Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Bronco Beans

My mom used to make this rich bean dish when I was a kid. I hated it. Of course, I wasn't a very adventuresome eater back then--I didn't let my foods touch each other on the plate, much less in a casserole dish.

Now that I am older and more sophisticated, I recognize the simple beauty of a casserole that includes canned beans, bacon and ground beef. Bronco Beans are not low-calorie, low-fat or low- anything else; they are made up of a veritable truckload of carbs. The recipe calls for ketchup and brown sugar. It is lowbrow food at its sloppy finest, so if you are looking for something to serve at a swanky dinner party, do not make this.

If, however, you are having a barbecue or potluck and want to come home with an empty dish, this is a great go-to recipe.

And a small disclaimer: I lost my mother's recipe (sorry, Mom), so this may not be exactly her concoction per se, but it tastes pretty close. I'm sure if I've omitted anything truly important, she'll comment on it.

Bronco Beans

1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 lb. ground beef, browned with 1 medium onion, diced
1 can pork and beans, undrained
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 can butter beans (or Great northern beans, if you prefer), drained
1/2 c. ketchup
1 c. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. mustard powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine bacon, beef and onion, pork and beans, kidney beans, and butter beans.

In a separate bowl, thoroughly mix the ketchup, sugar, vinegar, and mustard. Combine with the bean mixture in a large casserole dish.

Cover, and bake for 1 hour.

Serves 8 as a side dish.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Took these to a potluck tonight and got a bunch of compliments including one from Jon. "These beans are great. I wonder who made them." He wasn't really in on the cooking process so much. Anyways, they were so good that they were nearly all eaten and I finished off the leftovers when we got home. Yum!

I burned the bacon, and substituted honey mustard for the mustard powder...I'm a little ad hoc in the kitchen sometimes.

Anonymous said...

My boyfriend and I bougth bronco beans from Costco and they magically stopped carrying them. He has been at a loss since then. So I am going to try making this for him. He loves to eat bronco beans with Pita Chips. Wish me luck!

Donna Koehn said...

The only difference between your recipe and mine is that I use the largest can of pork-n-beans available--bgeneric or store brand will do. If you use the biggest can of Bush's, cut back on the brown sugar. They are still the yummiest picnic side dish I know! Fie on the calories!

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Anonymous said...

try them cold on salt crackers, pretty good