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Old Fashioned Baked Beans
using Lima or Navy beans
Preparation Time takes about 4 hours not including soaking time.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 pound dried Lima or Navy beans
- 1/8 tsp. baking soda
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp. minced garlic (refrigerated kind works fine)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 T. prepared yellow mustard or honey mustard
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 4 slices of lean bacon – cut into 1-inch pieces
SOAKING BEANS
OVERNIGHT SOAK:
Rinse and sort beans. In a large pot add 6-8 cups cold water. Let stand overnight or at least 6-8 hours. Drain soak water and rinse beans.
QUICK SOAK:
Rinse and sort beans. In a large pot add 8 cups hot water and 1/8 tsp. baking soda. Bring to rapid boil, boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain soak water and rinse beans.
Directions for Cooking the beans after soaking:
Add 6 cups hot water, bay leaves, and garlic to drained and rinsed beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer gently with lid tilted until desired tenderness is reached, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Drain the beans and discard the bay leaves.
In a 2-quart baking dish or covered casserole, combine the syrup, molasses, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, salt and pepper. Add the drained beans and stir together. Lay the bacon pieces over top of beans. Cover and bake at 350º for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 40 more minutes. Stir bacon into beans before serving.
How to Cook dried beans
Looking for more detailed directions for cooking dried beans? Check out my post, How to cook Dried Beans for step-by-step directions with lots of photos.
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Yeah! I searched and searched for a baked lima bean recipe. What a fantastic memory you’ve provided, thank you. Fabulous! I love using my own boiled beans, you can control the salt content.
Wow….I made this today because it reminded me of mom’s, and man I wasn’t disappointed! Came out almost exactly like hers. I used 5 instead of 4 slices of center cut thick bacon, Naturally Smoked. Even my picky fiance liked it a lot. Next time though I will reduce the sugar content, too sweet for me. BTW….where does the baking soda go? It’s not in the directions. it was fine without it. Thank you Lorraine!
Baking Soda is used when you don’t have time to soak your beans overnight. It speeds up the process. Hope this helps…
Very excited to make these. Thank you for having this recipe…my mom made them and just called them Baked Limas. I cant find her recipe so I searched and found these. I bet it’s the same recipe pretty much. I will be making them soon, using Limas of course.
Hello James,
Happy to hear you found a recipe like the one you remember your mom making 🙂 Not everyone likes Lima beans but I do and love them in this recipe. Let me know what you think!
Kindly, Lorraine
This recipe very closely resembles my family’s old old recipe that was well-loved. The only difference was they never used garlic. Not just in the baked limas, but ever. Also, I don’t recall baking soda being used. Out of curiosity, what purpose does that serve? I assume it does something positive.
My mother had a huge antique baked bean crock that she used when making these. I believe it was her great grandmother’s. She had to make a huge batch, because everyone in the family loved them. My maternal grandfather loved them so much that he ate them cold in between two slices of bread, as a sandwich. I was told it was his favorite food. My mom would even make them with bigger lima beans sometimes. They were all limas from my grandfather’s garden.
Hi Elaine,
Using baking soda in not necessary when soaking the beans. Here is something I found to explain the reason that it can be helpful:
Baking soda is a natural tenderizer. It acts by increasing the pH and the alkalinity of soaking water, as well as removing elements like magnesium and calcium from hard water. Also, baking soda speeds up the disintegration of pectin, allowing the beans to soften faster.
My dad loved baked beans too and I remember that he would spoon cold beans on buttered saltine crackers. I kind of like that too.
Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving your comment!
Kindly, Lorraine
Can this be done in a slow cooker? If so how would you adjust the cooking instructions?
Hello Susan,
I have only made these bean in the oven but since you mentioned it, I think I would like to experiment using a slow cooker. Won’t get to it right away but when I do I will share the results.
Thank you for stopping by! Sending wishes for a happy holiday season!
Kindly, Lorraine
So very yummy, made mine with navy beans. Love cooking beans the old time way, the original idea is the best.
I know I'd love them and would like to try them with the lima beans:@)