This Baked Beans Using Pork and Beans recipe is just 5 ingredients and can be made on the stove or served in a Crock Pot. Loaded with chunks of Smoked Pork, onions and molasses, this recipe is a sure winner at your next BBQ.
Then & Now
First, let me show you a typical recipe found in community cookbooks that would use Van Camp's Pork and Beans. Most recipes are served in a Crock-Pot for parties, baked in the oven in a casserole dish, or on the stove for every day dinners.
Flavored Baked Beans like Bush's didn't arrive on the scene until 1969. Before the sweet, pre-flavored type arrived, families were already used to Canned Pork and Beans in Tomato Sauce. Every family had their own original recipe and way of "Doctoring Them Up."
My mom usually cooked them in a pot on the stove and threw in a little bit of onion, molasses, a squirt of mustard, and a slice of bacon.
Some typical ingredients that show up in vintage recipes are:
- Brown Sugar, Sugar, Molasses, Maple Syrup, Marshmallow Fluff
- Smoked Chicken, Ground Beef
- Pork hocks, Salt Pork, Diced Ham, Thick Bacon, Fat Back
- Ketchup, Chili Sauce, Tomato Paste, Mustard, Dijon Mustard, Worcestershire Sauce
- Green Pepper, Red Bell Pepper, Jalapenos, Black Pepper, Bay Leaves
Van Camp's Pork and Beans in Tomato Sauce, Since 1861
In the late 1800's, a man named Gilbert Van Camp and his son Frank, from Indiana had a family canning business. They were the creators of what we know today as Van Camp's Pork and Beans in Tomato Sauce.
Their product was similar to a bean dish previously only known as the side dish Boston Baked Beans.
Canned beans took all the time out of actually soaking, boiling and baking the beans. While some recipes using a can of beans still calls for baking, any method of cooking works since they are already cooked.
I have some other easy put-together and serve from the Crock Pot recipes too. Check out Crock Pot Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole.
Smokey Pork for Your Baked Beans
Let's get started!
I'm keeping this recipe simple and straight to the point. We are only going to swap out bacon for these big meaty chunks of ready-to-go smoked pulled pork meat.
This recipe is fully cooked before it hits the Crock Pot, but I like to serve this when we have a family cook-out and everyone is serving themselves. The slow cooker allows me to throw it all together and walk away- while I tend to other things.
I get the "Sauceless" type, but if you want BBQ sauce in your beans, I'm sure the other varieties at the grocery store will taste great too. Just be sure to look for the word "Smoked." The hint of smoke flavor makes the best baked beans.
Easy Pork and Beans Ingredients
This entire recipe is just 5 Simple Ingredients
Recipe at a Glance
Check out the video below to watch the whole process.
I know you'll love this Crockpot Pork & Beans recipe with a touch of sweetness and fork tender pieces of pork! Great with the hot dogs for summer barbeques.
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Pork and Beans Recipe - Baked Beans Using Van Camp's
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- 1 (12 ounce) pkg. Curly's Sauceless Hickory Smoked Fully Cooked Pulled Pork *
- ½ cup ketchup
- ⅓ cup Grandma's Molasses *
- 2 (28 ounce) cans Van Camp's Pork and Beans
Instructions
- Heat a large non-stick skillet to Medium-High heat and add the onion.
- Add about 2 Tablespoons of the Pork while you saute the onion.
- Once onion is lightly brown, add the remaining pork. Stir to heat up the pork for 3 minutes.
- Turn Crock Pot on to High.
- Add pork/onion mixture to the crock pot. Then stir in ketchup and molasses.
- Gently fold in the two cans of beans. Cook covered for one hour, only stirring once or twice during cooking to not break up the beans (they are soft). Reduce to low until serving time.
JT says
This is a delicious and easy recipe. I never thought to use that pork.it was a change from bacon It had big chunks. I skipped the step to cook the onions first and I won’t skip that step again.