BBQ baked beans | Vegetables recipes | Jamie Oliver recipe (2024)

FAQs

What can you add to a can of baked beans to make them taste better? ›

Mixed Chopped Herbs + Breadcrumbs + Cheddar Cheese

Give your baked beans the gratin treatment, which also makes for an impressive presentation. Combine breadcrumbs with chopped fresh herbs and seasonings, then sprinkle the top of the beans with the mixture and plenty of grated cheddar cheese.

Humble home-cooked beans

Throw in your garlic, herb sprigs, bay leaves, celery stick, potato and tomatoes. Place the beans on the heat and slowly bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and simmer very gently for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on whether you're using fresh or dried, until soft and cooked nicely.

Learn why straining and rinsing your beans is an important step—plus other ways to make the most of your legumes. Katlyn Moncada is the associate food editor at BHG.com, sharing food news and tutorials on becoming better home cooks.

In addition to the usual things like garlic, onion, celery and peppers, a few unexpected additions will add a bit of flavor. Seasonings, such as chili powder (I like ancho which adds flavor more than heat.) And as most always, salt is essential. Fresh pepper is always welcome.

I like to sprinkle in some taco seasoning, but you could add whatever spices you like — garlic powder, cumin, and chili powder are all good calls. Then, you mash the beans up directly in the pan and add just a little bit of vinegar at the end to really make the beans sing.

Many recipes use ketchup or tomato paste to help thicken the broth into that signature shiny, syrupy sauce, but I've never been a fan of that method. Instead, we par-cook the beans with aromatic vegetables until just tender, then use that starchy, flavorful bean broth as the base for our sauce.

The one tried and true method she taught me to reduce the gassy effect of beans, is this: add a tiny amount of baking soda to the pot half an hour or so before you're ready to serve them to “release” the gasses from them. Be set to stir down the violent reaction. This works no matter how you've seasoned them.

How to make Paula Deen green beans? ›

Add green beans to pan and sauté over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add boiling water to pan and cover. Cook for about 15 minutes, just until beans are tender. Add vinegar, butter and salt and pepper and stir.

As for herbs, woody types like thyme, sage, and rosemary, are also great — add those in with the beans and water. I always add bay leaves at this stage, too, since they bring that herbaceous can't-put-your-finger-on-it flavor.

"If you rinse your beans thoroughly, you will have a consistently flavored product, but if you do not rinse them, different amounts of salt will remain in the dish each time you cook it, and it will be hard to cook consistently," he says.

Bacon, burnt ends, and barbecue sauce are the perfect complement for Bush's^® Original Baked Beans in this quick and simple recipe perfect for a weeknight dinner side dish.

Canned foods are cooked as part of processing. They may taste better heated or otherwise prepared, but they are perfectly safe straight from the can.

Undercooking your beans

Overcooking can detract from the eating experience, leaving your beans bland and lifeless. Undercooking beans, on the other hand, can put yourself at risk of food-borne illness. This is especially true for red beans like kidney beans.

In general, most beans go well with herbs like parsley, rosemary, sage, savory, and thyme. You usually can't go wrong with garlic and onions, either. Specific kinds of beans, like fava beans or mung beans, have other affinities with particular herbs and spices. This is not to say that other combinations won't work.