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You are here: Home / Bean Recipes / Mom’s Easy Healthy Baked Beans

Mom’s Easy Healthy Baked Beans

Healthy Baked Beans

As I think about outdoor summer BBQ’s and the upcoming 4th of July holiday, I can’t help but think of baked beans. To me, baked beans are every bit as American as apple pie and a staple at any classic BBQ, especially for the 4th of July! In fact, I first made this healthy baked bean dish a few years ago for a 4th of July BBQ and they were a huge hit (for my full 4th of July BBQ menu click HERE.)

I love just about anything sweet and consequently I’ve always loved baked beans. But in the past when I looked up baked bean recipes online and in various cookbooks just about every single one I found called for massive amounts of sugar. I guess that’s why baked beans are so sweet, ha! But, even recipes for healthy baked beans call for way too much sugar… including the Mayo Clinic version which suggests ½ cup molasses AND 3 strips of bacon! Not sure when bacon made the list of healing foods Mayo Clinic endorses but that’s a topic for another day…

Anyway, my mom got the idea to give it a shot at developing her own recipe for healthy baked beans sans the bacon, ham and excess sugar. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really holding out high hopes that baked beans would actually taste good if they didn’t have a lot of sugar. But my mom’s recipe just blows me away. It is incredibly delicious.

Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire….

Mom’s Healthy Baked Beans Secret Smokey Ingredient

The secret to my mom’s sensational healthy baked beans dish is the liquid smoke. I had never used or even heard of this stuff before but my mom apparently uses it all the time. Mom uses Colgin brand, which is made from all natural ingredients and also very inexpensive. This is not one of those crazy-to-find ingredients either, you can pick up Colgin liquid smoke in your regular supermarket. It is usually sold right next to the ketchup and other condiments.

Colgin natural ingredients include: Water, Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor, Vinegar, Molasses, Caramel Color and Salt.

Also, since 1 teaspoon of Colgin has zero carbohydrates the sugar content must be extremely low … so I wouldn’t worry about the molasses in the ingredients.

Colgin liquid smoke simply gives an outdoor flavor with indoor ease. You will be amazed when you try it. Although mom used Colgin “Hickory Flavor” flavor it also comes in “Mesquite”, “Apple” and “Pecan” too. I have a suspicion the apple and pecan together might be incredibly delicious…

Mom’s Easy Healthy Baked Beans

Serves: 8

  • 2 tablespoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cups Vidalia onions, finely chopped
  • “Real Salt” or Himalayan salt, to taste
  • 2 small cans (8 ounces each) organic tomato sauce
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon organic Worcestershire sauce (such as Annies)
  • 4 teaspoons liquid smoke (such as Colgin brand “Hickory Flavor”)
  • ¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • 2 cans (15 ounces each) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high; add the onions and sauté 5 to 6 minutes or until onions caramelize. Season onions with salt to taste.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning. Transfer beans to a casserole dish.

3.  Bake beans for 50 minutes, or until thick.

 

 

 

 

mm

About Ivy Larson

I started eating an anti-inflammatory clean diet in 1998 after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). At the time I was diagnosed, I was just 22 years old and eating clean was definitely not the "in" thing to do. But by cleaning up my diet and changing my plate, I really do believe I changed my fate. I have been symptom free of MS for almost two decades.
Read My Story!
  

Trackbacks

  1. Clean Cuisine's Natural Detox - Step 7 | Clean Cuisine and More says:
    January 26, 2012 at 8:16 AM

    […] Healthy Baked Beans […]

    Reply
  2. 31 Healthy Comfort Food Recipes | Greatist says:
    October 15, 2012 at 6:29 AM

    […] all the slab bacon and brown sugar can make for a not-so-healthy side dish. Try this healthier version using “liquid smoke” flavor instead of bacon, and a drizzle of agave for sweetness instead of […]

    Reply
  3. Healthy 4th of July Recipes says:
    July 3, 2015 at 1:21 PM

    […] Get recipe for Healthy Baked Beans HERE. […]

