Take Canned Baked Beans To The Next Level: Just Add This Vegetable

In the ongoing quest to improve our canned baked beans, we've covered adding a lot of scrum-diddly-umptious ingredients. Green chilis added to your beans make for a delicious upgrade, for instance, that infuses your legumes with some delightful heat. One classic culinary addition that we can't get enough of when we're cracking open a can of this side? Caramelized onions. Their silky mouthfeel and mellow, deep sweetness are the perfect addition to the flavor profile of baked beans, and they can play well with either veggie-forward or meaty preparations.

The key to cooking caramelized onions is patience, and lots of it. Don't confuse proper caramelized onions, which are sweated and then cooked down over the better part of an hour until they nearly dissolve into jammy, unctuous delight, with sautéed onions, which are still crispy and sharp to some degree. Anyone can caramelize onions with enough time and a deft stirring hand. In the case of baked beans, the investment in your onions will pay off richly. Since baked beans are, at their heart, a convenience food, keep in mind that you can make caramelized onions ahead of time and freeze them in individual portions.

For the simplest process, just heat the beans after caramelizing the onions and stir the two luscious components together. You really don't need much more than that. However, those looking to really impress can add other elements to their caramelized onion baked beans and really swing for the fences. The result can be an unforgettable dish that shines as a main course or provides the perfect complement to BBQ, roast meats, or steak night.

The beauty of including caramelized onions in your baked beans is that you create a dish to satisfy almost any eater. Are your loved ones omnivores? Bacon is the ideal companion here, providing salt and umami to a very balanced dish. Take a few slices of bacon, crisp them up, and crumble them into your pan ... delicious! It would be easy to go in a full French onion soup direction with your beans and stew them with caramelized onions and some thick-cut bacon in a Dutch oven. Consider topping the beans with buttered toast draped with shredded Gruyere (or Swiss) and broiling it all in your oven for a few minutes. Don't forget a drizzle of hot honey, the swicy superstar that also enhances baked beans. Now we're talking about a meal!

On the other hand, if your family is vegetarian — or even vegan — amazing beans can be yours when you mix in caramelized onions, which are innately veggie-friendly. Sautéed vegetables like bell peppers and portobello mushrooms will add additional heft to meat-free beans. You can also add meatiness to a main-dish baked bean meal with your veggie-forward protein of choice (think Impossible meats, soyrizo, tofu, and so on). Molasses and bourbon are both veggie-friendly options that add depth of flavor to caramelized onion baked beans, sans any animal products. Ultimately, mixing caramelized onions into baked beans unlocks a world of flavor that's begging for customization and creativity. A very worthy entree (or even just a filling superstar side) is attainable with this winning veggie addition to your pantry baked beans.