Hairy Bikers Homemade Baked Beans

Hairy Bikers homemade baked beans swap the tin for 500g of dried haricot beans, simmered with a clove-studded onion and finished in a tomato sauce. And the Veggie Feasts recipe serves 6 at my estimate of 335 calories each, after an overnight soak and just under 2 hours of cooking.

“Making your own with dried beans is great for taste and saves loads of money,” Si and Dave write. And alongside a spoonful of sugar, the sauce gets black treacle, Dijon mustard, Marmite and mushroom ketchup, which is where its savoury depth comes from.

Take the beans off after an hour, when they’re almost tender but still holding their shape, because they carry on cooking in the sauce. Then keep that cooking liquor, since just enough of it goes back in to cover the beans while the sauce thickens.

Hairy Bikers Homemade Baked Beans

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Simmering Cuisine:British Courses:Side Dish

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 15 minutesCook time:1 hour 52 minutesRest time:8 hours Total time:10 hours 7 minutesServings:6 servingsCalories:335 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

After an overnight soak, the haricots simmer for an hour before returning to the pan with puréed tomatoes, caramelised onion and garlic. Then, part-covered, they bubble until the sauce clings, with liquid smoke as an option at the end.

Ingredients

For the beans

• 500g haricot beans, soaked overnight and drained
• 1 onion, left whole
• 5 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• sprig of parsley
• 1 tsp sea salt

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 400g can of tomatoes, puréed
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp black treacle
• 1 tbsp light soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp Marmite
• dash of mushroom ketchup
• dash of liquid smoke (optional)
• sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Cook the beans: Put the soaked, drained beans in a large saucepan, cover with fresh water and add the teaspoon of salt. Then stud the whole onion with the cloves and add it with the bay leaves and parsley. Bring to the boil, lower the heat slightly and simmer for 1 hour, until almost tender but still holding their shape.
2. Start the sauce: Strain the beans, keeping the cooking liquor, then pick out the studded onion and herbs, which the book doesn’t mention but I wouldn’t leave in. Heat the oil in the pan and cook the chopped onion gently until translucent. Then turn up the heat so it caramelises at the edges, add the garlic for a couple of minutes and stir in the garlic powder.
3. Simmer: Pour in the puréed tomatoes, tip the beans back in and add just enough cooking liquor to cover them. Bring to the boil, lower to a simmer and stir in the mustard, treacle, sugar, Marmite and mushroom ketchup, then season. Cook part-covered until the sauce thickens and the beans are tender, about 40 minutes by my estimate, since no time is given.
4. Finish: Taste and adjust the seasoning, then add a few drops of liquid smoke if you like. Go carefully, because it can easily overpower the beans.

FAQs

Do you cover baked beans while they cook?

Part of the way, since the recipe has you simmer them partially covered with a lid, so the sauce slowly thickens. But their Boston baked beans in Meat Feasts go the other way, with the lid on for 3 hours at 150°C/Fan 130°C.

Then the lid comes off for a final hour so the sauce reduces around the pork belly and bacon in that American classic. And their pork and bean casserole does a bit of both, simmering covered for 45 minutes, then partly covered for up to another 1½ hours.

How do I thicken homemade baked beans?

Once the beans are tender, take the lid off and let the pot bubble for another 10 minutes or so, which is my own fix. But the book just says to cook it part-covered until thickened, so watch it doesn’t catch on the base.

In their Eat to Beat book, they reduce the sauce for half an hour, then purée it before the beans go in for 15 minutes. So I’d guess that brings it closer to the tinned kind, though they don’t say so.

Can I make easy baked beans with canned beans?

The Veggie Feasts recipe doesn’t say, but their lighter version in Eat to Beat Type 2 Diabetes allows a couple of cans instead. So I’d skip the hour of simmering and start with the sauce, which is my own shortcut.

Their cowboy baked beans in Our Family Favourites use 3 tins of haricot beans with 200g of smoked bacon, passata, treacle and soy. As Si writes, “My lovely dad would cook these beans from the back of his Ford Capri”, mostly in the dunes of Bamburgh beach. And if you want sausages and beans in one pot, their sausage and bean casserole does exactly that.

Is there a healthy or diet version?

Yes, in Eat to Beat Type 2 Diabetes their home-made baked beans come to 103 calories a serving, serving 8 as a side. While cutting down on the sugar, they use 200g of dried beans with onion, carrot and celery, stock, soy sauce and sweet smoked paprika.

The beans boil for 10 minutes, then simmer for 45 to 60, and they say to check them after 45 so they don’t go soft. But there’s no treacle, mustard or Marmite, so it’s milder, by my reckoning.

How long do they keep, and what goes with them?

They keep for a week in the fridge or can be frozen in portions, both straight from Veggie Feasts. Since it’s a big batch, I’d freeze half once it’s cooled.

Si and Dave suggest them for a fry-up or for topping baked potatoes. Or spoon them next to their corned beef hash with a fried egg, which is how I like them.