlic powder correct? That sounds like too much?
It is, as it is makes a rather large amount of baked beans. Granted anything in any recipe I offer is able to be altered for desired taste and I advocate for doing such. I’m a firm believer in experimenting with ingredients once you know the main ingredients needed to make any dish to make them your own.
Can you substitiute Pinto beans for Great Northern beans?? Will it dramatically change the taste
You can substitute them, but I would not suggest it if you want a true baked bean flavor. Pinto beans work better as refried beans and break down more into a paste when cooked/baked then a northern bean or small white bean would. That said, I have used pinto beans before in this recipe accepting that the result would be more like a refried baked bean then a true baked bean dish.
These take so long! Is there any way to shorten the cooking time?
Not really no, they are meant to be slow cooked which brings out their flavor and “caramelize”. They can be done in a crock pot rather then oven but again it’s a long cook process.
I’m making this recipe for a second time today and doctoring just a little bit to reflect my personal tastes.
If they’re yummy, I will let you know what changes I made to the delightful recipe you shared here.
When you let it sit overnight, is it sitting on the counter or in the fridge?
Either is fine, but I leave it on counter overnight for beans to soak with a kitchen towel draped over top. Does not affect the beans and they won’t spoil in that length of time.
Would you recommend turkey bacon?…we do not eat pork.
You could use turkey bacon for the meat, but if I was to I would use a “Smoke” flavoring such as 2 tsp liquid smoke to get the smokey flavoring the pork offers to the dish. I would do the same if I was to eliminate a meat source all together in using the flavoring.
I’m hoping to be able to cook these in a slow cooker. Do you have any recommendations for the length of time this would require?
Is that 1/4 cup of chopped onion or onion powder (like the garlic powder)?
I just finished making these today….THEY ARE FABULOUS!!!