Bea’s Beans burst with warm flavors and the gorgeous, golden and earthy colors of fall. Three types of beans and chubby slices of sausage bake in a thick, sweet/savory sauce flavored with mustard and brown sugar.
This hearty casserole practically makes itself: all you have to do is briefly brown the sausage and open a few cans. Leave out the sausage to save even more time and make this a lighter main dish or a great side in place of baked beans or a cold bean salad.
I don’t know who Bea was (likely a friend of my grandmother’s), or how long this dish has been a tradition in my family. My mother used to make it as a side, and she often served it in the summer with grilled chicken or turkey burgers. The original recipe started with diced and browned bacon instead of the sausage, and it also included a fourth type of beans, canned green beans, which I leave out because I don’t like their squeaky texture and boggy gray-green color. If you like them, by all means, toss some in.
It should be evident by now that you can easily adapt these beans in any way that suits you: add or subtract any of the components I’ve mentioned here to make it more or less meaty, more veggie-heavy – even vegetarian if you want to swap out the can of pork and beans for a vegetarian variety of baked beans in sauce.
Making these ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- The casserole can be assembled ahead – earlier in the day or even the day before – and kept covered in the fridge, un-baked.
- Leftovers of the cooked beans will keep 5 days, but they’ll benefit from a little zhushing when reheating, The sauce will thicken when it cools – to loosen and smooth it out, add a little chicken broth or hot water when reheating the beans – either in the microwave or in a saucepan on the stovetop.
Bea's Beans
For the sausage, choose a fully-cooked chicken or pork sausage with a flavor profile that will match the dish, such as garlic, Italian, or even apple (not jalapeno or teriyaki!). Kielbasa also works well. Cut the sausage diagonally into 3/4-inch slices, or dice it into small chunks to distribute it more evenly throughout the beans. The sausage is optional - if you want to omit it, you won't need the oil that's used in Step 2, either.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil (such as expeller-pressed canola oil), or bacon fat or lard
- 11 to 12 ounces fully cooked sausage or kielbasa (see Note)
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup minced onion
- One 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- One 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- One 11-ounce can pork and beans
Directions
- Step 1 Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Step 2 Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add the oil or other fat. When the fat is hot, add half of the sausage pieces and cook until they’re browned on both sides. Remove the sausage to a plate with a slotted spoon, then brown the remaining sausage. This should take about 10 minutes altogether.
- Step 3 In a large bowl, stir together the vinegar, brown sugar, and mustard until smooth. Add the onion, the two kinds of drained beans, and the entire contents of the can of pork and beans (beans and sauce). Stir well until everything is well-combined. Transfer the mixture to a casserole dish, using a rubber spatula to scrape in all the sauce that’s clinging to the bowl.
- Step 4 Bake for 50 minutes, or until beans are completely heated through, and the sauce is thick and bubbling.
