Make a jump from beefed up barbecue baked beans with beef, bacon and spicy andouille - add other leftover smoked meats if you like too. Jazz that up with hot sauce, Creole mustard, Creole or Cajun seasoning and jalapeno and you have one fine pot of beans y'all.
Spicy Meat Trio Barbecue Baked Beans
Move over Beefy Baked Beans cuz there's a new Baked Bean King in town with a beefed up trio of meat - and a spicy kick. And if you happen to have some leftover smoked meat, it's right at home here.
Speaking of smoking... {pulls out soapbox} I'm calling these barbecue beans because of the use of barbecue sauce, not because they are smoked. I know some of y'all smoke BBQ purists get all up in arms over us crockpot cookin', rib boilin', propane grillin', "FauxQ folks" using the word barbecue. Don't worry, we still love ya anyway. So no..., these are not smoked BBQ beans, though you just might see those on here one day too. I say let's just relax. It's really just food y'all. Let's just enjoy it and eat and not get all over each other about what we think the right way to do any one thing. {tucks away soapbox}
Anyway, this is one of those recipes that started out as one thing, and ended as another. I have been meaning to make a version of beefed up barbecue baked beans for the cookout page for some time anyway, and as it happened, I was working through my upright freezer, sort of taking inventory and seeing what all was in there. I mentioned having a bunch of smoked sausage over on the Facebook page, having in mind making a sort of bean and sausage skillet meal. In the end though I experimented with this baked bean dish and made grilled burgers instead.
I missed the chance to feature it for Memorial Day though, because I decided that I wanted to work on it some more. I'm glad I waited because the second round was even better, and just in time for Labor Day. Yes! Can y'all believe that Labor Day cookin' is just around the corner? By the way, there were some great suggestions for using smoked sausage mentioned too, if you'd like to check them out too.
Here's how to make these meaty baked beans!
Add the bacon and ground beef to a heavy stainless skillet and brown. Add the smoked sausage and cook until browned.
Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic; cook until softened, add the jalapenos and cook another minute. Look through the smoke here and see all that browned goodness in the bottom of the skillet?
That's why I want you to use a heavy stainless skillet instead of a non-stick. Add just a splash of water to deglaze the fond. Y'all know that's just a fancy phrase for "scraping up the browned pan goodies" in the bottom, right?
Stir in the beans. You can make your own from scratch, use cheap pork and beans if you like, or use a combination of beans like navy or northern with a can of baked beans, but I have used Bush's beans for my baked beans since the first batch of beans I ever made back in the 70s and, well, I ain't likely to start changing any time soon I suppose. Bush's makes all sorts of varieties these days but I'm still stuck on the original version for my baked beans. The "Grillin'" beans are good all on their own. Honestly, I don't know why those Bush's PR folks haven't stumbled upon this site yet, I mean seriously!
Stir in the barbecue sauce, cane syrup (or molasses), hot sauce, brown sugar, Creole mustard, Cajun seasoning and salt and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil, taste and adjust seasonings.
Transfer to an ungreased 9 x 13 oblong baking dish and bake uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until nice and thick. Oh, by the way, I know a lot of southerners like to top their beans with strips of raw bacon and I myself have done so when taking them to a cookout or party myself. But, let's be honest.. it's really only for show. Maybe it's a texture thing for me, but it's awkward to cut up, much less eat, a long strip of softly cooked bacon, so it usually gets pushed aside anyway, and bacon is expensive these days. I put my bacon in the beans. If you want to put it on top, I say you go right ahead!
Dig in.
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