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Smoked Beans with Bacon

This recipe is inspired by an old coworker of mine who ran the seafood department from years ago. He always talked about making ribs and baked beans in his smoker. He would place the ribs over the pan of beans toward the end of the smoking process and let the drippings fall into the beans. Now that I own a smoker, I decided to make that happen.
I put a lbs of dried northern beans in my Instant Pot, taking only 30 minutes of cooking time, no soaking required. While that was going, I sautéed 1lb of diced bacon. I sautéed onions and garlic in the bacon grease. Then I added in tomato paste, molasses, brown sugar, and a cup of the northern bean stock that I saved. Let that simmer for a couple of minutes. Stir in the beans.
I placed my beans in a foil pan with deep sides. I preheated my smoker to 250 degrees. I used hickory chips for smoking. Hickory is a great all purpose wood chip with a neutral flavor. You can also use mesquite, pecan, or maple wood chips. The pan of beans will take 2 hours to smoke. I happened to have also made homemade hotdogs the same day. I placed the pan of beans underneath the hotdogs the last 30 minutes of smoking, letting the drippings go into the beans.
If you don’t have a smoker, you can bake these beans in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time2 hours 10 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Keyword: electric smoker, Pork, side dish
Author: Alex Gorgos

Equipment

  • instant pot
  • foil pan
  • Electric Smoker

Ingredients

  • 1 lb dried northern beans prepared according to package directions
  • 1 lb bacon diced
  • 1/2 medium white onion diced
  • 6 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup bean stock saved from the northern beans
  • 2 tsp white pepper
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika

Wood Chips

  • hickory wood chips

Instructions

  • Sauté the bacon in a large sauté pan until crispy. Set aside.
  • Sauté the onions and garlic in the bacon grease over medium high heat for 4 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, molasses, brown sugar, and bean stock.
  • Simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt, white pepper, and smoked paprika.
  • Turn off the heat. Stir in the northern beans, making sure that the beans are evenly coated in the sauce.
  • Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Place your beans in a foil pan. Place the pan in the smoker for 2 hours.