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Texas Baked Beans

A hearty bean dish with bacon, onions, peppers, tomatoes, beef jerky, catsup, molasses, honey, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, applesauce, and ginger.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Texas Baked Beans

Oven350
Time1 1/2 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak beans overnight in 6 cups cold water.

  2. Drain and put into a large cooking pot. Add water to cover beans, about 6 cups.

  3. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes.

  4. Drain, reserving cooking liquid.

Make the filling

  1. In a large kettle, cook bacon until crisp.

  2. Add onion and peppers; cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes.

  3. Add beans, 2 cups bean cooking liquid, tomatoes, beef jerky, catsup, molasses, honey, Worcestershire sauce, and dry mustard. Stir to mix.

  4. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook at a slow boil 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

  5. Stir in applesauce and ginger.

Bake

  1. Pour into a large bean pot and bake in a 350 oven, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

711Calories
42 gProtein
20 gFat
93 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 15 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Pinto Bean1/2 cup (86g) canned122
Honey1 tbsp (21g)64
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beans + jalapenotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together459 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dried beans
Provide the main body and starchy structure of the dish.
Bacon
Adds fat and smoky, savory flavor to the base.
Diced tomatoes
Add acidity and liquid that help form the saucy base.
Beef jerky
Adds concentrated savory, smoky meat flavor.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, depth, and dark color to the sauce.
Applesauce
Adds moisture and mild sweetness that softens the sauce texture.

The step that matters

Slow simmer before baking. Simmering for 1 to 1 1/2 hours at a gentle boil lets the beans soften fully and the sauce thicken. Rushing this leaves beans firm and the sauce thin, and the bake cannot fully correct that.

Swap the jalapeno

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, pepper, tomato, beef, sugar, molasses):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Jalapenothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, pepper, tomato, beef, sugar, molasses. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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