Fourth of July Beans
For the Fourth!
This bean recipe is versatile and delicious. The original recipe is enough for twelve people. If you want to double it, you can add a greater variety of beans.
Mix them up the day before, and then all you need to do is warm them up. You can freeze this dish. The flavor will be even better the second time around.
This recipe comes to me from my sister Loretta who lives in Nebraska. She has five grown children and twenty-four grandchildren, with two more girls than boys in the mix. You can be sure she’s made plenty of pots of this recipe over the years. This recipe is found in our Second Batch cookbook.
Family-friendly
The original recipe is from Taste of Home, but Loretta has made so many changes and adjustments that the recipe is really hers. I like to fry up the bacon ahead and then mix all the ingredients together. On the day I’m serving this dish, I settle the mess in my crockpot and put it on low. By then, I can forget about the dish unless I decide to stir it a time or two.
The beans
You start with baked beans and add kidney beans to the dish. You can also add pinto or black beans. Dried beans work well; just follow the directions on the package to prepare them before you add them to this mix. You can do these in the oven or in a crockpot.
The Recipe
Fourth of July Beans
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. bacon slices fried and diced
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 2 Tbsp. prepared mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce you pick
- 1 28 oz. can pork and beans
- 1 can 17 oz. lima beans, drained
- 1 can kidney beans 15-16 ounces drained
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons molasses
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- VARIATION: pinto and black beans OR any dried beans which have been cooked.
Instructions
- Fry bacon and onion until done.
- Drain.
- Add all the beans and mix well
- In a small bowl combine remaining ingredients
- Sit into bean mixture
- Cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer
- OR cook in a crock pot 3-4 hours or longer on a low or warm setting.
- VARIATION:
- add pinto beans and black beans for a double batch instead of doubling the kidney and lima beans
The 4th of July is past, but there is still plenty of time to fix this dish for outdoor picnics before the summer is over! This is a repost from several years ago.
