Some foods are classics. They are store cupboard basics because we love them. Usually things from our childhood like baked beans. These homemade baked beans mean that you will never be a slave to Mr Heinz again!
Homemade Baked Beans
This snowy cold weather has me craving comfort food. The real hug-in-a-mug type stuff. Nothing green and healthy but something hearty and warming. Ask Idgy and she will always plump for beans on toast, but ever since she was a little girl they have just had to be Heinz beans on the toast, no others would ever fit the bill.
No beans/no problem!
Well I am always up for a challenge and we didn’t have any baked beans in the cupboard, so needs must and all that. Make your own homemade baked beans and make them as near to the Real Thing as possible.
Refined Sugar Free
But I also wanted to cut the sugar content and make mine a wee bit healthier. There needed to be sweetness in there, so I used some honey instead of the dreaded white stuff.
They always say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Would these beans pass the test, would they taste even remotely like that old favourite?
Bet your ass they did!
What kind of beans?
I used cannellini beans. But you can use flageolet beans too. In fact anything you have in the bean department will do. There will be differences in texture, especially if you use butter beans. But hey, these are beans on toast and delicious.
Dry beans or tinned?
I had a tin of cannellini beans but you can just as easily use dried beans. Remember you will have to soak these in water overnight then drain and rinse thoroughly before cooking until soft.
Go real D.I.Y.
Make your own Sugar Free Tomato Sauce instead of using store bought Passata and the other sauce ingredients for this recipe.
Give this one a try if you fancy a culinary cuddle at this cold time of year and let me know what you think. I used a teensy bit of smoked paprika in mine as I always find myself adding just a wee dash of Tabasco to my beans on toast when they come out of a tin.
Karon x
PS check out my 50 Homemade Pantry Staples for more great store cupboard basics to make at home.
Sugar Free Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 300 ml/1/2 pint tomato passata
- 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
- Pinch of smoked paprika optional
- 300 g/11oz cooked cannellini beans
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic, stir and sweat but don't brown - 3 mins approx here.
- Add the tomato passata, vinegar, honey, smoked paprika and seasoning and simmer all this for about 5 minutes.
- Drain the cannelini beans and add to the pan stirring well.
- Cover pan and leave to cook for 1 hour just stirring now and then.
- Serve on hot buttered toast.
PIN ME FOR LATER
Sounds great – but what is tomato passata? Tomato paste? I’m in need of comfort food today – wish I could just go back to bed and pull the covers over my head – but off to work I go…the ice has gone and the rains have returned…oh joy!
Passata is a tomato sauce sold all over Europe and UK but I didn’t realise it was something of a rarety in USA. Basically to make your own just drain canned tomatoes and then push them through a sieve to remove all pips etc and get a smooth sauce.
Don’t use tomato puree or paste as this is concentrated and too strong.
Hope this explains things a bit.
Kx
This really looks good! What a day it has been, so this comfort food is just the thing!
Patti xxoo
Honey? It is sugar, just by another name. It is an added sugar. There is natural sugar within tomatoes. Is that not sufficient? Or might it be possible to use a tiny amount of stevia powder instead?
Oh for crying out loud, I am not stupid, of course I know honey is sugar and that there is natural sugar in tomatoes. I am talking about not using the commercial white sugar.