    Reply
  4. 5 Renovated Summertime Recipes - Healthier, Tasty, and Simple! - Over the Hill Fitness says:
    May 7, 2017 at 11:03 PM

    […] deliciousness of my tried and true but the good folks at CleanCuisine had my back! Their recipe for Mom’s Easy Healthy Baked Beans is delicious and will definitely be added to my summer BBQ […]

    Reply
mm

Ivy Larson

I started eating an anti-inflammatory clean diet in 1998 after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). At the time I was diagnosed, I was just 22 years old and eating clean was definitely not the "in" thing to do. But by cleaning up my diet and changing my plate, I really do believe I changed my fate. I have been symptom free of MS for almost two decades. Read My Story!   

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Comments

  1. Kelly says

    May 28, 2012 at 2:37 PM

    Thank you for offering a healthy alternative that is diabetic friendly, made for our Memorial Day cookout!

    Reply
    • Ivy Larson says

      May 31, 2012 at 12:35 PM

      You are welcome Kelly!

      Reply
  2. Lucy says

    November 18, 2014 at 10:45 AM

    Hey! This recipe looks really good! I just have one question: I live in australia so I have a bit of confusion over the tomato sauce. Is it like tomato paste? Or more like a passata?

    Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • Ivy Larson says

      November 21, 2014 at 10:18 PM

      Thanks so much Lucy! The tomato sauce is definitely NOT a “paste”—it is more like the consistency of a marinara sauce, but without the oil. I suppose if they don’t have canned and unseasoned tomato sauce in Australia you could puree canned tomatoes and that would probably be about the same thing? Please let me know if you give the recipe a try! Hope this helps?

      Reply
  3. Evelyn says

    January 9, 2016 at 10:15 PM

    Hi! Just wondering if the Colgin has msg? Thanks!

    Reply
    • mmIvy Larson says

      January 22, 2016 at 11:37 AM

      Hi Evelyn, So sorry for the delay getting back to you, I have been super behind on everything the last week or so. But no, Colgin definitely does not have MSG (Click here to learn more: http://www.colgin.com/faq.php#msg) My dad always got TERRIBLE headaches from MSG so this is one ingredient I have always known to avoid.

      Reply
  4. Bridy says

    February 2, 2017 at 6:13 PM

    Thank you for the recipe. So many people have “sugar free” recipes, but add molasses. Sorry, that’s sugar too. I am looking forward to trying this.

    Reply
  5. Stacy says

    June 9, 2018 at 6:39 PM

    How would you twist this into a crock pot recipe? Could you cook the sauce with the beans or would you need to cook the beans, drain them, then add the sauce?

    Reply
    • mmIvy Larson says

      June 10, 2018 at 12:41 PM

      Hi Stacy, That’s a great idea to cook it in a crock pot! I would cook the sauce with the beans on low heat. I think that would work perfectly! Please let me know if you try it…

      Reply
  6. DEE says

    January 15, 2019 at 5:54 PM

    I LOVE BEANS! AND BAKED BEANS ARE MY WEAKNESS. I was very drawn to this RECIPEs LOW calorie, LOW SUGAR CONTENT. I am VERY happy I tried it twice!
    My substitutions or ADDITIONS FOLLOW.
    1) ONIONS – COOKED UNTIL VERY CARMALIZED ABOUT 30 MINUTES OVER THE HEAT.
    2) GREEN PEPPER, 1 MEDIUM, minced. Mixed into ingredients just before baking.
    3) liquid smoke safety IS CONTROVERSIAL, I USED A spicy (DIY) barbecue “dry rub” mix, about 1 tbsp in the sauce.
    4) Maple Syrup, I used 2 Tbsp “nectevia” new England maple syrup flavor. it’s made with blue agave and stevia, very low calorie, very low carbs, trace of sugars per serving.
    Thank you for posting this delicious recipe.

    Reply

Welcome to our blog! We are a husband & wife team who have been eating clean & following an anti-inflammatory diet ever since Ivy was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 1998 at the age of 22.


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