| I love baked beans. They are to me the epitome of summer picnic foods. My favorite style is smoky, sweet and tangy but not all ready-made beans fit what I want or what I am looking for. So here is a simple but wonderful recipe to the rescue! And the best part is… they are easy to make! Come with me to kitchen and we will make some of the best baked beans you have ever tasted!
Now, I like to add bacon to my baked beans. It adds a wonderful smoky flavor to the beans without being overwhelming. If adding bacon to your pot of beans isn’t an option, I recommend using Liquid Smoke. It adds that nice smoky flavor without needing to add bacon to your pot. In a pressure cooker put the dry beans and plenty of water to cover them.
I like to have at least an inch of water over the beans. Set for high pressure for 20 minutes. If your pressure cooker only has a low pressure option, you may need to increase the time. Every pressure cooker is a little different so you will want to cook your beans until tender. Just be careful to not over cook them or they will lose their shape. They taste just fine, but they don’t look as pretty. I cooked mine just a little too long. Whoops! I guess I am more familiar with my pressure cooker in China than the one I used in the USA when making this. If you have a good idea of how long your pressure cooker will take, please ignore my suggestion and go with your gut feeling. 20 minutes in the USA was too long, 20 minutes in China is too little, you be the judge. As your beans are cooking, cook your bacon. I like to put it in the oven because it gets a nice, browned and crispy texture in the oven. Once the bacon is cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool. After the bacon has cooled, cut or chop it into pieces. If a few strips of bacon have disappeared between cooking and getting into the pot of beans, that is okay. I won’t tell anyone. (This is why the amount of bacon can change batch to batch. 😉 ) Once your beans are tender, drain the extra water from them. Add the onion and garlic powder, ketchup, mustard, sugar and bacon. Stir well. If you want to make sure it is mixed completely, you can mix the sauces prior to adding to the beans. It is entirely up to you. If the mixture needs a touch of water add it at this time. Because everything is cooked it is OK to taste. If you need to add 1/2 cup, or more, of water then may I suggest broth instead for the extra flavor it provides? At this point, you are ready for the hoards to descend and enjoy! (Just make sure you have some hidden away just for you!) You are now ready for BBQ and picnic season. And you can go CANLESS! Have a good time!
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 Finished Baked Beans  Beans in Pressure Cooker  Cooked Bacon…. Yum!  Draining Beans  Adding Garlic and Onion  Adding Ketchup and Mustard  Adding Bacon  Adding Sugar |
Will try this soon. Did you soak beans before pressure cooking?
I didn’t soak the beans prior to putting into the pressure cooker. Isn’t that wonderfully convenient? Enjoy!
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