Apple Pie Baked Beans

Jack's garden operation grows more ambitious every year. The greenhouse, the market sales, the Farm Fund jar that now holds over three hundred dollars. He's 11 and he farms the way some kids play video games — obsessively, joyfully, with the deep understanding that this is not a hobby but a vocation wearing a hobby's clothes.

Thursday was tater tot hotdish, because Thursday is always tater tot hotdish and the schedule doesn't change for anything — not pandemics, not loss, not the passage of years. The tater tots go in at 375 and come out golden and the family eats them and the eating is the Thursday and the Thursday is the structure and the structure holds. But I also made chicken and dumplings earlier this week, because the kitchen doesn't only look backward. The kitchen grows.

The trees along the highway are turning — maples red, oaks gold, the Bradford pears doing their useless purple thing. Iowa falls are short and violent and beautiful. The kitchen shifts to slow mode: crockpots, Dutch ovens, the oven at 375 from September through April. The fall cooking is the cooking of a woman settling in for the long season.

The fall cooking is the cooking of settling in — the crockpot on the counter, the Dutch oven pulled down from the high shelf, the oven humming at 375 from now until April. When I wanted something that felt like the season itself — sweet and slow and quietly complex, the way Iowa October always is — I turned to these Apple Pie Baked Beans. They’re not flashy. They ask only that you put them in and let them go, which is exactly the kind of cooking this kitchen does best once the Bradford pears have done their useless purple thing and the long season has officially begun.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours 45 minutes | Total Time: 3 hours | Servings: 8

Ingredients

4 cans (15 oz each) navy beans, drained and rinsed
2 medium apples, peeled and diced (Honeycrisp or Granny Smith)
6 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Set a large Dutch oven over medium heat on the stovetop.
Cook the bacon. Add the chopped bacon to the Dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and the bacon is just beginning to crisp, about 6–8 minutes. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pot.
Soften the aromatics. Add the diced onion to the drippings and cook over medium heat until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more, stirring constantly.
Build the sauce. Stir in the brown sugar, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is fragrant.
Add beans and apples. Fold in the drained navy beans, diced apples, apple cider, and reserved bacon. Stir gently to combine, making sure the beans are well coated in the sauce.
Bake low and slow. Cover the Dutch oven with its lid and transfer to the preheated oven. Bake for 2 hours, stirring once at the 1-hour mark. Remove the lid for the final 30 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken and the top to caramelize slightly.
Rest and serve. Remove from the oven and let the beans rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes before serving. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. Serve warm alongside roasted meats, cornbread, or simply on their own.

Nutrition (per serving)

Apple Pie Baked Beans — The Sweetness of Settling In