Name: Busy Day Baked Beans in the Crock Pot
Ingredients: 5 cans navy beans drained; 1 small white onion peeled and chopped; 1½ cup maple syrup; 2 tablespoons yellow mustard; ½ teaspoon salt; 4 slices thick cut bacon

Why it works: Beans and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Busy Day Baked Beans in the Crock Pot

Time14 hours

Ingredients

Directions

In a 5‑quart crock pot, mix together all ingredients except bacon.
Lay bacon strips over the bean mixture, then cover and cook on low for 14 hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

269Calories

13 gProtein

4 gFat

48 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Navy Bean	1/2 cup (91g) cooked	127
Maple Syrup	1 tbsp (20ml)	52
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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.

Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,242 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Maple syrup + mustardtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together177 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Beans + maple syruptop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together76 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

What each ingredient does

Navy beans: Form the bulk of the dish, giving it a soft, hearty body as they cook.
Maple syrup: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the sauce thicken and darken over long cooking.
Yellow mustard: Adds a sharp tang that balances the sweetness of the syrup.
Bacon: Contributes fat and smoky, savory flavor that seasons the beans as it cooks.
White onion: Adds aroma and savory depth as it softens into the sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, maple syrup, mustard):

Sweet potatofits better
Lettucefits better
Welsh onionfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, maple syrup, mustard. 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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Busy Day Baked Beans in the Crock Pot