Baked Beans with Coconut Bacon

It’s officially May, which most importantly is my birthmonth! I am now accepting presents from my Amazon wish list. Also, it’s officially cookout season with Memorial Day weekend right around the corner. Baked beans are a cookout staple, but they usually include a lot of questionable ingredients. Our simple recipe is whole food plant based with no oil! This is how we made it!

Baked Beans with Coconut Bacon

Ingredients:

Beans:

2 15 oz cans navy beans (or about 4 cups of cooked beans), drained

½ onion, chopped

1 ½ cups water

1 5.5 oz can tomato paste

1 garlic clove

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

2 tbsps blackstrap molasses

2 pitted dates

1 tsp dry mustard powder

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp salt

Coconut Bacon:

½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1 tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos

1 tsp maple syrup (optional)

½ tsp liquid smoke

Pinch of cayenne

Pinch of paprika

Few grinds of pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Let’s start with the coconut bacon. Mix together the 1 tbsp Bragg’s, maple syrup, cayenne, paprika, and pepper.

Place the coconut flakes in a small bowl, and pour the liquid mix on top, and toss to coat, then transfer to spread on top of baking sheet in as single of a layer as you can manage.

Bake for about 8 minutes, stirring about halfway through baking. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool.

Increase the oven temperature to 350 F.

In the meantime, add the water, tomato paste, garlic clove, apple cider vinegar, Bragg’s, molasses, dates, mustard powder, onion powder, paprika, and salt to a high powered blender. Blend until smooth.

In a 9” cast iron skillet, heat a little water over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions and cook until soft, or about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add in the beans and the sauce and stir. Top with the coconut bacon and lightly stir the coconut bacon in so it’s not totally sitting on top but it’s also not submerged where it will get mushy.

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes. Cool, and serve!