Pineapple Baked Beans

I hope you’re like me and came up with your 4th of July menu weeks in advance.

If not, then you’re in luck! You stumbled upon the right blog today. I’ve got a doozy of a baked bean recipe to share.

I found this odd, intriguing recipe in an altar society cookbook for St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Horton, Kansas. I found so many great recipes in that cookbook that almost every single page was dogeared for me to come back to. The pineapple baked bean recipe, however, kept calling out to me.

There were actually two or three different pineapple baked bean recipes in that cookbook, which I thought was strange. Here I am, a Texas-born southern cook, and I had never heard of using pineapple in baked beans—and yet this small-town altar society knew multiple versions of the recipe? Huh. Interesting.

I decided to test out the recipe for our 4th of July potluck. I just pulled out the first pan of the beans about an hour ago—scooping out a little to sample for myself. They were delicious! I can’t wait for everyone to try them tomorrow.

Pineapple Baked Beans

• 2 large cans pork & beans
• 6 stalks of celery, minced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 lb. bacon
• 2 regular-sized cans pineapple chunks, drained (reserve 1/4 cup  of the juice)
• 1 tsp. each: salt, pepper, and dry mustard
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 TBS. liquid smoke

1. Fry bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Drain on a paper-towel lined plate. Add celery, onion and bell pepper to the bacon drippings and saute until crisp-tender, about 5-6 minutes.
2. Drain off some of the grease and then add pineapple chunks, brown sugar, salt, pepper, dry mustard and ketchup. Stir to combine. Add pineapple juice & liquid smoke and cook until mixture comes to a boil.
3. Pour both cans of the pork and beans into a large baking dish. Pour pineapple mixture on top and stir to combine.
4. Top beans with crumbled bacon. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.

You would think that these beans would be sickeningly sweet, but that’s not the case. They have just the faintest hint of sweet from the pineapple and brown sugar; enough to make you come back for seconds without sending you into a diabetic coma.

I ended up putting the beans into two different baking dishes because the first one was going to overflow. I had bought some cheap, throw-away foil baking dishes so they weren’t as long as my normal Pyrex one.

These beans are sure to be a fan favorite at your Independence Day cookout! Or, if you don’t have the time to make them for tomorrow, you can always make them for Labor Day! They’re the best beans for those sweltering summer days!