Smoky Not-Baked Beans
Smoky Not-Baked Beans, spicy with smoked paprika, chipotle chilli flakes, and cumin, might taste like they’ve been lovingly simmered for hours. But they’re actually made in around thirty minutes with a simple base of tinned cannellini beans, onion, garlic, and tomato puree.
Enjoy on toast, with baked potatoes, and as a side to your favourite meals. Or almost anywhere you want a punchy alternative to boring old baked beans.
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I know, I know. Smoky Not-Baked Beans isn’t a great recipe name, is it? So, if you’ve any better ideas, I’d love to hear them.
I’m not completely against the ubiquitous tinned baked bean and do keep some in the pantry for convenience. But as a household we probably get through less than four tins a year. Apart from being quite mushy, I find the flavour rather boring. So much so in fact, that I’ll usually end up squirting the beans with brown sauce to perk them up a bit.
So, I thought, why not make my own tasty beans? I didn’t want to start from scratch though, soaking dried beans then baking them for hours. While proper homemade baked beans can be good, what I wanted was a short cut that could be whipped up relatively quickly on a leisurely Saturday or Sunday morning.
The result, not-baked beans, have since become a regular weekend brunch. Even my first attempt (pictured above, flavoured with sage to accompany pork sausages) tasted great.
But my current favourite must be Smoky Not-Baked Beans. With just a few, mainly store cupboard, ingredients you can transform plain tinned beans into something spicy and inviting in around half an hour.
I think they’re so much more interesting, satisfying and tasty than baked beans. And when I have some smoked cheese to melt over the top… wow!
SMOKY NOT-BAKED BEANS
However you want to flavour your not-baked beans, the base ingredients and method are the same. Incredibly simple, from here you’ve the ability to make an endless variety of not-baked bean flavours.
You’ll find full details of how to make Smoky Not-Baked Beans in the recipe card at the end. But I recommend you read this post first for extra tips and step-by-step images.
You start by cooking finely chopped onion and garlic, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, in olive oil until softening. Over medium heat this should take around ten minutes. Then you stir in a drained tin of cannellini beans. You could use other beans (haricot are traditional for baked beans) but I prefer the flavour and texture of cannellini.
Along with the beans goes the ingredient that speeds Smoky Not-Baked Beans along: tomato puree. Because it’s already concentrated, this means the dish doesn’t have to be simmered for long – unlike tinned or fresh tomatoes which need reducing a lot.
For extra savouriness and acidity, I add a tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar. If you want a hint of sweetness, add a pinch of brown sugar too.
At this point we also introduce the main seasonings. In this case, for double smoky flavour, I add a rounded tsp each of smoked paprika and chipotle chilli flakes. Depending on how much heat you like, you can use sweet or hot paprika. If you don’t have smoky chipotle flakes, then you could use regular chilli flakes, mild or hot, plus extra smoked paprika. For more spicy flavour I like some ground cumin too.
Now we cook all the ingredients together for a minute or so to amalgamate. I like to stir in chopped fresh coriander leaf (you could swap in parsley or just leave out) before adding some water. Not lots of water, just enough to almost cover. Bring to a simmer then bubble until the rawness has cooked out of the spices. The sauce should be tasty and thickly coat the beans. Depending on how hard you bubble, this should take around 10 minutes.
Before serving, taste to check the seasoning. I stir in another heaped tablespoon of coriander too.
SERVING SMOKY NOT-BAKED BEANS
You can eat these Smoky Not-Baked Beans just as you might a regular tin of baked beans. On toast, with baked potatoes, chips, or as a side to all kinds of dishes. But I do most often enjoy them on toast for a weekend brunch.
Although they’re tasty enough without any embellishment, as I’ve mentioned before, a cloak of melted cheese really takes things up a notch. Here I piled the beans onto a toasted slice of homemade Multigrain Seeded Bread, sprinkled over smoked red Leicester cheese and popped under the grill.
Or you can incorporate them into a bigger breakfast. In fact, the first time I made Smoky Not-Baked Beans on toast we ate them with smoked bacon and fried egg, topped with a dollop of thick yogurt and a sprinkle of extra spices. A truly delicious and satisfying Sunday brunch!
With just a handful of ingredients and a relatively short cooking time, I’m always surprised at just how good my not-baked beans are.
I hope you’ll give them a try too and let me know what you thought by leaving a comment.
Smoky Not-Baked Beans
Spicy with smoked paprika, chipotle chilli flakes, and cumin, these beans might taste like they've been lovingly simmered for hours. But they're actually made in around thirty minutes with a simple base of tinned cannellini beans, onion, garlic, and tomato puree.
Enjoy on toast, with baked potatoes, and as a side to your favourite meals. Or almost anywhere you want a punchy alternative to boring old baked beans.
It's recommended that you read the accompanying blog post before starting the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion (finely chopped)
- salt and black pepper (to taste)
- 2 large cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 tin cannellini or other beans, drained (approx. 240g drained weight)
- 1 heaped tbsp tomato puree
- 1 rounded tsp smoked paprika (sweet or hot)
- 1 rounded tsp chipotle chilli flakes (can be replaced with regular mild chilli flakes + extra smoked paprika)
- 1 rounded tsp ground cumin
- 1 pinch sugar (optional)
- 1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- water (see instructions for amount)
- 2 tbsp finely chopped coriander or parsley
Instructions
-
Put the olive in a medium deep frying pan or a saucepan over moderate heat.
When hot, add the chopped onion plus a little salt and pepper.
Cook until softening and golden (approx. 10 minutes), adding the garlic for the final few minutes.
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Stir in the beans, all the spices, the tomato puree, sugar if using, the Balsamic and half the coriander or parsley.
Cook for a few moments, add enough water to almost cover, then bring up to a simmer.
Bubble until the sauce is reduced and the rawness of the spices cooked out (approx. 10 minutes), adding a little more water if it seems dry.
-
Taste and add more seasoning if necessary, then stir in the remaining coriander or parsley before serving.
Cooled beans can be kept covered in the fridge for 2 days.
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