Doug's Baked Beans ~ 

Doug and I were married in 2023. He's a very good cook and is letting me share one of his crowd-favorites! We both love recipes with ingredients that are easy to find, easy to put together, and have amazing results.

​With summer barbecues around the corner I thought his baked beans would be perfect. It's best if you make it the night before so that the flavors can blend overnight.

Ingredients:
16 oz bacon - frozen
1 large onion, diced
1 large green pepper, diced
1 lb Spicy Jimmy Dean
2 28 oz cans Original Van De Kamp Pork n' Beans 
Brown sugar - to taste
Ketchup - to taste

The Day Before:

*Use kitchen shears to cut frozen bacon into small pieces into a large skillet.
*Cook bacon on medium-high heat until it's starting to crisp at the edges, but isn't fully cooked or crispy. 
*Add onion and green pepper to bacon. Cook together until veggies are soft--15-20 minutes. Stiring consistently. 
*Add sausage to bacon and veggies, use wooden spoon to break into smaller pieces as it cooks. 
*Cook everything until sausage is cooked through and bacon is crispy. 
*DO NOT DRAIN!

*Add everything to a crock pot. Add beans, about 2 T of brown sugar to start and one big squeeze of ketchup--you'll adjust the flavors tomorrow so don't add too much. Stir well. Remove the crock pot dish from the crock pot and store in fridge, covered, until a few hours before serving.

The Day of Serving:

*Remove stored beans in crock pot pan from fridge and put the pan in crock pot. 
*Heat beans on whatever temperature works for your timetable, stir consistently until heated through. 
*An hour before serving adjust the flavors by adding more brown sugar and ketchup. 
*Store leftovers in fridge.