Meaty, Sweet, and Savory Baked Beans

My husband (who doesn't cook...ever) has a bunch of cookbooks given to him by his mom and aunt. They put them together with recipes they've gathered over the years. To be honest, I never really went through them for the first few years of our marriage. It wasn't until we had some sort of family function that I got to try these beans and I went madly digging for the recipe after that.

These beans are sweet and savory with chunks of ground beef in them too.  They could pretty much be a meal in themselves. Yes, I have had these beans and only these beans for lunch before. They're just that good and they're super easy. All it takes is a little prep and the rest of the cooking is done in the oven. I'm pretty sure you could do these in the crock pot as well. I will definitely need to try that one of these days!


This makes a HUGE batch of beans so if you're just making it for your family, you may want to cut it in half or make the full batch and freeze half of it. It freezes well.

I'm a Texas girl and in Texas we eat barbeque and lots of it! We don't eat beans with our chili but we do eat them with our meat. These beans are perfect for a Saturday afternoon barbeque or a pot luck dinner with a group of friends!

**Ingredients side note** These beans also call for onions but I just can't put onions in them for my husband's sake. If you prefer, you can always put them in right after you brown the ground beef. Just cook 1/2 cup of chopped onions with the ground beef until tender, drain the grease, and continue with the rest of the recipe. 

Ranch Style Baked Beans

Printable Version
easilymadeeasilybroken.blogspot.com

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef 
6 (16 oz.) cans ranch style beans 
2 Tbsp. brown sugar 
2 Tbsp. white Karo syrup 
½ cup ketchup 
½ cup chopped onion (optional)
 
1. Brown the beef lightly in a deep pot. It doesn't have to be fully cooked because it will bake later. Just make sure it's all crumbled and lightly browned.

2. Drain the excess oil. I like to do this in a colander and then run water over it to lighten the fat in this recipe.

3. Add the beans (do not drain them!), 2 Tbsp. brown sugar, 2 Tbsp. white Karo syrup, and 1/2 cup of ketchup and stir well.

4. The final step and most important in "baked beans" is baking them. Bake in a deep dish or pot for about 1 ½ hours at 350°. They'll be bubbly and crusty on the edges and oh so good in the middle!



Serves 24.