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Dutch Oven Beans

A hearty bean stew cooked in oven with bacon, ground beef, onions, and beans, flavored with ketchup, sugar, mustard, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and lima beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 156 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Dutch Oven Beans

8–12
Total1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the meat

  1. Cut bacon into bite-sized pieces and begin cooking in a heated Dutch oven.

  2. Chop onion into ½-inch pieces.

  3. Crumb ground beef and chopped onion into the Dutch oven.

  4. Cook until the onion is translucent.

Combine and simmer

  1. Add all the beans, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, molasses, and Worcestershire sauce, then stir the mixture.

  2. Heat to a simmer and let bubble lightly for 10 or 15 minutes or as long as you can stand it.

  3. Stir in liquid smoke.

Season to taste

  1. Taste and adjust with additional ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, molasses, and liquid smoke or whatever it takes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1052Calories
74 gProtein
45 gFat
86 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 15 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Pork100g cooked242
Pinto Bean1/2 cup (86g) canned122
Lima Bean1/2 cup (85g) cooked108
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Beannot in our table0
Red Beannot in our table0
Smokenot 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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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 + lima beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together156 recipes

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

  2. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Onion + beanstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

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

  5. Ketchup + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Bacon
Renders fat that carries savory, smoky flavor through the whole pot.
Ground beef
Adds savory meaty flavor and browns for depth as the base of the dish.
Mixed beans
Provide the main body and starchy, hearty texture that thickens the pot.
Ketchup
Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the savory meat and beans.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color and a deeper, caramel-like flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the sauce turn rich and glossy as it simmers.

The step that matters

Simmer gently and stir. Sugars, molasses and ketchup can scorch on the bottom of a Dutch oven if the heat is too high or the pot is not stirred. A light bubble keeps the sauce thickening evenly without breaking down the beans.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, pork, beans, butter, ketchup, sugar):

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Lima beansthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Peanutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, pork, beans, butter, ketchup, sugar. 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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