Apple Baked Beans

Fun Fact: Baked beans are seldom ever baked.

Do you hate baked beans? If yes, so does Samantha, our founder. She can’t stand a tin of baked beans and blames it all on the cornstarch-laden weird tomato sauce (her words). However, her heart has been won over by baked beans before – at her cousin’s wedding. She says the only reason she tried the baked beans was that the tomato sauce looked fresh and authentic, unlike what you get in a can and her special menu described them as “apple baked beans”. About a year and a half after her cousin’s wedding, she still couldn’t get these baked beans out of her mind so she set out on a mission to create something as similar as possible and today, we are going to share her finalised recipe with you.

These baked beans are a source of protein, fiber, vitamin A, thiamin (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxamine (vitamin B6), folate (vitamin B9), vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium and a bit of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. You can find more information on the roles of these nutrients in the body in our Nutrient Index.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe to the second baked beans Samantha has ever loved.

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients

400g can of Chopped Tomatoes

400g can of Cannellini Beans, drained and rinced

1 Apple

1/2 medium-large Purple Onion

1tbsp Tomato Puree

Dried Basil

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Smoked Paprika

Garlic Powder

Brown Sugar

Soy Sauce

Apple Cider Vinegar

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

Chop half of the apple into small pieces of similar length to that of the beans and roughly dice the rest of the apples.
Chop the purple onion into small pieces also of similar length to that of the beans.
In a food processor, combine half of the purple onions with the diced apples, the can of chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic powder and dried basil (to taste) until a relatively smooth consistency is reached.
Heat up some extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the rest of the onions to it and let them cook till they soften, become fragrant and start to brown a little.
Pour about a tablespoon of soy sauce into the pan followed by the black pepper, smoked paprika and some brown sugar. Add the seasonings and sugar, to taste. However, a rough estimate could be 0.5-1tsp of the pepper and paprika and a level tablespoon of brown sugar.
Mix all the contents in the pan together and heat them up till the sugar starts to dissolve a bit and all the spices are fully combined.
Add in the drained and rinsed cannellini beans and stir them into the mixture in the pan to ensure they are fully and evenly coated in it. As you cook this down, a little more liquid should be released in the pan.
After approximately 2 minutes, add 5tbsp of the tomato mixture into the pan, stir it in and let it cook down for about 4mins (stir frequently to prevent burning). Repeat this process until approximately 300ml of the tomato mixture has been used.
Stir in the chopped apples followed by a touch of apple cider vinegar and two drops of liquid smoke. Cook down till the apples soften.

Serve on either toasted bread or pan-toasted English muffins.

If you try the recipe, upload a picture of it to Instagram with the hashtag #lickyourplaterecipe so we can have a look at and like it.