Dutch Oven Baked Beans
Canned beans, bacon, and onion, cooked slow under coals until they thicken.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 38
- protein
- 17 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 60 min
- total time
- 70 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned baked or pork-and-beans | 3 cans, 15 oz each | drain off about half the liquid |
|---|---|---|
| Bacon | 6 slices | cut into strips with scissors |
| Onion | 1 medium | diced |
| Ketchup | 1/2 cup | |
| Yellow mustard | 2 tbsp | |
| Cider vinegar | 2 tbsp | |
| Brown sugar | 1/4 cup | optional, if your beans are not already sweet |
Method
- Burn a fire down to coals, or light about 25 charcoal briquettes and wait until they are grey.
- Set the 12-inch oven directly on a few coals and fry the bacon strips in the bottom until the fat renders out.
- Add the onion and cook until it goes soft and translucent. Do not pour off the fat.
- Stir in the beans, ketchup, mustard, vinegar, and sugar. Scrape the bottom so nothing sticks.
- Put the lid on. Move the oven off the fire and set it on a ring of about 8 coals, with 16 more spread across the lid.
- Bake an hour. Lift the lid and stir twice, and rotate the oven and lid a quarter turn each time so the hot spots move.
- It is done when the sauce clings to the beans instead of running. Pull the coals off the lid before you open it or you will get ash in dinner.
This is a camp-oven recipe, so it stays one. The heat comes from coals above and below, which is why the beans thicken instead of scorching: the lid holds steam long enough for the sauce to reduce evenly rather than boiling dry against the bottom.
The vinegar and mustard are doing the actual work. Canned beans arrive sweet and one-note, and an hour under coals concentrates that. Acid and sharpness give the sauce somewhere else to go. Bacon fat carries all of it, so render it first and leave it in the pot.
Packing
Cans, ketchup, mustard, and vinegar live in the food box. Bacon and onion go in the cooler. Bring leather gloves and a lid lifter.
Variations
- Swap in a foil packet of diced ham or a chopped smoked sausage if you would rather not deal with raw bacon in a cooler.
- Leave out the bacon and start with a spoonful of oil for a vegan version. Check the can label, since some baked beans contain pork.
- A spoonful of instant coffee or a splash of hot sauce cuts the sweetness.
https://www.homestead.org/food/dutch-oven-cooking-dutch-oven-baking