Southern Style Baked Beans

Summer grilling season has to be about my favorite time of year because in our house, the kitchen moves outside for a few months. After being inside all winter, its refreshing to be outside working the grill while I watch my son play on his swing set! Our summer dinners are filled with grilled meats, veggies and mouthwatering sides that can be prepared for indoor cooking. Whenever we have company and grill out, I love to make my southern style baked beans to accompany our main course because its full of flavor and insanely easy to make.

INGREDIENTS

2 cans of pork n beans

5 or 6 strips of uncooked Petit Jean bacon

1 small onion, diced

1 finely chopped green bell pepper

1 clove of garlic finely chopped

1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon dry mustard

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

½ cup ketchup

½ cup molasses

INSTRUCTIONS

1.) Start by cutting up the pepper and the onions and set them aside.

2.) Cut the bacon strips into small bite-size pieces and throw them in a hot skillet to cook. Cook them until they have some color and are rubbery in texture. It’s important to render some of the fat off the bacon so that you don’t get a layer of grease on your final product.

3.) Once you are done cooking the bacon, don’t drain that fat just yet!! This is where I add my diced onions, bell peppers and garlic to the hot fat and cook them up (about 2 min) before I simmer them with the beans. When they are done, scoop them out and drain them.

4.) In a bowl, combine the 2 cans of pork and beans, the sauteed veggies, brown sugar, molasses, ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Once it is well mixed up together, I smoothed it out into a baking dish and topped it off with my bits of bacon.

5.) Bake for about 1 hour at 325F.